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‘Twas the night before Christmas — or should that be “t’was”?

Writing for Business

Published: 10 Feb 2020

Which is correct?
_______ the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
a. ‘Twas
b. T’was


Answer: a.

Explanation:
‘Twas is a contraction of it was, and the rule with contractions is that we use the apostrophe to stand in for missing letters.

For more holiday grammar fun, see my 10-question quiz: ‘Tis (or t’is?) the season. I bet you’ll get the title question correct, at the very least.

How Stuff Works includes A Visit From Saint Nicholas in its list of the top ten myths of Christmas. Apparently, although Clement Moore is usually credited as the author, he probably was not.

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