It is quite unfortunate
that most English users now use the "language of social media" as a
cover-up for their ill knowledge of English. This is neither a mere talk
nor a display of writing prowess, but a validated claim. A visit to one of the
biggest social media platforms, Facebook, will expose you to the bastardization
of the English Language by users of this platform. One way users of this
platform bastardize the English Language is through their use of contracted
forms. In English, Contraction is an act of shortening a word or phrase by omitting
one or more sounds or letters from it by the use of apostrophe ('). For
example, instead of saying "will not", one can say,
"won't". "Won't" becomes the contraction or contracted form
of "will not".
Contraction aids writing fluency and also makes our chat very
interesting. Consequently, 99.9% of English users make use of it. Out of its
numerous users, only a handful of them has adequate knowledge of how it works. Most
users of social media now use "your" as the contracted form of
"you are", "am" as "I am", "its" as
"It is" etc. This level of ignorance is not just unacceptable but
also disheartening. Therefore, this article discusses some of the English
contractions and their meanings.
1. I'm
It really pisses me off when I see so called graduates and even
graduates of English using "am" as the contracted form of "I
am". It is even a common practice among native speakers. It will interest
to know that "I'm" is the contracted form of "I am".
2. I'll
This is the contracted form of "I will". "ll"
can be paired with other personal pronouns like: we, you, they, he, she and it,
and you will have other variants like: We'll (we will), you'll (you will),
they'll (they will), he'll (he will), she'll (she will) and it'll (it will).
3. I'd
This is the contracted form of "I would" or "I
had". Other possible variants are: They'd, he'd, we'd, she'd, you'd,
etc.
4. Ain't
"Ain't"
is the shortened form of "am not". For example, "I
ain't going anywhere" which can also be written as "I am not going
anywhere."
5. Aren't
It is the shortened form of "are not". For example,
"They aren't here".
READ ALSO: The difference between "types of
verbs" and "forms of verbs" HERE.
6. You're
Ignorance has never let most persons use "you're" to
mean "you are". They use "your" as the shortened form of "you are" instead. If you're among
this set of persons, note that "you're" is the contracted
form of "you are". Other possible variants are: they're (they
are) and we're (we are).
7. It's
"It's" is the contracted form of "It is"
or "It has" depending on the sentence. Other related variants are: he's ("he
is" or "he has"), what's ("what is" or "what
has") that's (that is), who's (who is), where's (where is), and there's
(there is).
I've seen most persons use "who's" as the contracted
form of "whose". Please, if you are in this class, stop it!
8. They've
This is the contracted form of "they have". Other variants
are: I've (I have) and we've (we have).
9. Can't
This is a negative contraction. It is the shortened form of "cannot".
Other negative contractions in English are: won't (will not), doesn't (does
not), haven't (have not), didn't (did not), hadn't (had not), ain't (am not),
aren't (are not), mustn't (must not) etc.
Note: All auxiliary verbs can form a
negative contraction. Read more about auxiliary verb HERE.
10. Let's
Most English speakers use "let's" and "lets"
interchangeably. Whereas "let's" is the contracted form of
"let us", "lets" is the simple present of the
verb "let".
Examples:
Come let's reason together/Come let us reason
together.
The he lets the cat out of the bag, I will kill him.
Although there are other contracted forms in English, the aforementioned
are discussed because they pose a lot of problems among English users.
This revelation of Psquare on Buhari's administration is fast becoming a
reality. You can read it HERE.
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