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:
“That Cabot merely landed on the uninhabitable shore of Labrador gave the English no just title to New England, or to the United States generally, any more than to Patagonia.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“English audiences of working people are like an instrument that responds to the player. Thought ripples up and down them, and if in some heart the speaker strikes a dissonance there is a swift answer. Always the voice speaks from gallery or pit, the terrible voice which detaches itself in every English crowd, full of caustic wit, full of irony or, maybe, approval.”
—Mary Heaton Vorse (1874–1966)
“My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the obscurity of a learned language.”
—Edward Gibbon (1737–1794)