Lets vs let's
Please correct/verify if I am using this sentence grammatically wrong.
I wrote an email to all team members. The conclusion of the email ended with a command to tell everyone to win:
"Lets win all games this week."
Because there is a hidden subject "everyone", the sentence is correct:
"[Everyone] Lets win two games this week."
A good friend told me the sentence should be "Let's win all games this week." I understand her point let's is a contraction of let us. Thus, the sentence is "Let us win all games this week."
Here are my questions:
- Is there anything wrong with a sentence, "Lets win all games this week."?
I found many criticisms using "lets" on the web. - If question 1 is correct, which is more appropriated to use in the context above?
The way I understand these two sentences are different.
Top answer
Because "let" is a verb, it has no plural form. So there is no such word as "lets". It is always "let's", which you correctly noted is the contracted form of "let us".
- Because "let" is a verb, it has no plural form.
- So there is no such word as "lets".
- It is always "let's", which you correctly noted is the contracted form of "let us".
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0Lets is a singular form; it goes with singular subject.
I thought this is a basic rule of subject and verb agreement.
0I never heard of a verb "lets", Ntran, your friend was right:
The correct form here is "Let's" (the contraction of "let+us"), the imperative.
The missing apostrophe in "lets" (wherever this occurs) is definitely either a typing mistake or it wasn't used just out of laziness.
0Oh - I forgot:
The form "lets" you refer to with your link, Ntran, is the inflected form of the verb "let" for the 3rd person singular, present tense (a case of verb agreement, as you correctly noted):
I let
You let
He, she, it "lets"
E.g.: "I let him go" vs. "he lets him go".
In the sentence you gave above, it is the imperative howeve
00To let means to "allow".
Let him in. Allow him to come in.
The word "let's" means "let us"
The first comes with the pronoun "us".
The second does not come with the pronoun "us".
She lets [allows] him to paint. She allows him to paint.
So the rule is that when you mean let us, or allow us, or permits us, you use let's. T
0Letis a noun used in tennis scoring
The plural is lets.
let
Function: noun
0If it is a contraction for "let us" then "let's" is correct."
If it is the 3rd person singular for "allows" then "lets" is correct as in "John lets his sister use his computer."
000 "Let's do something" 02 br
02 br
00 The two words imply different things. "lets" is a word meaning someone allows you to do something on a regular basis. 02 br
00 "Let's" shows you suggesting something. 0-
0
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