italki Student Activity - Using English Contractions In English, we often join two words together, particularly when we use the verbs do and have, or when we want to use a negative form. A pronoun can be contracted with the verbs “be”, “be able”, “have”, “is”, “let”, “may”, “shall”, “who”, “will”, and also the conjunction “where”. Here is a list of pronoun-verb or conjunction-verb contractions; he’d, he’ll, he’s, I’d, I’ll, I’m, I’ve, it’s, let’s, she’d, she’ll, she’s, that’s, there’s, they’d, they’ll, they’re, they’ve, we’d, we’re, we’ve, what’ll, what’re, what’s, what’ve, where’d, where’ll, where’s, where’ve, who’d, who’ll, who’re, who’s, who’ve, you’d, you’ll, you’re, you’ve. Here are a list of negative form contractions; aren’t, can’t, couldn't, didn’t, doesn’t, don’t, hadn’t, hasn’t, haven’t, isn’t, mustn’t, shan’t, shouldn’t, weren’t, wouldn’t. Notice most contractions have similar endings. ‘d =had or would, eg. he’d means he had, he would. ‘ll = will or shall, eg. she’ll means she will, she shall. ‘m = am, eg. I’m means I am. n’t = not, eg. wouldn’t means would not. ‘re = are, eg. what’re means what are. ‘s = is or has, eg. it’s means it is, it has. ‘ve = have, eg. we’ve means we have. Remember the apostrophe (‘) is silent in most contractions, though in some it becomes a schwa /ə/ sound. Also, the final “e” in all cases is silent. Activity (1): Convert the following contractions back to their full form he’ll - he will that’s - t____ ____ or t____ ____ he’d - h__ ___ or h__ _____ where’d - w____ ____ or w____ ____ couldn’t - c____ ____ I’m - I __ they’ve - t___ ____ you’re - y___ ____ Activity (2): Write a short paragraph about something you should have done (in the home, at work) but did not do, and use at least five contractions.