Lesson 15 – Contractions

Imitation

Try to mimic the pronunciation in the following video.

Review

1. What kinds of words are usually stressed?
2. What kinds of words are usually unstressed?
3. When do you break the stress rules?

Practice

Mark the stressed words:

1. July is the hottest month of the year.
2. How long did you go swimming for?
3. These were the events leading up to her birthday celebration.

In the second sentence, how would you give it a better rhythm?

Write the IPA for the third sentence.

Unstressed words in a sentence

Stress count

Notice that even though the number of words in the following sentences are different, the number of stressed syllables is the same.

ˈKids ˈeat ˈice.
The ˈkids ˈeat ˈice.
The ˈkids are ˈeating ˈice.
The ˈkids are ˈeating some ˈice.
The ˈkids are ˈeating some ˈice cream.
The ˈkids are ˈeating some ˈice cream with me.
The ˈkids will be ˈeating some ˈice cream with me.

ˈDon’t ˈfeed ˈbears.
ˈDon’t ˈfeed the ˈbears.
ˈDon’t ˈfeed them the ˈbears.
ˈDon’t ˈfeed them to the ˈbears.
You ˈdon’t ˈfeed them to the ˈbears.
You ˈdon’t want to ˈfeed them to the ˈbears.
You ˈdon’t want to ˈfeed them to the ˈbears now.

Differentiating unstressed words

Listen to the unstressed words in the following sentences:

(Sentences taken from Manual of American English Pronunciation by Prator and Robinett.)

ˈWhere did (he, she, it) ˈgo?
ˈPlease ˈgive (them, him, her) the ˈtickets.
Is ˈBob (on, in) the ˈbus?
It’s ˈbetter (than, that) you ˈthink it is.
Would you ˈlike some ˈmoney (and, or, for) a ˈcar?
The ˈstore (can, could, would) ˈbring you the ˈpackage.
They ˈhaven’t ˈgiven (us, as) ˈmuch ˈmoney.
ˈWhen are you going to ˈtell me (the, a, her) ˈstory?
Were you ˈasked (your, her) ˈname?
The ˈbook ˈcame (from, for) the ˈlibrary.

 

Contractions

Contractions are two words that are pronounced like one.

Be contractions

	am, is, are
I	I’m
you	you’re
he	he’s
she	she’s
it	it’s
we	we’re
they	they’re
that	that’s
who	who’s (are)
what	what’s (are)
where	where’s (are)
when	when’s (are)
why	why’s (are)
how	how’s (are)

Will contractions

	will
I	I’ll
you	you’ll
he	he’ll
she	she’ll
it	it’ll
we	we’ll
they	they’ll
that	that’ll
who	who’ll
what	what will
where	where will
when	when will
why	why will
how	how will

Would contractions

	would
I	I’d
you	you’d
he	he’d
she	she’d
it	it’d
we	we’d
they	they’d
that	that’d
who	who’d
what	what would
where	where would
when	when would
why	why would
how	how would

Have contractions

	have has
I	I’ve
you	you’ve
he	he’s
she	she’s
it	it’s
we	we’ve
they	they’ve
that	that’s
who	who’ve
what	what have
where	where have
when	when have
why	why have
how	how have

Had contractions

	had
I	I’d
you	you’d
he	he’d
she	she’d
it	it’d
we	we’d
they	they’d
that	that’d
who	who’d
what	what’d
where	where’d
when	when had
why	why had
how	how had

Can combinations

	(can)
I	I can
you	you can
he	he can
she	she can
it	it can
we	we can
they	they can
that	that can
who	who can
what	what can
where	where can
when	when can
why	why can
how	how can

Could combinations

	(could)
I	I could
you	you could
he	he could
she	she could
it	it could
we	we could
they	they could
that	that could
who	who could
what	what could
where	where could
when	when could
why	why could
how	how could

Not contractions

	not
is	isn’t
are	aren’t
was	wasn’t
were	weren’t
have	haven’t
has	hasn’t
had	hadn’t
will	won’t
would	wouldn’t
do	don’t
does	doesn’t
did	didn’t
can	can’t
could	couldn’t
should	shouldn’t
might	mightn’t
must	mustn’t

Would contractions

	have
would	would’ve
should	should’ve
could	could’ve
might	might’ve
must	must’ve

Summary

Non-standard contractions

going to	gonna	gənə	I’m gonna see her next week.
got to	gotta	‘gɑɾə	I gotta go.
has to	hasta	‘hæstə	She hasta finish her homework first.
have to	hafta	‘hæftə	What do you hafta do?
ought to	oughta	‘ɔdə	He oughta be done by now.
used to	usta	‘justə	I usta play that when I was a kid.
want to	wanna	‘wɑnə	What do you wanna do?
kind of	kinda	‘kaɪnə	It’s kinda cold in here.
a lot of	a lotta	ə’lɑɾə	Wow, there’s a lotta people in here.

Note that the meaning can change based on the pronunciation:

I’m gonna be good.
I’m going to church.
What have we gotta eat?
What have we got to eat?
What does she hafta say?
What does she have to say?
It’s what he hasta do.
It’s all he has to work with.
This is what you usta cook with.
This is what you used to cook with.
How much do you wanna do it?
How much does he want to do it?

Sentences based on Manual of American English by Prator and Robinett

A word of caution

Wanna, gonna, gotta and the others are spoken English and informal written English. You shouldn’t use them to write in formal or academic settings. You may see them in informal settings like pop songs, text messages between friends, or movie subtitles.

Be careful of being too informal

‘wʌʤjə’du
‘waɪonʔjə’seɪt
‘ʤiʔ’jɛʔ noʊ ʤju

Which means

What did you do?
Why don’t you say it?
Did you eat yet? No, did you?

Homework

Assignment 1

This is the final exam dialog. Mark the stressed words according to the rules.

Good morning, Susan. Where are you going?
Hi, Mrs. Jones! I’m going to the store.
I need to go, too. Let’s go together.
Sounds good. Are you buying food?
Yes. I want to get something healthy for my family.
Will you get fruit or vegetables?
Yes, but there’s a problem.
My kids don’t like vegetables, and my husband doesn’t like fruit.
So will you get fruit or vegetables?
I think I’ll get both: apples, bananas, carrots, and tomatoes.
You have two kids, don’t you?
Yes. Two boys.
I’m sure they eat a lot, don’t they?
That’s for sure. They eat more than my husband does.
How often do you have to go shopping?
About twice a week.
Do you usually walk to the store?
No, I usually drive to the store.
Well, here we are.

Assignment 2

Find one minute of audio speaking from a native speaker. Transcribe it in IPA.