{"id":6628,"date":"2018-05-17T12:59:27","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T16:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=6628"},"modified":"2018-05-17T12:59:27","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T16:59:27","slug":"informal-english-contractions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/informal-english-contractions\/","title":{"rendered":"Informal English Contractions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fotos de Ana Mari L\u00f3pez Tamayo para Catedrales e Iglesias via Flickr CCO<\/p><\/div>\n

Native English speakers can be very lazy with our own language. We create contractions<\/strong> based on the way we actually say things. In time, these contractions work their way into everyday speech. However, if you are learning our language and you hear one of these contractions, you can\u2019t be faulted for wondering just what is being said. The fault, to paraphrase Shakespeare, lies in ourselves.<\/p>\n

To contract something is to make it smaller or shorter. In language, a contraction is made by combining two or more words, then leaving some letters out, thus forming an entirely new word. Many of these contracted words have become widely accepted in our language. The contraction isn\u2019t<\/em>, for example, comes from combining the words is and not. Such contractions date as far back as Old English<\/strong>, between 450 and 1150 AD. It is very hard to complain about anything which has been around as long as that.<\/p>\n

In the last century, though, there has been an explosion of informal contractions<\/strong>, particularly in American English usage. They aren\u2019t technically slang<\/strong>, which are words and phrases unique to various specific groups. These are words which have come to us from a very casual approach to the way we speak. Whenever people try to write these down, they are written phonetically<\/strong>, meaning that they write them the way that they sound. They were never intended to be written, but continual use has prompted many authors to add them to dialogue in books, comics, songs, and plays. Many modern song lyricists, like rappers and hip-hop artists, introduced or adopted these contractions for their lyrics, and they have now become widely accepted.<\/p>\n

Here is a list of some informal contractions which have found their way into common use in everyday language. You will note that they are distinguished from typical contractions by the lack of apostrophes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n