Contractions in English

One challenging aspect of learning English is that there are different registers: we have spoken English and written English, formal English and informal English. Some words are okay in every register, but others are only okay in speech. Some only sound right in writing. 

Contractions are a big part of distinguishing between these different forms of English. If you ever go to an English-speaking university, you'll find that you can't use can't or don't or isn't in your academic writing. Let's take a look at what contractions are and how they can make your English more or less formal.

What are Contractions?

Contractions are words that combine two or more other words together into a new shortened version, usually using an apostrophe ('). Contractions are very common in spoken English. You have probably heard some of these common contractions: I'm, can't, aren't, don't, didn't. 

The apostrophe is small, but important. In writing you must use the apostrophe. You do not pronounce it, but it is important in writing. Notice that the apostrophe represents some letters that are missing from the longer form of the word. For instance, the apostrophe in didn't is in place of the O in did not and the apostrophe in I'm  is in the place of the A in I am.

Be careful, because not every word with an apostrophe is a contraction. Possessive nouns in English end with apostrophe -s, (Bob's house, Carla's mom) but these are not contractions.

Why Do We Have Contractions?

Contractions originate in speech. We are lazy when we speak English! When we are speaking quickly, we reduce certain sounds (make them shorter and quieter), and over time we elide them completely (we don't pronounce them at all). So over time, she will becomes she'll, I have becomes I've, going to becomes gonna. 

When do we use contractions?

This question has a slightly complicated answer.

We frequently use contractions in spoken English, and you should try to use common contractions in your speech to make your English more fluent. We generally do not use any contractions in formal writing (academic papers, for examples).

In between casual speech and formal written English, there is a gray area: we have more formal spoken English, like presentations and business meetings. We have less formal writing, like emails and letters. In this case, you have more of a choice. Some people use contractions and some do not. In this gray area, we should also talk about different types of contractions!

Standard Contractions

Not all contractions are the same. Some are more standard and acceptable than others. Standard contractions include the following:

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Great poem by Shel Silverstein about informal contractions

• there's
• wasn't
• we'd
• we'll
• we're
• we've
• weren't
• won't
• wouldn't
• you'd
• you'll
• you're

• he's
• how'd
• how's
• I'd
• I'm
• I've
• isn't
• let's
• she'd
• she'll
• she's
• shouldn't

• aren't
• can't
• couldn't
• didn't
• doesn't
• don't
• hadn't
• hasn't
• haven't
• he'd
• he'll
• he's

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Some Standard English Contractions

You can use these in anything but formal writing. This means they are common in speech, creative writing, emails, text messages, notes, and letters. Try to pay attention when you are reading online. Are there contractions in what you are reading? If there are no contractions, you are probably reading a more formal style of writing.

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Nonstandard Contractions

But there are other contractions that are nonstandard. These contractions have evolved more recently and haven't become as acceptable in written English yet. Nonstandard contractions should only be used in very informal situations (text messages with friends, for instance) or to be funny. Here are some examples:

• gimme

• gonna

• gotta

• hafta

• I'd've

• I'm'a

• must've

• there're

• there've

• those're

• wanna

• we'd've

• what're

• who'd've

• why'd

This is not a complete list. People can often get creative and make their own contractions like these, so watch and see if you can identify new contractions!

The Most Common English Adjectives

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• Most Common Adjectives

If you want to quickly expand your English vocabulary, adjectives are a great place to start! Adjectives are a really important part of speech. An adjective is a word used to describe a noun.

It is a good idea to focus on the most common ones in the language. Below are lists of the 50 most common words in both American and British English.

50 Most Common Adjectives
🇺🇸 in American English 🇺🇸

No.	Adjective
1	OTHER
2	NEW
3	GOOD
4	AMERICAN
5	GREAT
6	BIG
7	HIGH
8	OLD
9	DIFFERENT
10	NATIONAL
11	SMALL
12	LITTLE
13	BLACK
14	IMPORTANT
15	POLITICAL
16	SOCIAL
17	LONG
18	YOUNG
19	RIGHT
20	BEST
21	REAL
22	WHITE
23	PUBLIC
24	SURE
25	ONLY
26	LARGE
27	ABLE
28	HUMAN
29	LOCAL
30	EARLY
31	BAD
32	BETTER
33	ECONOMIC
34	FREE
35	POSSIBLE
36	WHOLE
37	MAJOR
38	MILITARY
39	FEDERAL
40	INTERNATIONAL
41	TRUE
42	FULL
43	HARD
44	SPECIAL
45	RECENT
46	RED
47	OPEN
48	PERSONAL
49	GENERAL
50	CLEAR

50 Most Common Adjectives
🇬🇧 in British English 🇬🇧

No.	Adjective
1	OTHER
2	NEW
3	GOOD
4	OLD
5	DIFFERENT
6	LOCAL
7	GREAT
8	SMALL
9	SOCIAL
10	IMPORTANT
11	NATIONAL
12	HIGH
13	BRITISH
14	POSSIBLE
15	LARGE
16	RIGHT
17	LONG
18	LITTLE
19	YOUNG
20	POLITICAL
21	ABLE
22	GENERAL
23	ONLY
24	PUBLIC
25	AVAILABLE
26	FULL
27	EARLY
28	BEST
29	BIG
30	MAIN
31	MAJOR
32	ECONOMIC
33	SURE
34	REAL
35	LIKELY
36	BLACK
37	PARTICULAR
38	INTERNATIONAL
39	SPECIAL
40	DIFFICULT
41	CERTAIN
42	CLEAR
43	WHOLE
44	FURTHER
45	WHITE
46	OPEN
47	EUROPEAN
48	FREE
49	CENTRAL
50	SIMILAR

Most of the most common adjectives are the same in the US and the UK (78% of the top 50 and 92% of the top 25 words appear in both lists). Notice that American is the 4th most common adjective in American English and British is the 13th most common adjective in British English. We shouldn't read too much into these simple lists, but it is interesting to note that military, federal, and personal all appear in the American list. Do you notice any other patterns?

That's all for now! Start studying!

If you're looking for something similar, check out the most common verbs in English.

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Sources: The primary sources for compiling this article were the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and the British National Corpus.

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English for Halloween Costumes

Halloween Costume Trends

I recently came across this great infographic over at the W5 blog, called Spooktacular Halloween Costumes (notice that spooktacular is just a fun portmanteau of spooky and spectacular—more on portmanteaus in this blog post). 

This seems like a great opportunity to talk about how we talk about costumes in English, which can be a little tricky. If you're talking to an American friend about an upcoming Halloween party, she might ask you:

What are you going as?

What am I going as? Going as?

It may sound like a strange question, but your friend is asking you what your costume will be, or what you will be pretending to be for halloween. Another way to say this is:

What are you dressing up as?

You could answer with:

• I'm going as a ghost.
• I'm going as a dog.
• I'm going as Wonder Woman.
• I'm going as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones.

Notice that if you are going as something generic (not a single, specific character), we use an indefinite article—a ghost, a cat, an elephant—but for specific characters, we don't need an article.

One more thing: if you're a character from a movie or TV show, it's common to add from [the movie]:

• I'm going as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. 
• She's going as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.
• He went as Wolverine from X-Men.

So, what are YOU going as for Halloween!?

Most Common English Verbs

30 Most Common English Verbs

Many students ask which words they should learn first. On strategy is to focus on the most commonly used words. Check out this list of the 30 most common verbs in the English language! The verbs are listed in their base form, present tense, past tense, and perfect forms.

Words that are more common will generally be more useful, so it's a good idea to learn more common verbs first! Get to know these verbs first to make the most of your new vocabulary as you learn English. 

What patterns do you notice in the list of verbs?

There is a general rule in languages (sometimes called Zipf’s Law or The Principle of Least Effort) that predicts that more commonly used words will tend to be shorter. And, as you might expect from that, the first 20 most common verbs are all only one syllable.

You may also notice that 19 of the verbs on the list are irregular verbs.

Note that verbs that work only as auxiliaries and modals (such as can and will) have been removed from this list. Verbs that act as both auxiliaries and main verbs have been left in. Data for this table came from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA).

List of 30 Most Common English Verbs Conjugated

30 Most Common Verbs in English

#	Infinitive	Present	Past	Perfect
1	to be	am, is, are	was, were	been
2	to have	has, have	had	had
3	to do	do, does	did	done
4	to know	know, knows	knew	known
5	to think	think, thinks	thought	thought
6	to go	go, goes	went	gone
7	to get	get, gets	got	gotten
8	to say	say, says	said	said
9	to want	want, wants	wanted	wanted
10	to see	see, sees	saw	seen
11	to mean	mean, means	meant	meant
12	to let	let, lets	let	let
13	to make	make, makes	made	made
14	to come	come, comes	came	come
15	to take	take, takes	took	taken
16	to look	look, looks	looked	looked
17	to thank	thank, thanks	thanked	thanked
18	to tell	tell, tells	told	told
19	to put	put, puts	put	put
20	to like	like, likes	liked	liked
21	to talk	talk, talks	talked	talked
22	to need	need, needs	needed	needed
23	to believe	believe, believes	believed	believed
24	to give	give, gives	gave	given
25	to try	try, tries	tried	tried
26	to call	call, calls	called	called
27	to find	find, finds	found	found
28	to feel	feel, feels	felt	felt
29	to happen	happen, happens	happened	happened
30	to ask	ask, asks	asked	asked

If you like this, check out these other English grammar posts! 

Related Content

The Most Common English Adjectives

Read More

Collocates with Summer

Collocates with summer

It's summer in Boston! ☀️😎🏖

Let's take a look at some of the words that are most common after summer. Remember, a collocate is a word that is often used with another word.  Focusing on collocation is a very good way to learn common English phrases and expressions. 

Here are some of the most common words after summer that we hope you find useful as you learn English!

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If this was helpful, check out these other English collocates!

This, That, These, Those - Demonstratives

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• Basic English Vocabulary
• Demonstratives

What are This, That ,These, and Those?

This, that, these, and those are called demonstratives.

Demonstratives are grammar words that we use to show if an object or idea is close to or far from the person speaking. You can say that we use demonstratives to demonstrate where things are and how many there are.

This and that are both singular demonstratives. These and those are both plural.

This hat is Jayne's.

That scarf is Ennio's

These sneakers are Santiago's

Those gloves are Maya's

This and these are used for things that are here, close to the speaker. That and those are used for things that are there, far from the speaker. Close and far here can mean physical distance or psychological distance.

This pen here is Jayne's

These keys I'm holding are Ennio's

That stapler over there is Santiago's

Those books on the table are Maya's

There are two ways that we use the determiners this, that, these, and those. We can use them as pronouns or as determiners.

Demonstrative Determiners

Demonstrative determiners come before a noun, as part of the noun phrase. Because they come before a noun, demonstrative determiners are sometimes inaccurately called demonstrative adjectives.

this fish

that squid

these clams

those crabs

Demonstrative determiners give us information about the quantity and location of nouns. If we say this apple, we know there is one apple, and it's right here. If someone says those apples, it usually means many apples, and they are over there, not close to the speaker.

This and that are both singular, meaning they only talk about one thing.  This is for a thing that is close to us, and that is for a thing that is far away. These and  those are both plural, used to talk about many things. These is for things that are close to us, and those is for things that are far away.

This, that, these, and those are all demonstratives: they demonstrate where things are and how many there are. In the examples above, they all come before nouns, which makes them  determiners. But these same four words can also be used without nouns, acting as pronouns. In that case they are called  demonstrative pronouns. 

Demonstrative Pronouns

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Today, we will take a look at another, similar way to use this, that, these, and those. We can also use these words without a noun after them. For example, we can say, "This is a hammer." Here, this doesn't go before the subject of the sentence; it is the subject of the sentence. It works takes the place a noun and represents the thing, the hammer. Words that stand in place of a noun are called pronouns. So in these sentences, this, that, these, and those are called demonstrative pronouns. See the graphic below for some more examples.

One more time, if they come directly before a noun, this, that, these, and those are called demonstrative determiners. If they replace a noun, acting as a subject or object, they are called demonstrative pronouns.

Notice that the meanings are the same for demonstrative determiners and demonstrative pronouns. This and that are both singular. These and those are both plural. This and these are both for things that are close. That and those are both for things that are over there.

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