LET'S is not the contraction of LET US.
LET'S is used for a suggestion. When you tell your father Let's go to the cinema today, you are just giving a suggestion. Here both you and your friend go to the cinema.
But when you tell your father Let us go to the cinema today, you are just asking the permission of your father to go to the cinema. Here your father does not come with you to the cinema.
The us in Let's is inclusive of the person who you are talking to but the us in Let us is exclusive of the person who you are talking to.
Comments
Thanks!
Thanks for your useful blog and the way you differentiate 2 commonly confused words. Keep up the good work, plz.
Hello Abootty,
You did a fine job in clarifying the difference between Let's and Let us. It is a common mistake made by many people in the early stages of their edeavour to learn the English language.
Your earlier posts were aslo well aimed. It seems you have a great teaching intuition where grammar plays a major role. I fully agree with you that grammar is of major significance, but I also think that it should not be taught as a sujbject to be learnt by heart, rather it whould go along with a handsome portion of examples from real life situations so that the student understands how the grammar rules work and is able to juggle with words and sentences.