In this video we are going to look at contracted forms in English. Contractions are shortened words: we combine two words to form one, often using an apostrophe.

There are in fact over 90 different contractions in English (crazy, I know!) but don’t worry, in this video we are only going to look at the most common ones!

These are:

• Subject pronoun + verb contractions (affirmative)
• Verb + not contractions (present & past & modals)

Contractions are a very common feature of everyday spoken English and native speakers use them all of the time. So, it is important that you learn to master them too!

We are going to practise pronouncing these contracted forms to help you become more fluent and sound more natural.

Remember that in written English, contracted forms sound very ‘chatty’ as if you are talking directly to the reader. That can work well when writing a message to friends or maybe when writing a blog or article. However, when you write an academic text or you prepare a formal speech, use the full form instead.

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