Contractions

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NOTE: & = schwa

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	after a vowel	example	after a consonant	example
will	/l/	Who'll do it? Why'll it change?	/&l/	When'll you go? This'll look good.
have	/v/	We've got it. They've seen it.	/&v/	I could've done it. The students've changed.
would, had	/d/	They'd been there. I'd do it if I could.	/&d/	It'd be good if Bob'd participate. These'd be useful.

Listen to the following contractions. Think about where they fit in the table above.

• Wh- words: who'll; what'd
  
• Proper names: Dan'll; Professor Smith'd
  
• Common nouns: the exam'll; a guy'd
  
• Demonstratives: that'll; this'd
  

Listen to the following sentences which contain contracted forms of is and has. The letter "s" is pronounced in three different ways: /s/, /z/ and /&z/. What's the rule for knowing when to produce each of these sounds? Consider the last sound before the contraction, not the spelling.

1	2	3
Our technique's not yet perfected. What's wrong with the design?	Her name's Professor Watkins. Why's it round?	This's interesting. The sequence's unpredictable. The second phase's starting now. English's sometimes referred to as the language of business. Beige's a bland colour. The research's taken us two years. The judge's going to reconsider her decision.

ANSWERS

Listen to the following examples:

Try repeating the sentences. The sound is indicated on the right.

1. Our approach's really quite novel. /&z/
   
2. The job's been given to someone else. /z/
   
3. The network's been down for two hours. /s/
   
4. Faculty and students'll be present. /&l/
   
5. An accurate diagnosis's critical. /&z/
   
6. We've already submitted the proposal. /v/
   
7. Organic chemistry's my strength. /z/
   
8. I'd like to register for this course. /d/
   
9. The image's been discoloured in one corner. /&z/
   Click again.
10. What'd the results show? /&d/
    
11. The judge's rendered a guilty verdict. /&z/
    
12. He'll give feedback at the next session. /l/
    
13. What's the correlation between the two? /s/
    
14. I should've included appendices. /&v/
    
15. The graph's been revised to show current trends. /s/
    
16. The author's won an award. /z/
    
17. The lens's scratched. /&z/
    
18. Who's on your committee? /z/
    

Looking for more practice? Go to Practice text 2: "Moon" landing with a twist