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Reduced forms

You must take care of 'contractions' (called 'weak forms', but they're not that weak...  )

There are so many of them that it's very easy to mix them up... You should look at

them (and listen to them) twice to understand their messages correctly!

🔹 1.‘s  may represent several grammatical forms:  

To understand it, you should examine the element following it! 

◼️ a) If ‘s is followed by predicative adjectives or nouns, 's is a contraction

of to be (verb or auxiliary).

- As he's (he IS) a CEO, he's (he IS) a very busy man.  

◼️ b) Followed by an -ing form, 's is part of an  – ing present.  

It indicates that an action is taking place. 

- Look! Johnny's gardening (IS gardening). 

◼️ c) 's  may also be a genitive indicating possession, distance, or duration.

Then, it is between two nouns.

- This is Kyle's car (Kyle'S : genitive – 'possessive case'). No, it's our neighbour's. 

(It IS our neighbour'S ('car' is implied).)

- It's just a two days' trip. Don't take too much luggage!

('s reduced in ' in the plural :  here, the genitive indicates duration.) 

◼️ d) ‘s  followed by a past participle, forms a present perfect expressing here the result of an action.

- She's found the solution to her problem.  (She HAS found the solution). 

🔹 2) Similarly, ‘d may also express several very different constructions.

◼️ a) If it is followed by a past participle (verb base+ ed or 3rd column of irregular verbs),

 ‘d is the contraction of HAD and is therefore a past perfect (expressing an anteriority in the past.) 

- When he arrived at the gates, (preterite: indicating the past), they'd already been closed (the gates had

been closed before their arrival.) 

◼️ b) If 'd  is followed by the verb base (infinitive without 'to'), it's the contraction of a conditional. 

It expresses the wish for something which doesn't exist in reality.  

-  He'd come (WOULD come) if he could.  

-  I'd have helped (WOULD HAVE helped: past conditional) him if he'd asked (if he HAD asked) 

me. (past perfect).

◼️ c) The 'traitors' of the 'd: force you to have mental agility so as to be quick to 

understand what they mean. This is fundamental if you have to use tags. 

 - You'd better : You HAD better + infinitif sans to=> Hadn't you?  

 - He'd rather : He WOULD rather + infinitif sans to=> Wouldn't he?  

🔹  3) ‘ve : could've/must've/ might've/ should've + past participle. 

they're the reduced forms of modal auxiliaries:

could have/ must have/ might have/ should have + past participle 

  ! These very frequent forms are so reduced in conversation that they are not

recognised when young Anglo-Saxons  or inattentive adults come to writing them...  

Not to belong to this category, I will have to give you a paradoxical piece of advice! 

Make an effort to pronounce the reduced forms correctly, and make sure the verbal form following them can be clearly understood. 

It's true that for many of us, reduced forms are a means to save time and energy!  Let's be fast!  Yet, we shouldn't forget that any expression aims at communicating! This is fundamental and it shouldn't be forgotten! 

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A. This is my parent's country housemy parents' country housemy parent country's houseI don't know and we'd better keepwe'd better keepingwe'd better to keepI don't know it clean, if not they won’t let us come for another weekend !


B. If they've costthey'd costthey'll costI don't know less, I'd have broughtI'd buyI'd have boughtI don't know a lot more of them.


C. 'Oh Paula, If you'd listened toyou'd listen toyou're listening toI don't know what your sister had said, you'd've understoodyou've understoodyou'd understandI don't know why you'll have remainedyou'd've remainedyou should've remainedI don't know locked at home.


D. It’s time for my tennis lesson now, but I'd rather to studyI'd rather studyingI'd rather studyI don't know the last chapters of this book before dinner.


E. Jane's toldJanes' tellJane's tellingI don't know me that she'd meetshe's metshe'd metI don't know her old friend Sally and that the following week, she'd throwshe'd threwshe'd thrownI don't know a party for her here…’


F. They'd foundThey're findingThey'd findI don't know the solution before I'd readingI'd read [had read ]I'd read [would read ]I don't know the data till the end.