Spoken English Handout

Lesson—02

Foundation for Speaking

Contractions

Contractions are very common in spoken English. They are not so common in written English. We may use contractions in a friendly letter, for example, but they are not usually correct in more formal texts such as business letters or essays. If you have to write an essay in an exam, do not use contractions. The only exception to this would be when you quote somebody within your essay, for example spoken dialogue.

1. Positive Contractions                       2. Negative Contractions        
3. Other Contractions              3. Informal Contractions

We often "contract" or shorten words in English. For example, we may say "he's" instead of "he is". Here are some example sentences:

I'm coming.  

They haven't gone.

Who's calling?

We do this especially when we speak. We do not contract words so much when we write.

1. Positive Contractions                  

Long form	Short form	Use (student will write) [Notice the use of intonation]
I am	I'm
I have	I've
I will/I shall	I'll
I would/I should/I had	I'd
you are	you're
you have	you've
you will	you'll
you had/you would	you'd
he has/he is	he's
he will	he'll
he had/he would	he'd
she has/she is	she's
she will	she'll
she had/she would	she'd
it has/it is	it's
it will	it'll
we are	we're
we have	we've
we will	we'll
we had/we would	we'd
they are	they're
they have	they've
they will	they'll
they had/they would	they'd

Notes

Be careful. Some contractions can have two or three meanings. For example, he'd can be he had or he would. It depends on the rest of the sentence. Look at these examples:

• He'd like to go. (He would like to go.)
• He'd finished when I arrived. (He had finished when I arrived.)

The contraction 's (= is or has) is not used only with pronouns. It can also be used with nouns, names, question words and words like "here" and "there", for example: The train's late. John's arrived. Where's the phone? Here's your change. There's a policeman.

It is possible, and common, to contract three words, for example: I'd've thought so = I would have thought so.

2. Negative Contractions                  

Long form	Short form	Use (student will write)
are not	aren't
cannot	can't
could not	couldn't
dare not	daren't
did not	didn't
does not	doesn't
do not	don't
has not	hasn't
have not	haven't
had not	hadn't
is not	isn't
may not	mayn't
might not	mightn't
must not	mustn't
need not	needn't
ought not	oughtn't
shall not	shan't
should not	shouldn't
was not	wasn't
were not	weren't
will not	won't
would not	wouldn't

Notes
With the verb "to be", two negative forms are possible - we aren't or we're not etc.

In questions, am not is contracted to aren't, for example: I'm late, aren't I?

Long form	Short form	Example	Make a sentence
here is	here's	Here's your meal.
there will	there'll	There'll be nobody here tomorrow.
there is	there's	There's a taxi!
that is	that's	That's my car!
that will	that'll	That'll be Tk.10, I guess.
how is?	how's	How's your wife?
What, will?	what'll	What'll people think?
what is?	what's	What's the matter?
when is?	when's	When's the wedding?
where is?	where's	Where's the cinema?
who is?	who's	Who's your teacher?
who would?	who'd	Who'd like ice-cream?
who will?	who'll	Who'll be there?

4. Informal Contractions                 

Informal contractions are short forms of other words that people use when speaking casually. They are not exactly slang, but they are a little like slang.

Warning!

These informal contractions are not "correct" English. Do not use them in a written exam.

For example, GONNA is a short form of "going to". If you say "going to" very fast, without carefully pronouncing each word, it can sound like "gonna".

Please remember that these are informal contractions. That means that we do not use them in "correct" speech, and we almost never use them in writing. We normally use them only when speaking fast and casually, for example with friends. Many people never use them, even in informal speech.

Here are some of the most common informal contractions, with example sentences:

·         ain't = am not/are not/is not
I ain't sure.
You ain't my boss.

·         ain't = has not/have not
I ain't done it.
She ain't finished yet.

·         gimme = give me
Gimme your money.
Don't gimme that rubbish.
Can you gimme a hand?

·         gonna = going to
Nothing's gonna change my love for you.
I'm not gonna tell you.
What are you gonna do?

·         gotta = (have) got a
I've gotta gun.
I gotta gun.
She hasn't gotta penny.
Have you gotta car?

·         gotta = (have) got to
I've gotta go now.
I gotta go now.
We haven't gotta do that.
Have they gotta work?

·         kinda = kind of
She's kinda cute.

·         lemme = let me
Lemme go!

·         wanna = want to
I wanna go home.

·         wanna = want a
I wanna a can.

·         whatcha = what are you
Whatcha going to do?
Whatcha got there?

It is probably true to say that these informal contractions are more common in American English than in British English. Also note that the sentences above may be a little artificial because when we use a contraction, we may also use other contractions in the same sentence, or even drop some words completely. For example:

• I am not going to tell you. Avwg †Zvgv‡K ejwQ bv|
• I ain't gonna tell you.

or

• Do you want a can (soft drink)?
• Do you wanna can?
• D'you wanna can?
• D'ya wanna can?
• Ya wanna can?

Wanna a can?

Basics on Singular-Plural and Making Sentences

1) The first one is done for you.

Read the following sentences	Make Sentences
A horse is an animal.	A dog is an animal.
English is______ language.
Dhaka is ______ city.
Korea is ______ country.
Europe is ______ continent.
_____dictionary is _____book.
_____ hotel is _____ building.
_____ is _____ animal.
_____ bee is _____ insect.
_____ ant is _____ insect.

2) Complete the following sentences and use appropriate article and the following words: animal, continent, insect, city, country, language, machine, person, building, device

The first one is done for you.

Read the following sentences	Make Sentences
Arabic is a language.	China is __________________.
Rome is __________________.	Russian is ________________.
A cat is __________________.	A cow is__________________.
Asia is __________________.	A fly is __________________.
Tokyo is __________________.	A computer is _____________.
Spanish is __________________.	A president is _____________.
Mexico is __________________.	A school is ________________.
London is __________________.	A mobile is _______________.
A bee is __________________.	India is __________________.
South America is ______________.	Barisal is _________________.
A dog is __________________.	Bangla is _________________.

3) Change the singular sentences to plural sentences.

The first one is done for you.

Singular	Plural
An ant is an insect.	Ants are insects.
A computer is a machine.
A dictionary is a book.
A chicken is a bird.
A rose is a flower.
A carrot is a vegetable.
A rabbit is an animal.

4) Complete the following sentences.

The first one is done for you.

1. A dog is an animal.             

Dogs____________________________.

2. Spanish is a language.

            Bangla and Hindi ____________________________.

3. Asia ____________________________.

            America and Africa ____________________________.

4. Bangladesh ____________________________.

            Thailand and Viet Nam __________________________.

5. Butterflies _________________________________________.

6. A butterfly ________________________________________.

7. An automobile _____________________________________.

8. London and Baghdad _______________________________.

Getting to know you

Read the following incomplete sentences and also the incomplete questions. Your partner will answer to your questions and you will write Yes or No in the Yes/No columns. In the ‘Other Information’ column, you will write information if information doesn’t match with the given questions.  Your partner will do the same as you have done.

Find out if your partner:

	Yes	No	Other Information
is afraid of the dark. (Are you……?)
is married. (If answer is Yes, find out what your partner’s wife/husband is called)
is good at sport.
lives I a town or a village.
always does his/her homework.
goes home by bus.
has got a dog or a cat. (Have you got…?)
has got any relatives abroad.
can swim. (Can you……?)
can speak two foreign languages. (How many foreign…….?
was born in May or June. (Were you …….?
started school before s/he was seven. (Did you start……?)
listened to the Radio Aamar last night. (Did you ……..?)
has been to Chittagong. (Have you…..?)
has had two friends. (How many friends have …..?)
is going abroad next summer.
would  like to be a millionaire. (Would you…………)

Conversation Questions
 Ghosts

Ø  Do you believe in ghosts?

Ø  Do you believe that dead people come back to life as ghosts?

Ø  Would you like to talk to a ghost?

Ø  Do you know anyone who has said that they have seen a ghost?

Ø  Have you ever come in contact with a ghost? (Have you ever seen a ghost?)

Ø  What is the scariest ghost story you know?

Ø  If you were a ghost who and where would you haunt?

Ø  If you don't believe in ghost, tell why?

Ø  Do you put any faith in the modern day ghost hunters?

Ø  Do you believe your ancestors are watching you?

Ø  Have you seen a ghost? What kind of ghost? Did you get to talk with the ghost?