I’m / I am / Am

Many writers think that ‘I’m’ (written fully as ‘I am’) is the same as ‘am.’ 

For some speakers, the phonetic similarity between ‘I’m’ and ‘am’ may have led to the confusion. In other words, both ‘I’m’ and ‘am’ sound similar to them when spoken. Therefore, they wrongly use both ‘I’m’ and ‘am’ interchangeably. 

The contracted form of ‘I am’ is ‘I’m.’ It is not ‘am.’ In other words, ‘I’m’ is the abridged way of saying ‘I am.’ It is regrettable that ‘am’ is increasingly becoming common usage pattern in formal settings.

The use of ‘I am’ or ‘I’m’ should be encouraged in formal settings rather than ‘am.’ What happens in most cases is that people throw away the ‘I’ in ‘I am’ and think ‘am’ is the same as ‘I am.’

So, you see people making statements such as:

“Am coming.”

Instead of:

“I’m coming.”

Or:

“I am coming.” 

‘Am’ (misunderstood as ‘I’m’) should be used in informal or casual writing, like texting or social media, where people often omit the apostrophe.