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“Let's” vs. “lets”: which is correct?

  1. Lets now see how it can be done.

  2. Let's now see how it can be done.

Is sentence 1 wrong?

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marked as duplicate by J.R., Matt Эллен, Mehper C. Palavuzlar, Mitch, MετάEd Mar 19 '12 at 12:04

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1 Answer

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Yes, 2 is correct.

This is effectively a duplicate of “Let's” vs. “lets”: which is correct? except with the opposite right answer.

1 could be "correct" (but not a real sentence) if in context it means "(subject, person or object) now lets see how it can be done.", but notice I had to swap "now" and "lets" for even that implied sentence.

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2  
your statement implies that 1 is "a little" correct- but it's not at all. Lets without the apostrophe is used in sentences like: `My dad lets me walk to the store all by myself" but is never used when the contraction for Let us is needed. – Jim Mar 19 '12 at 6:47
@Jim Changed. I was going to write more but then thought "this has to be a duplicate..." – Mark Hurd Mar 19 '12 at 6:51
1  
Lets just say its the convention to insert the apostrophe into the first and fourth words of this sentence, but that conventions can change. The apostrophe was introduced into English relatively late in the languages development, and only so that printers could show that a letter was missing. Its often not needed at all, as this comment may show. – Barrie England Mar 19 '12 at 7:35
2  
@BarrieEngland No, your comments are wrong; readable and understandable, but wrong. :-) Yes, English changes, but at this stage punctuation still matters. – Mark Hurd Mar 19 '12 at 10:07
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@BarrieEngland: I agree with Mark - it's more than a "convention", it's a rule, and not following it is wrong. Jsut becuase you can read this sentnece doesnt mkae it rihgt. ;-) – aaamos Mar 20 '12 at 2:12
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