7.6 Contractions
The second column gives the SF, the third the WF, and the fourth column gives an illustration of the use of the WF.
With to
The word to contracts with a number of verbs to form single words. These are given in the table below.
| had to | hæt̬ə | We /hæt̬ə/ tell her |
| has to | hæstə | He /hæstə/ be there |
| have to | hæftə | I /ˈhæftə/ do it |
| supposed to | səpoʊstə | She’s /səpoʊstə/ do it |
| used to | juːstə | he /juːstə/ do this |
| want to | wɑːnə | I /wɑːnə/ kiss you |
| going to | gənə | It’s /gənə/ rain |
With not
Not has a WF /nt/, informally spelled n’t, which contracts with auxiliaries, as in He couldn’t /kʊldnt/come. In such cases the auxiliary always has the SF, i.e. we cannot have */kədnt/, for example. In some cases the contractions consist of one syllable. These are given in the table below.
| are not or aren’t | ɑrnt |
| cannot or can’t | kænt |
| do not or don’t | doʊnt |
| will not or won’t | woʊnt |
In questions, not is often written after the subject in formal writing, as in Is it not time Mrs Selkirk took that step? When reading such a sentence out, however, not should be contracted with the auxiliary: /ɪznt ɪt/ etc. The pronunciation /ɪz ɪt nɑːt/ would be very formal.
Note that in order to avoid the clumsy Am I Not? One normally says /ɑrnt aɪ/, and writes Aren’t I? And musn’t is pronounced /mʌsnt/.
