ENGLISH
REFERENCE

'tis

pron.
C2 Proficiency US //ˈtɪz// tis

pron. a very old-fashioned way to say 'it is'. You mostly see this in old poems or songs.

pron. a contraction of 'it is', primarily found in archaic, poetic, or literary contexts.


SIMPLE

'Tis a beautiful morning.

CONTEXTUAL

Every December, children sing "'Tis the season to be jolly" as part of the old carol.

COMPLEX

While modern prose avoids such contractions, the poet used ''tis' to maintain the strict iambic meter of the sonnet's opening line.

Synonyms
Usage

A contraction of 'it' and 'is'; the apostrophe replaces the letter 'i' in 'it'.

Pitfall

tis'tisThe word is a contraction and requires a leading apostrophe to represent the missing letter 'i'.

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