Hello. I'm Gill, at engVid; and today, we have a lesson on contractions. So,
these are contractions where you have an apostrophe, which represents some
missing letters. And these are used with pronouns, personal pronouns, and the
verb. It can be the verb: "to be", or "to have"; or others, like: "would" and
"will". And these often happen when people are speaking, because it's
quicker and easier to say: "I'm" — "I'm here and you're there"; instead of: "I
am here; you are there". It's quicker. But sometimes you do also see them
written; printed. For example, if speech is being quoted. If someone's quoting
what somebody said, if they said it with contractions — or "abbreviations", as
they're also called — then it would be written that way, with the apostrophe.
But I've noticed that people sometimes get a bit confused with these; they're
not quite sure how to pronounce them, and I've noticed sometimes people
actually expand them. So, they might say: "I am" or "I have", when they're
reading from printed material; when they should really be saying: "I'm", "I've".
So, this lesson is to clarify both how to write them, and what verbs they
represent; because sometimes, there are two possibilities. Sometimes, here, it
could be either: "is" or "has", which is being abbreviated; and in this column,
it could be "had" or it could be "would", which is being abbreviated, and
you only know from the context. Okay. So, let's just go through. I think we'll
go a column at a time, so that we're staying with the same verb or verbs each
time, and working through the personal pronouns. Okay?
So, starting with: "I" — "I'm", which means: "I am". It's the verb "to be".
Okay. Is the verb "to be". So: "I'm"; "you're", which means "you are". Okay.
"You're"; "he's", meaning "he is"; "she's" — "she is"; "it's" — "it is";
"we're", that's "we are"; and "they're" — "they are". Okay. So, just the
pronunciation, there, it's important to know: "I'm", "you're", "he's", "she's",
"it's", "we're" — that's almost two syllables, there. "We're", "we're".
"We're coming to the party". It's almost two syllables: "we're". And "they're" —
that's one syllable. But "they're". So, it's a bit similar. Well, it sounds the
same as two other words, actually. "Over there", "over there", which is spelt:
"t–⁠h–⁠e–⁠r–⁠e"; and "their car", the possessive — "t–⁠h–⁠e–⁠i–⁠r", "their
car". This doesn't sound any different, but you know it's... you know what it is
from the context. So: "we're"; "they're", meaning "they are". Okay? So,
that's... that's the... the verb "to be". But, also, "has" — it could be the
verb "to have" if you're saying: "he has" — "he has got a car", "he's got a
car" means: "he has got". "She's got a car" or "she has got". "It's" — if it's
a dog: "it's got a bone"; "the dog has got a bone"; "it has got a bone". So,
sometimes, it can be the verb "has", rather than the verb "is". It's: "he is"
Okay. So, then we come to the verb "to have", and... you... it doesn't...
there's nothing here, because we have "has", which is the other part of the
verb "to have", and we've already just covered that — that's why this is blank,
here. Okay. So, this is all to do with "have". So, the "v–⁠e" of "have" is
there, with the apostrophe representing the missing letters. Okay. So: "I've" is
"I have"; "you've" is "you have"; "we've" — "we have"; "they've" — "they
have". So: "I've", "you've", "we've", "they've". Okay? Okay, then. So, the
next column. So, the verb, here, can either be "had" — that's the past tense
of "have", "had" — or "would", the conditional modal verb. Okay? So: "I'd",
"you'd", "he'd", "she'd". Now, this is a funny one: "it'd". So, you need an extra
syllable, here, to get the "d" in: "it'd", "it'd". Okay. And then back to
single syllable, again: "we'd", "they'd". So, it could be: "I had" or "I
or "he has"; "she is" or "she has"; "it is" or "it has". Okay. Just with those
would". Okay. "You had" or "you would"; "he had" or "he would"; "she had" or
"she would"; "it had" or "it would"; "we had" or "we would"; "they had" or "they
would". Okay? So, just again: "I'd", "you'd", "he'd", "she'd", "it'd"
"we'd", "they'd". Okay? And you onl know from the context of the ful
sentence or the phrase, whether it's "had" or "would". Okay. And then
finally, with the future: "will". So "I'll", "you'll", "he'll", so that'
like two syllables, really. "He'll" "she'll", "it'll", "we'll", "they'll"
So, that... these are all, more or less two syllables — okay — meaning: "
will", "you will", "he will", etc. So "I'll", "you'll", "he'll", "she'll"
three.
"it'll", "we'll", "they'll". Okay
So, I hope that helps to clarify how to write them and how to pronounce them,
and what... which verbs they're... they're using. Because with missing
letters, you might not know until you look at the context, whether it's: "had"
or "would", or "is" or "has". Okay. So, okay. So, there's a quiz that you can do
to test your knowledge on this. If you go to www.engvid.com, give the quiz a
try; see how you do. And thank you for watching, and hope to see you again
soon. Okay. Bye for now.