| Contraction (grammar) |
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In English, contractions are usually but not always either negations or combinations of Pronoun s with Auxiliary verbs, and in these cases always include an apostrophe. Negations are generally in the form of ''doesn't'' for ''does not'', or ''wouldn't'' for ''would not'', where the apostrophe stands for the missing "o" in ''not'' (this is not always the case, as in ''won't'' for ''will not''). The second category is generally in the form of pronoun + ''to be'', as in "It's cold today" or "We're going downtown," where the apostrophe again stands for a missing Vowel , either "i" or "a". The second category also often uses a form of ''to have'', as in "He's gone to bed" or "We've finally gotten there." In this case, the Apostrophe stands for the missing "h" plus "a". It should be noted, though, that only British English allows a ''to have'' to contract when it is the primary verb (as with the phrase "I've a date today"). Although uncommon in written English, people often use complex contractions such as ''wouldn't've'' for ''would not have''. Although these can look awkward in print, they are not necessarily incorrect. It is not acceptable in formal written English to use contractions such as "I've" or "can't." Many people writing English confuse the possessive form of the pronoun ''it'' with its contractions. The possessive form has no apostrophe (''its''), while the contraction of ''it is'' or ''it has'' does have an apostrophe (''it's''). See List Of Frequently Misused English Words . Outside the English contractions described above, contractions are virtually the same concept as Portmanteau s. The French Language has contraction forms similar to English, as in ''C'est la vie'' ("That's life"), where ''c'est'' stands for ''ce est'' ("that is"). In general, any word-final, non-silent ''e'' will contract if the following word begins with a vowel. For example the common words ''que'' (qu'-), ''je'' (j'-), and ''de'' (d'-). Both French and Italian use a form of contraction combining the article ''le'' (French masculine form of "the") or ''la'' (French and Italian feminine form of "the"). For instance, in French, there is the phrase ''L'état c'est moi'' ( Louis XIV : "I am the state," or, literally, "The state is me"). Spanish also has some contractions, such as the variant ''trecientos'' (three hundred) for ''tres cientos''. Spanish also has two mandatory phonetic contractions: ''al'' (to the) for ''a el'', and ''del'' (of the) for ''de el'' (not to be confused with ''a él'', meaning ''to him'', and ''de él'', meaning ''his'' or, more literally, ''of him''.) In . In German Prepositional Phrase s, one can often merge the preposition and the Article ; for example, ''von dem'' becomes ''vom'', ''zu dem'' becomes ''zum'', or ''an das'' becomes ''ans''. Some of these are so common that they are mandatory. In informal speech, also ''aufm'' for ''auf dem'', ''unterm'' for ''unter dem'', etc. are used, but would be considered incorrect if written. SEE ALSO |
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