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  • Hmm.

  • A license to print money.

  • [Laughs] I wish.

  • Hey, E. How ya doin'?

  • Hi. James from engVid.

  • I was reading an interesting book on making money, but I noticed E's up to something.

  • He's praying...

  • He's playing detective, as you can see - Sherlock E. And I want to know: What's he up to?

  • And he says: "How you doin'?"

  • And I noticed that he's looking at this strange thing, it's called an "apostrophe".

  • Why don't we find out what he's doing, and what is the case of the missing letters?

  • And before I even go there, I would like to say: Thank you to Francisco from Paraguay-yay!-for

  • this brilliant shirt.

  • Thank you.

  • And Paraguay, thank you for watching.

  • Okay?

  • Anyway, let's go to the case for the missing letters.

  • We're going to talk about apostrophes.

  • Now, apostrophes are part of our...

  • Well, we have...

  • Sorry.

  • Periods, question marks, exclamation marks - these are all markings we put in our language

  • to tell us that something is interesting about that sentence or something is missing in the

  • sentence.

  • In this particular case, we're talking about the apostrophe.

  • There are a couple of other things it's used for, but right now I wanted to talk about

  • missing letters.

  • You know?

  • Like: "Has anybody seen my letter?

  • My letter 'g' - it's missing since this morning at 9am."

  • You go: "What are you talking about?"

  • Well, let's start here.

  • Missing letters.

  • Sometimes at the end of a present continuous verb...

  • And, you know, verbs are: "run", "do", "go", "stop".

  • Okay?

  • And the continuous form would be: "running", "doing", "going", "stopping".

  • Okay?

  • The letter "g" is dropped.

  • Now, this isn't necessarily in writing; it's in spoken English, so I want to make sure

  • you understand that.

  • You may see it in, you know, like songs' lyrics or modern works of literature, you know, or

  • in conversation when they're writing, you know, paragraphs, like: "What are you doin',

  • Johnny?"

  • But it's not supposed to be written in formal language.

  • So, if you're doing an essay or a government document, please do not use these forms that

  • I'm about to teach you.

  • Okay?

  • Understand them when you read them and when someone is speaking, and you can understand

  • why they're saying: "What are you doin'?"

  • instead of "doing".

  • That it's the same word, same meaning, but just a different pronunciation.

  • Okay?

  • And this is what we said here, right?

  • The "g" is dropped, causing a change in the pronunciation.

  • The meaning of the verb, however, stays the same.

  • I can say: "How are you doing?" and "How you doin'?"

  • Same word, same meaning, different pronunciation.

  • Just...

  • We call it colloquial usage.

  • Here are some examples.

  • "Are you goin' to the party?

  • Are you going to the party?

  • Are you goin' to the party?"

  • Okay?

  • There you go.

  • The dropping the "g" is shown by the apostrophe.

  • And sometimes when you read a comic book, or a book, or a novel, you know, a romance

  • novel, and they're saying: "He's goin' to help us."

  • That's what this is.

  • So you don't have to go: "What is this new word in English I've never seen before?"

  • "What is she sayin'?

  • What is she sayin'?"

  • Instead of: "What is she saying?

  • What is she saying?" where our tongue drops to the bottom of our mouth.

  • "What is she saying?

  • Saying", tongue down here.

  • "Sayin'", tongue goes to the top of the mouth.

  • "n" sound is at the top; "ing" sound is at the bottom.

  • "He is doin' it for you."

  • Sorry.

  • "He is doin' it now for you.

  • He is doin' it".

  • I have a hard time saying these things.

  • Okay?

  • This is...

  • So, it's not in my language.

  • It's not in my vernacular.

  • Not in my vocabulary, so for me to say it, I actually have to think about it.

  • So I really do when you understand when you have a problem with it.

  • Okay?

  • So: "He is doin' it now for you."

  • And to be honest, this is not even right.

  • This is an incorrect sentence.

  • Nobody who would say this would say "for you".

  • He would say: "He is doin' now for ya.

  • He's doin' it now for ya, and that's how it's going to go."

  • So, if you don't like it, I'm like: I'm sorry, but this is how you would normally speak with

  • that.

  • This kind of contraction will lead to this kind of English, and "ya" means "you", and

  • that's why I have a hard time saying it, because this is proper English, and then we've got

  • more of a slangy English, and our brains don't work that way.

  • You either have to do the full thing, or none of it.

  • Okay?

  • So, we've addressed that.

  • Okay?

  • And any of you who watch Friends, now you understand Joey Tribbiani: "How you doin'?"

  • Now you know what he's saying.

  • "How are you doing?"

  • Now, this is the first part.

  • The idea I wanted you to understand was that the apostrophe indicates there's something

  • missing.

  • There's some information that is not there, and it's saying: "We understand that, and

  • we're letting you know this is the case."

  • All right?

  • We go a little bit further from just, you know, grammar/slang kind of speech to a contraction

  • that is actually used in written English on a regular basis, but it's not just there are

  • missing letters; there's another element to it.

  • So, let's take a look.

  • Contractions.

  • In a contraction, there are two words joined together - and that's the missing element.

  • So it's not just letters are missing, as in this case, the "g" is missing; but they are

  • actually taking two letters and putting it together, like a cake.

  • You have eggs, you have water, you have flour - when you contract them, you make a cake.

  • They no longer exist as separate things; they are now a new thing.

  • In a contraction, there are two words joined together and the word is also missing some

  • letters.

  • So there's...

  • There are two things we're looking at.

  • Examples of this are: "Aren't you hot in that sweater?"

  • The first thing you'll go is: "Hey, James, I noticed there's a missing letter."

  • And I go: "Yeah, there is", but do you notice the two words are together?

  • And this time it's not a "g" because it's not a present continuous verb.

  • Right?

  • It's the verb "to be" plus the negation.

  • All right?

  • "Negation" meaning negative or "not".

  • And we can see, here, it's: "Are not".

  • So I can say...

  • Okay.

  • You'd probably say it: "Are you not hot in that sweater?"

  • And because we don't want to speak like that because it takes much more brain power, we

  • say: "Aren't you hot in that sweater?"

  • Okay?

  • Next: "I'd like some coffee, please."

  • Here we can see the "I" is there-that is a word-and "would" gets contracted all the way

  • down just to the letter "d", so it's telling us almost most of the word is not here; it's

  • just the letter "d".

  • "I'd like some coffee, please."

  • Or you could say: "I would like some coffee, please."

  • Formal.

  • Next.

  • Next contraction: "They've gone home now."

  • Right?

  • "They've gone home now", which is really: "They have gone home now."

  • All right?

  • So, we're using a present perfect form, but we've contracted it into one word, as opposed

  • to two words, and: "They've".

  • Right?

  • Even changed the way we said it.

  • Instead of: "They have", it becomes: "They've".

  • Right?

  • And finally our final example for here is: "We'll be back later."

  • Now: "We'll" is "We will".

  • And sometimes I know it's difficult for students to pronounce this, because they're like: "We'ill,

  • we'ill", because they try to say both words.

  • In all of these cases, do not try to say both words.

  • The new contraction takes on a life of its own, has its own sound, but keeps the same

  • meaning as the two separate words.

  • So, you might say: "James, okay, thanks for explaining all of this.

  • But why do you people do this?"

  • Well, to be quite honest with you, we say these words all the time - 50, 100 times a

  • day.

  • And really: "I would like a cup of coffee, please.

  • We'll be sitting...

  • We will be sitting at the table over there."

  • I...

  • So, what's the next one?

  • "Are you not going to bring it over at this moment?"

  • Takes way too long.

  • And just like in every language in the universe, once something is said very regularly, we

  • find a shortcut or an easier way of saying it while maintaining the meaning, making it

  • easier to come out of our mouths and to be easily...

  • Much more easily understood by the person we're speaking to.

  • Okay?

  • So, that's why the contractions.

  • So, if you're going: "Why 'We will'?"

  • Because: "We will", just say it.

  • "We will.

  • We will."

  • Just: "We'll".

  • Much easier to say; meaning is maintained.

  • Cool?

  • All right.

  • So, I've given you some examples, and Mr. E, have I helped you with the case of missing

  • letters?

  • "Yes, you have, James."

  • He spoke.

  • [Laughs] Yeah, I thought so.

  • Yes, we do try.

  • So, you know what?

  • Let's go to the board, because of course, we should actually see how well you understand

  • the lesson.

  • Are you ready?

  • [Snaps]

  • Okay, and we are back.

  • Once again, Francisco, thank you very much; love my new threads.

  • "Threads" means clothing in this case.

  • So, I've got usually...

  • As usual, I have a little bit of extra stuff for you, like some, you know, masala, some

  • seasoning and flavours.

  • Then we'll have our homework and we'll have our little quiz before we go...

  • Well, before I have to go.

  • So, I just want to mention with apostrophes, I'm just giving a simple lesson on the missing

  • letters - when you see an apostrophe that sometimes indicates a missing letter, but

  • it also has another function, which is to talk about possession, and "possession" means

  • it belongs to someone.

  • For example: "This marker belongs to me.

  • Its mine."

  • All right?

  • We have a lesson on engVid, I'd like you to go check it out, on possession and apostrophes.

  • All right?

  • But that's another time.

  • But, here, here's something.

  • For an example: "St. James's Park".

  • Not: "St. James Park", "St. James's Park".

  • For all you grammar nerds, check it out.

  • And, yeah, there's going to be a link to why it says "James's" with two s'.

  • Go check that video out.

  • All right?

  • Anyway, I want to go and do our little quiz, here, before I go on any further.

  • Let's just check how much you've learned.

  • We talked about contractions.

  • I gave you several examples.

  • I don't want to do the ones with the missing "g" because I think I said it to you...

  • You'll hear it in songs, you'll see it in, you know, like writing in books or comic books

  • or something like that, but it's not something you should make a formal writing of or put

  • down on paper, but you should understand when someone says: "I ain't saying it's true",

  • it's different than: "I'm not saying it's true."

  • In "sayin'", the tongue goes up to the roof of the mouth; and "saying", the tongue goes

  • down.

  • I think that was enough on that.

  • But I do think you should recognize these contractions because informal English...

  • Informal written English, you will find that it is written down a lot.

  • And you should understand it or be able to recognize it.

  • So, I'll give you an example, here: "I will have fries with my burger."

  • Now: "I will have fries with my burger."

  • What would be the contraction, here?

  • Good.

  • "I'll".

  • "I'll have fries with my burger."

  • If you want to get the proper pronunciation for "I'll", here's what you do: Think of the

  • word "eye" and then "ll".

  • So, you go...

  • Say the word "eye" in your mind: "I", put your tongue to the top of your mouth: "ll",

  • you'll go: "I'll.

  • I'll".

  • And that pronunciation is, like, native speaker.

  • "I'll go to the movies.

  • I'll do it."

  • Cool?

  • All right.

  • Let's look at number two.

  • "Where have you been all day?

  • Where have you been all day?"

  • What would be the contraction for this particular sentence?

  • Yes: "Where've, where've".

  • "Where've you been?

  • Where've you been?"

  • Right?

  • "Where've you been all day?"

  • Cool?

  • All right, not bad.

  • The next one: "I told her if she walked she would be late.

  • I told her if she walked she would be late."

  • What would be the contraction on that one?

  • Yeah, good, good, good, good, good.

  • It's: "she'd".

  • Now, in pronouncing this one, think of the "e" as a very long e: "sheeee'd.

  • She'd be late".

  • Okay?

  • Cool.

  • Not bad.

  • That's "she would be late".

  • Number four: "Those are not my shoes.

  • Those are not my shoes."

  • How do we say this one?

  • Correct.

  • "aren't, aren't".

  • And the pronunciation for this one was: Think of the letter "r" and just say "r", "r-nt".

  • "aren't".

  • So, "r-nt" and that'll be the correct pronunciation.

  • So, try not to say: "aren't"; just: "Those r-nt my shoes".

  • And then what's the last one?

  • It's a difficult one; I've used two.

  • Let's see what you can do.

  • All right?

  • "I do not know if I would help him."

  • That's a tiger; if you get the question wrong, it'll eat you.

  • "I do not know if I would help him.

  • I do not know if I would help him."

  • So, we've got two contractions and I've already given you two examples.

  • Figure out what this sentence should be, while I figure out to put a period at the end of

  • my sentences.

  • Correct.

  • "I don't know if I'd help him."

  • Now, when you say: "don't" it's not a "don't"...

  • How do I say this?

  • People will say things, like: "dun't.

  • I dun't know".

  • You have to say this "o" as in the long "o".

  • "Do.

  • Do-ra-me-fa-so-do-do-do".

  • "I don't know."

  • That'll make it like a native speaker, instead of: "I dun't know".

  • We don't say: "I dun't".

  • Okay?

  • So: "I don't know if I'd help him."

  • Well, guys, that's pretty good.

  • I hope you enjoyed the quiz.

  • I do have homework.

  • I hear you groaning or making noises.

  • Homework's good for you; it's like building muscle.

  • You work out regularly, you get stronger and healthy.

  • And if you do it, you know, on a consistent, on a regular basis, you will get stronger

  • faster.

  • It'll make you feel good.

  • So, this homework is really fun because...

  • [Laughs] I want you to watch the video again.

  • I know, sorry.

  • "James, you speak so fast and you want me to do this twice?"

  • I'm like: Yeah.

  • But this time it'll be easier because you've already gone through the pain of listening

  • to me one time.

  • But go through the video, re-watch the video and count how many times I used the contracted

  • verbs.

  • See if you can pick out when I said: "We've", "I'll", and from all the examples, count them.

  • By doing that-in case you're wondering: Why am I asking you to do that-I'm asking you

  • to learn how to focus on the sounds that I'm giving you...

  • Giving you the examples so you can start picking them out in other forms of English or other

  • examples of English.

  • See?

  • There's a method to my madness.

  • Anyway, listen, I got to go, so I'd like you to subscribe.

  • There's a button somewhere around here.

  • Do what you have to; swipe, press, push.

  • Okay?

  • When you see that "Subscribe" button, press it - there should be a bell, please hit the

  • bell.

  • That's important for you because that means, if you like this video and what I do, you

  • hit that bell and anything I do that's new will come directly to you on your laptop,

  • your cellphone, your computer, what have you.

  • You know?

  • Anyway, please do so.

  • Don't forget to go to www eng...

  • Oh, sorry.

  • Dot, eng as in English, vid as in video (www.engvid.com) and do the quiz, because this is just a junior

  • version of the monster that waits for you.

  • All right?

  • Anyway, have a great day and I'll see you soon.

  • And as always, thank you very much for sharing your time and sharing with friends.

  • Ciao.

Hmm.

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