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Hi guys, welcome back to English with Max.
In this video I'm going to talk about when you should use contractions. I wanted to
do this video because I realised that lots of teachers explain how to form
contractions and what contractions mean, but they don't always explain exactly
when to use them. So that's what I'm going to try to do in this video.
As usual remember that you can follow me on social media. I'm still putting daily
pronunciation videos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And don't forget
to subscribe. Now if you're not sure what a contraction is, in other words if you
haven't watched my previous videos, a contraction is simply a shortening of a
group of words. For example, "I am" becomes "I'm". "Do not" becomes "don't".
There are also contractions that don't have apostrophes. For example, "could have"
can be contracted to "coulda". "Going to" can be contracted to "gonna". Contractions are
also the sharp pains that women get before they give birth, but that's not
what we're talking about here. Firstly, let's look at contractions like these
ones: contractions that have apostrophes. I like to call these "standard contractions"
because they're very very common. All native speakers use these,
even the Queen. Firstly, these contractions can be used in spoken
language, even if it's a formal situation like a job interview. You can use these
in both informal and formal spoken language. The only times we don't use
them is when we're speaking very slowly or we're trying to be very clear or
emphatic. If you look at the subtitles in my videos, you will see that sometimes I
use them, and sometimes I don't. I definitely use them more in my everyday
life than when I'm teaching English, because when I'm teaching an English
lesson I try to be very clear. So in spoken language you can basically use
them whenever you want, and you will definitely sound more natural if you use
them. However that is not the case for written language. In written language you
should only use them in casual and informal writing. For example, in a text
message, or an email to a friend, or in a comment on a YouTube video. You shouldn't
use them in job applications, at least not for "serious" jobs, or in academic
writing. Or in a serious report at work. It just looks more serious if you don't
use contractions, and even in informal writing you don't have to use them.
If you're in doubt, just write the full form.
Everybody will still understand you, there's nothing wrong with it. Before I
continue I just want to point out that the contraction "ain't" is an exception.
Yes, it's a contraction with an apostrophe, but it's very informal - not
everybody uses it, and it's rarely used in written language. It can mean: am not,
are not, is not, has not, or have not. I actually recommend that you don't use it,
because it's quite specific to certain dialects, and if you use it incorrectly,
you'll just sound strange. Now let's look at informal contractions.
These are the ones that I spoke about in my last video.
These are the ones that don't have apostrophes.
For example: shoulda, coulda, wanna, gonna. These are only used in informal spoken language.
So don't use them in a job interview (the classic example)
or if you're going to give a speech. I personally wouldn't use them
in an English oral exam either. To be honest there are lots of native
speakers who don't use these at all, particularly in the UK. I think it's more
common to use them in North America - so Canada and the US - and other places like
Australia and New Zealand. The main reason why you should be aware of these
is because it will help your listening comprehension. You don't have to use them.
And please, please don't use them because you are trying to sound native. It won't
necessarily work. The reason why native speakers use these contractions is just
because sometimes we get lazy and these are quicker to say. My advice is to only
use them if it feels natural. For example, when I was living in France, I learnt
that when French people speak, instead of saying "tu as", which means "you have", they
often say "t'as". And over time I started using it as well sometimes, but it
happened almost unconsciously. I just was hearing it all the time so it started to
feel natural. So yes, native speakers use them quite frequently when they speak,
but they don't write them that often. At least probably a lot less than
you think they do. Most people don't write them at all, because it's mainly
something that teenagers and people in their 20s do. You might see them in books
where there's dialogue and you might see them in subtitles, because subtitles are
a transcript of people speaking. When I think about what I do and what most of
my friends do - I'm 31 and I have friends who are older and younger than me -
I'd say we only use them when we're typing really quickly on our phones, like
on WhatsApp or Messenger. I wouldn't use them in an email or in
YouTube comments, for example. Except if I was doing it for
comic effect, which means that I was doing it to be a bit funny.
I wouldn't even write them in an SMS. If I wanted to ask a friend if they wanted
to meet for coffee, I would simply write: Do you want to meet for coffee later?
I wouldn't write: Do you wanna meet for coffee later?
To be honest, I probably see non-native English-speakers writing these more often
than native speakers. It's a bit like the expression "raining cats and dogs".
I know lots of people learn it in English classes, but it's not actually something
that we say very often. Don't feel bad if you've done this. I made the same mistake
in French when I was living in France in the beginning, so I understand.
In summary, don't try to use them. Don't use them to try to sound native because
if you use them in the wrong context, you'll just sound worse. And when in
doubt, it's always better to be more formal than too informal.
And please don't say to me: "But I've seen it on the internet."
We see lots of things on the internet, and I'm sure even in your own language,
you see people writing badly. Some people on the internet don't even use punctuation.
They'll write this much, like ten lines, and there'll be no
punctuation and no capital letters. The lack of capital letters I can more or
less tolerate, but zero punctuation is just horrible.
So yeah... "I've seen it on the internet" is not an argument.
Okay guys, I hope that's all a bit clearer now.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to write them in the comments section.
Please give me a thumbs up, if you liked the video, share it with your friends,
and have a nice day. See you next time!
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