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This is a download from BBC Learning English.
To find out more, visit our website.
Hello and welcome to this episode of 6 Minute Vocabulary.
I'm Finn and I'm Feifei.
Hi. Today we're going to be talking about contractions like IVE, meaning I have, or isn't, meaning is not.
We're going to talk about what these contractions mean and how to pronounce them.
That's right. And learning to use contractions like IVE or isn't, when you're speaking, will make your English sound much more fluent and natural.
And that's got to be good news.
As usual, we'll have lots of examples.
There'll be a short quiz.
And finally, we'll give you a top tip to help you with your vocabulary studies.
So, let's start with an example.
Listen to Bill talking about his wife and his brother.
While you're listening, try to answer this question.
Has Bill's brother ever visited the US?
My wife and I live in London.
We've been married for about five years.
I've always lived in London, but she's lived in Germany and the US, and lots of different places.
I've never been to the US, but my brother's been there many times, because his wife is from New York.
So, Feifei asked you, has Bill's brother ever visited the US?
And the answer is yes. Bill's brother has been to the US many times, because his wife is American.
She's from New York. Did you get the answer right?
Of course he did. Okay, now here is another question.
How long have Bill and his wife been married?
Listen again and check.
My wife and I live in London.
We've been married for about five years.
He said, we've been married for about five years.
Did you notice that he didn't say we have been?
He said, we've been. When we're speaking, we often shorten the word have and just say, V, instead.
So I have becomes I've. You have becomes you've.
We have becomes we've, and they have becomes they've.
We use contractions like we've a lot when we're speaking, but sometimes we write them too, especially when we're writing something informal or unofficial, like an email or a postcard.
Now when you're writing contractions, remember to use an apostrophe.
So for example, we've is spelt, w, e, apostrophe, v, e.
The apostrophe shows that a letter or more than one is missing.
That's right. So when we write we've instead of we have, we miss the letters h and a from the word have.
The apostrophe shows that these letters have been skipped.
Right. Okay. Here's another question about Bill.
How many different places has his wife lived in?
Can you remember? Here's a clip.
I've always lived in London, but she's lived in Germany and the US and lots of different places.
He said that she's lived in lots of different places, and he mentioned two of them, Germany and the US.
And you'd notice another contraction there.
Bill said she's lived. It's the short form of she has lived.
She's lived. This is a very common one.
Instead of has lots of English speakers say zzzz.
That's right. So instead of he has, we say he's, and instead of she has, it's she's.
Again, when you use this zzzz contraction, instead of has when you're writing, don't forget to use the apostrophe.
That's right. So he's is spelt h-e-apostrophe s, and she's is spelt sh-e-apostrophe s.
To BBCLearningEnglish.com And now is time for a quiz.
Number one, when we're speaking, we don't normally say I have lived here for three years.
What do we say? We say I've lived here for three years.
Easy question, right? I think so.
Here is another one. Which pronunciation is correct?
Is it a, he's a teacher, or is it b, he's a teacher?
This one is b, he's a teacher.
And one last question. In the sentence, we've been listening to six-minute vocabulary.
How do you spell weave? It's w-e-apostrophe v-e.
That's it. And before we go, we have a top tip to help you learn vocabulary.
Vocabulary learning isn't a silent activity.
You learn words more effectively if you say them out loud.
It doesn't matter if nobody's listening.
Say the words out loud anyway.
Absolutely. Very good.
And there's more about this at BBCLearningEnglish.com.
Join us again soon for more six-minute vocabulary.
Bye. Bye. If you want years of better sleep, then you have to upgrade your bedding during volumbranches annual summer event.
Right now, you can get volumbranches best-selling, naturally cooling sheets with their best offer of the season.
Feel the difference night after night.
Of light and breathable sheets made with the highest quality materials, shop the volumbranches annual summer event now for 20% off-site-wide, plus free shipping on your first set of sheets at volumbranches.com with code buttery, limited time-only, exclusion-supply, see site for details.
I'm Nicole Berry, host of Skin Curies, a podcast brought to you by Ruby Studio from I Heart Media.
Can we talk about how incredible our skin is?
It's our protector, while also serving as a litmus test as to how our body is functioning physically and emotionally.
Let's unravel the mysteries around our skin, and get to the heart of how to make everybody glow from the inside out.
Listen to Skin Curies on America's number one podcast network, I Heart.
Open your free I Heart app and search Skin Curies.
