Contracted forms

When we speak, we use ‘contracted forms’ or short forms such as these:

Can’t (for can not or cannot)

I’d (for I would or I had)

She’s (for she is)

Notice that contracted forms are also written with an apostrophe to show a shortening of a spelling of not, would, or is as in the above example. Writing a diary is like speaking to oneself. Plays (often novels) also have speech in written form. So, we usually come across contracted forms in diaries, plays, and novels.

1. Make a list of the contracted forms in the text. Rewrite them in full forms of two words. For Example, I’ve = I have

2. We have seen that some contracted forms can stand for two different full forms:

For Example, I’d = I had or I would

There can be many such shorts forms i.e. contracted forms to shorten sentences. We often use such contractions in our daily life as well.

Find in the text the contracted forms that stand for two different full forms, and say what these are.

Here are a few more idiomatic expressions that occur in the text. Try to use them in sentences of your own.

(i) Caught my eye

(ii) He’d had enough

(iii) Laugh ourselves silly

(iv) Can’t bring myself to

Do you know how to use a dictionary to find out the meanings or idiomatic expressions? Take, for example, the expressions caught my eye in the story. Where-under which word-would you look for it in the dictionary?

Look for it under the first word. But if the first word is a ‘grammatically’ word like a, the, for, etc., then take the next word. That is, look for the first ‘meaningful’ word in the expression. In our example, it is the word caught.

But you wouldn’t find caught in the dictionary because it is the past tense of catch. You’ll find caught listed under catch. So you must look catch for the expressions caught my eye. Which other expressions with catch are listed below in your dictionary?

Note that a dictionary entry usually first give the meanings of the word itself, and then gives a list of idiomatic expressions using that word. For example, study this partial entry for the noun ‘eye’ from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005.

Eye

•Noun

•Part of the body, either of the two organs of the face that you see with: The suspect has dark hair and green eyes.

•Ability to see: A surgeon needs a good eye and a steady hand.

•The way of seeing -a particular way of seeing: He looked at the design with the eye of an engineer.

You have read the expressions ‘not to lose heart’ in this text. Now find out the meanings of the following expressions using the word ‘heart’. Use each of them in a sentence of your own.

1. Break somebody’s heart

2. Close/dear to heart

3. From the (bottom of your) heart.

4. Have a heart

5. Have a heart of stone

6. Your heart goes out to somebody.

Here is an extract adapted from a one-act play. In this extract, angry neighbors who think Joe the Inventor’s new spinning machine will make them lose their jobs come to destroy Joe’s model of the machine.

You’ve just seen how contracted forms can make a written text sound like actual speech. Try to make this extract sound more like a real conversation by changing some of the verbs back into the contracted forms. Then speak out the lines.

[The door is flung open, and several men tramp in. They carry sticks, and one of them, HOB, has a hammer.]

Now you know what a diary is and how to keep one. Can you keep a diary for a week recording the events that occur? You may share your diary with your class if you wish to. Use the following hints to write your diary.

Though your diary is very private, write as if you are writing for someone else.

Present your thoughts in a convincing manner.

Use words that convey your feelings, and words that ‘paint pictures’ for the reader. Be brief.

‘Diary language’ has some typical features such as subjectless sentences (Got up late in the morning), sentence fragments without subjects or verbs (…… too bad, boring, not good), contracted forms (they’re, I’ve, can’t, didn’t, etc.) and everyday expressions which people use in speech. Remember not to use such language in more formal kinds of writing.