Contractions in English

A contraction is a shorter form of two words, or phrase. English makes use of a lot of contractions, especially in speech. Words are “squashed” together. This is a typical feature of English which people may find difficult to grasp when they start to learn English.

Let’s see…

•                   It is important to remember that a contraction is not one word, although it sounds like a single one.
•                   They are commonplace in spoken English, and in informal written English.
•                   Contractions are a typical characteristic of rhythm in English.
•                   Native English speakers use contractions in speech, they do not pronounce every single word.

Listening for, and using contractions will make it easier for you to understand native speakers. Besides, it will make your pronunciation a lot better. Once you train your ear, you will detect contractions and, eventually, will use them naturally.

Typical contractions involve subject pronouns, auxiliary verbs, negative adverb “not”, verb “be”, and question words. Some examples:

Don’t ………………………………………. Do + not

Isn’t ………………………………………… is + not

Who’s ……………………………………..  who + is / who + has

Can’t ……………………………………….. can + not

I’m …………………………………………… I + am

They’ll ………………………………………. They + will


There are other cases where contractions occur. For instance:

What d’you want?..................................... what do you want?

He’s gonna come later. …………………………. He is going to come later.

D’you fancy a cuppa? …………………………….  Do you fancy a cup of tea?

I hope this has been useful. :)  Feel free to comment.