No matter where you look, contractions are everywhere in English – in spoken language as well as in writing: “I’m going to be late”, “don’t you hate that?”, “God, you’d better do it.”
English speakers LOVE to reduce certain words and connect them to other words. This way it’s easier to know which words are more important and you get more flow when you speak.
Now, the full forms of these words (I am going) are definitely found in spoken English but usually if that’s the case, there’s a reason for that.
So for example, if someone says “I will do it” they might be putting more emphasis on the word ‘will’ to convey their full intention to do it, or emphasizing the fact that this time it’s actually going to happen. But if they say “I’ll do it” they put more emphasis on the verb ‘do’.
Why do we avoid these contractions?
For non-native speakers these contractions may not be so intuitive, so they tend to use the long form.
The first reason has to do with the fact that contracted forms are more common in speaking than in writing and non-native speakers tend to rely on the written word. They might even think these contractions are inappropriate in speaking (although they totally are).
Some non-native speakers might feel that using these contractions would make them sound unclear. So they naturally avoid them, while it’s the other way around – you become more clear when you use them. It’s just a matter of finding out how to use them correctly and to figure out what in pronouncing them poses a challenge, and how to overcome it.
Have you ever avoided contractions? Do you feel like you’re mumbling when you say words like I’ll, it’d, or couldn’t? If you do, this video is a must for you because you’ll find several ways to go around these forms.
And if you scroll down, you’ll find a list of key contractions to download and practice for free. Because if you want to turn knowledge into a habit, you have to take action! Download and practice NOW
After watching the video, let me know in the comments below which contractions in English are the most difficult for you to pronounce!
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9 Comments on “English Contractions: The Ultimate Pronunciation Guide”
Hadar you are a great teacher! Thank you so much!
Hi
Hadar
l like this video and more understand how to talk,
how to use
Thanks
Great video, thanks a lot.
Regards from Brazil.
Dear Hadar ! The video is of course, superb since it’s a video by Hadar. It’s vibrant, interesting, riveting. I would be interested whether are contractions the remnants of the old language usage or have they appeared just in modern times ? Using contractions one really may save some time but I think this might not be a relevant cause of their existence. I like American English much better than the authentic British one and love American people. Nevertheless, I don’t want to be an American. (I feel I’m very different of them in general and I would like to stay just as I’m myself.) I feel using all the contractions I should adopt a second English language. So, if it might incidentally come to my mind the contraction I will use It. However I won’t compulsively strive to use them. Thank you so much for the exhilarating video again. Laszlo
Hey Laszlo,
thank you for your comment. Here’s a quite concise review of the history of contractions in the English language https://historicallyirrelevant.com/post/3505130893/the-history-of-contractions And yes, it seems that they always been there)
“LIKED THIS VIDEO?”
No, because I can’t even watch it. I tried it with this browsers: OPERA, Firefox, Google Chrome. Neither one plays this video. I’m at an iMac with OS X El Captain.
Best regards
Herbert Huber
Germany
Hi, Herbert.
It’s strange you can’t watch the video because as far as I can see now all is OK. Could you send a screenshot of what’s the problem (or just describe it)?
Can you watch it with this link? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhitQrxTmM4
You’re amazing as always ! Thank you for this interesting video! I’ve learned a lot 🙂
Your videos are highly appreciated. Thank you.