Hey, it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English. This is, as always,
exactly where you want to be every week to get the confidence you want for your
life and work in English.
I want you to think back on when you first began to study English,
you probably remember learning contractions, those words like I'm,
don't, doesn't. That all seems very basic,
but what might surprise you is just how many contractions we have in
English and how common they are in conversation.
The challenge of contractions is to understand them the first time that you
hear them, and they can be challenging to pronounce as well.
But in this lesson today,
I'm going to help you know exactly how and when to use contractions,
plus why you should,
and we'll go over a variety of standard and
non-standard contractions. I'll explain more about that in a moment,
but you'll get to learn a list of commonly used contractions so that you can
easily understand them in conversations and use them as well.
[Inaudible].
Let's start right away with how contractions work.
The truth is contractions come from lazy speech in
casual conversation. We're likely to do two things.
We're more likely to reduce sounds,
which means to say them quieter or softer.
And we're likely to elide some sounds,
which means we completely remove them.
We do this so that our words are easier to say,
and we can say them faster.
Think of all those times you felt frustrated by English speakers who speak
too fast.
It may be a result of using a large number of
contractions, but the good news is,
as you become aware of contractions,
not only will you understand conversations more easily,
but you'll also be able to use them in your own English conversations as well.
Although contractions can be challenging to understand or notice
in conversations initially, thankfully, they're very obvious in writing.
In writing,
we indicate the missing letters or sounds with an apostrophe again,
think about those examples of I'm, don't, name's.
The one thing we need to be careful of in writing is that we don't confuse
contractions with the possessive form in English.
The possessive is when we're talking about something that belongs to someone,
for example, you could say this pen belongs to Annemarie,
but it's more common and much easier to say this is Annemarie's
pen. In that example, I'm also using an apostrophe,
but in this case it shows belonging or possession.
So we do need to be careful in writing of distinguishing
contractions,
where we are indicating missing sounds or letters and the
possessive form. As we continue today,
we will be talking about whether you should or can use contractions in writing.
But for now I have one more thing I want to add about how contractions work.
Again, contractions happen because we are lazy and casual in our
conversation. Over time,
contractions can become standardized.
What that means is they are commonly accepted and they can be used in a
variety of conversations and in some writing as well,
we make exceptions for very formal or academic writing.
In addition to standard contractions, we have non-standard contractions.
What that means is they're considered to be extremely informal and should
only be used in the most casual conversations and in the most casual
forms of writing as well in this lesson today,
you will learn both standard and non-standard contractions that are often
used, and we'll go over the pronunciation as well.
Now that you know how contractions work let's talk about when you should use
them and why you should like many of my students,
you may be confused about when it's appropriate to use contractions,
but to help make it clear.
Here are some simple guidelines to follow contractions,
tend to be used.
In most conversations we have that includes casual conversations with
friends, family, neighbors,
and in professional situations as well, chatting with coworkers,
sharing ideas in a business meeting,
it is perfectly appropriate and common to use contractions in those
situations. In addition to most conversations,
we also use contractions in informal writing as well.
You'll see them used often in emails, blog posts,
social media, and so on.
And now here's when to avoid using contractions.
We don't use contractions in formal writing.
That includes business letters, resumes, cover letters,
academic papers, research papers, and so on. Similarly,
we avoid contractions in formal conversations as well.
That includes giving a formal presentation or formal lecture
or introducing yourself at a very formal business meeting.
So what should you do if you're not really sure?
My best advice is to listen to other people around you.
If you're in a business meeting and you notice that everyone's using
contractions, then that's a sign that it's okay for you to do.
So as well at this point, you may be thinking,
this sounds really complicated.
Do I really need to learn all these contractions?
Should I really use them in my conversation? And my answer to that is yes!
Yes, you should.
Not only are contractions considered a way to make our speech sound natural,
but they definitely make our conversations more casual or
informal. And here's why that's so important.
Imagine meeting your best friend for coffee, you arrive at the coffee shop.
You sit down and you say, "Hello, Amy, good morning.
It is really good to see you.
How are you doing today?" Doesn't that sound a bit
strange?
Why?
Because it's overly formal.
When we use overly formal language with friends,
neighbors, family members, and coworkers, it creates distance between us.
It feels cold and strange.
Using contractions changes that it naturally makes our
conversation more informal, casual.
It feels open and more friendly. So instead of that distant,
formal language at the coffee shop with your best friend, you could say, "Hey,
Amy, it's good to see you.
How's it going?" That sounds much better now that
you know how contractions work when you should use them and why you should,
let's go over 25 common contractions,
I'll start with 20 standard contractions,
those excepted contractions and five nonstandard
in these examples.
I definitely want to make sure you know how these contractions sound and how
they're pronounced.
Plus I'll include many of them in an example sentence so that you can also hear
how they sound with other words around them.
Because of course in a conversation,
you don't hear contractions in isolation.
You hear them inside sentences. So I want you to get more comfortable with that.
As I go through this list,
I definitely recommend that you listen and repeat after me.
So you get that practice of saying these out loud and get more comfortable with
the pronunciation. Let's get started right away with the two most common.
Recently, I shared a lesson on three introductions you need at work.
And in all those examples, I used these contractions.
I'm Annemarie. I'm Annemarie. I'm
Annemarie I'm Annemarie. My
name's, my name's,
my name's Annemarie, my name's Annemarie.
Do you notice that /s/ sounds like a /z/ sound?
It has a -z sound. My name's.
My name's Annemarie. Similarly,
we have he's and she's. Again,
that S has a Z sound. He's.
She's. She's late. We're. We're.
We're going out to dinner. We're going out to dinner.
Your're. You're. You're late.
They're. They're.
They're coming tomorrow. They're coming tomorrow.
I'll. I'll. I'll call you later.
I'll call you later. We'll. We'll.
We'll see you later. We'll see you later.
They'll. They'll. They'll call us later.
They'll call us later. He'll.
She'll He'll.
She'll. She'll finish it tomorrow. She'll finish it tomorrow.
Don't don't.
Doesn't doesn't. Wasn't
wasn't. Weren't weren't.
Even after working over time, they weren't able to finish their project on time.
Won't won't.
Wouldn't wouldn't.
I wouldn't do that if I were you.
Couldn't couldn't.
Shouldn't shouldn't. How's.
How's. How's it going?
How's it going? How'd. How'd.
How'd the presentation go? How'd the presentation go?
As a reminder, those 20 contractions are standard or accepted contractions.
That means we use them often in our conversations,
and we're likely to use them in non-formal writing as well.
Let's finish up with a few examples of non-standard contractions.
These are contractions that should only be used in the most informal
conversations. And in the most informal forms of writing. Number one why'd.
Why'd. Why'd you do that?
Why'd you do that? Number two, who'd. Who'd've.
Who'd've have thought contractions could be so interesting?
Who'd've thought contractions could be so interesting? We'd've. We'd've.
We'd've
finished the project on time if we'd had all the details.
We'd've finished the project on time if we'd had all the details.
Notice in that example, I also use the contraction we'd.
If we had had all the details,
if we'd had all the details. Number four
must've. She must've missed the train.
She must've missed the train. And finally,
our last one for today, I'd've,
I'd've I'd've called them yesterday,
but I didn't get home till late. I'd've called you yesterday,
but I didn't get home til late.
And now you have 25 new contractions to add to your English
conversations so that you're able to say words faster
and more easily.
Now it may not be easy at the beginning learning to say
contractions correctly and feeling comfortable with them takes time.
So be patient with yourself,
give yourself the opportunity to listen to the examples I shared here.
Practice repeating them out loud and say them often doing that will
also make you more aware of when other English speakers use them and you'll
understand them more easily. If you found today's lesson useful to you,
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And number three,
be sure to practice and share your comments or questions with me in the comment
section below this video, have a wonderful week.
Thank you so much for joining me.
And I look forward to seeing you next time for your Confident English lesson.