English
English has a number of contractions, mostly involving the elision of a vowel (which is replaced by an apostrophe in writing), as in I'm for "I am", and sometimes other changes as well, as in won't for "will not". These contractions are commonly used in speech and in informal writing, though tend to be avoided in more formal writing.
The main contractions are listed in the following table (for more explanation see English auxiliaries and contractions).
| Full form | Contracted | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| not | –n't | Irregular forms: "ain't", "don't", "won't", "shan't". "n't" can only be attached to an auxiliary verb which is itself not contracted. |
| let us | let's | only contracted for first-person plural imperative (e.g. not for "Let us go" as a command to a third person) |
| am | –'m | only in "I'm" |
| are | –'re | we're /wɪr/ is pronounced differently than were /wûr/ |
| is | –'s | |
| does | very informal, as in "What's he do there every day?" | |
| has | ||
| as | nonstandard English dialect for the relative pronoun "that" | |
| have | –'ve | English only contracts forms of have when used as auxiliaries |
| had | –'d | |
| did | very informal, as in "Where'd she go?" | |
| would | ||
| will, shall | –'ll | |
| of | o'– | used mostly in o'clock, where it is mandatory in contemporary use |
| it | 't– | Archaic, except in stock uses such as 'Twas the night before Christmas |
| them | 'em | contracted from hem, but used for modern them |
| him | 'im | |
| is not | isn't, or ain't | ain't is contracted from am not but now also used for is not; generally deprecated in modern use |
| you all | y'all | is a contraction of the words "you" and "all." Where the "you" becomes "ya" colloquially, and the apostrophe replaces the "a" of "all". It is used as a plural second-person pronoun. Mainly used in the United States. |
Some forms of syncope may also be considered contractions, such as wanna for want to, gonna for going to, and others common in colloquial speech.
In subject–auxiliary inversion, the contracted negative forms behave as if they were auxiliaries themselves, changing place with the subject. For example, the interrogative form of He won't go is Won't he go, whereas the uncontracted equivalent is Will he not go?, with not following the subject.
Read more about this topic: Contraction (grammar)
Famous quotes containing the word english:
“English Bob: What I heard was that you fell off your horse, drunk, of course, and that you broke your bloody neck.
Little Bill Daggett: I heard that one myself, Bob. Hell, I even thought I was dead. ‘Til I found out it was just that I was in Nebraska.”
—David Webb Peoples, screenwriter. English Bob (Richard Harris)
“Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“But it was alway yet the trick of our English nation, if they
have a good thing, to make it too common.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)