The first lesson found that is, will and not lose their vowel when they are said and lean on the word before. Writing shows it with short forms such as don't, I'll and it's, which are called contractions. This lesson gives the full form behind each one, and counts how often not is written n't in a play, in a novel and in two modern documents. The answer depends on whether the text is made to be said.
Core ideas
Three ideas, and the third is where most mistakes happen.
In don't the word not has lost its vowel and joined the word before it, and an apostrophe shows where the letters were. That is the same thing the first lesson found in speech: not is on the list of words that take a weak form, and its weak form has no vowel left in it. A contraction is that weak form, written down.
On the 1,975 words of the play printed under the lab, 22 of the 36 not words are written n't, which is 61.1%. On the 936-word passage from the novel it is 1 of 13, which is 7.7%. In the two modern documents it is 0 of 10. The play is talk written for the stage, to be said. The others are written to be read, and careful writing for readers contracts little, in 1813 and now.
N't, 'll, 'm, 're and 've each stand for one word. 'd stands for would or had. 's stands for is, has or belonging, and the page cannot tell which. The table lists them all, and you sort them.
The material
Counted once over the whole play and quoted here, these are its seven commonest short forms.
The first lesson ended on three words that lose their vowel when they are said: is, will and not. They lean on the word before, and the result is a single sound where the page shows two words. Writing has a name for the short form and a way to show it.
A contraction is two words written as one, with an apostrophe where letters were left out. Do not becomes don't. I will becomes I'll. It is becomes it's. The apostrophe marks the gap, and the part after it is the small word with its vowel gone.
There are seven endings to know: n't for not, 'll for will, 'm for am, 're for are, 've for have, 'd for would or had, and 's for is, has or belonging. Every one but the belonging 's stands for a word from the list in the first lesson.
The lab counts, on three printed texts, every n't against every not. On the 1,975 words of the play it finds 22 n't and 14 not, one of them inside cannot, so 22 of the 36 are short, which is 61.1%. On the 936-word passage from the novel it finds 1 and 12, which is 1 of 13, or 7.7%. On the two modern documents it finds 0 and 10.
Counted once over each whole text, which no page can carry, and quoted here, the play has 168 n't against 143 not, which is 54.0%, and the whole novel has 12 against 1,397, which is 0.9%. The samples in the lab point the same way as the whole texts: most of the play's not words are short, and almost none of the novel's.
Text that is made to be said. The play was written for people on a stage to talk to each other, and in it more than half of the not words are short. Careful text that is made to be read contracts little, and that is as true of a court opinion from 2025 as of a novel from 1813.
That is the difference between the page and the voice, and it is the reason the first lesson's list matters more for listening than for reading. The reader's text has the full form. The speaker's does not.
's and 'd stand for more than one word, and the lab does not guess. It lists every one it finds with all the full forms, and you sort them by the word that follows. After 'd, a verb in its base form means would; a past form means had. After 's, a past form means has and an -ing form means is. When a noun comes after it, look at the word in front: it, he, she, that or there in front means is (it's the excuse I've always given), and a name or a thing in front means belonging (Mr. Worthing's ward). These are rules of thumb that you apply by eye, and the lab does not count them.
It reads words and not sounds. It counts n't where it is written, so it cannot say how often a speaker in 1895 or today says the short form when the full one is printed. It counts cannot, written as one word, as a not written in full: the play has it once, in I cannot help expressing a wish, and it is one of the 14. A writer who puts do not in a character's mouth may be asking for stress on it. The play is talk written for the stage, and it shows what a writer chose to give to people who are talking.
Read the full form aloud, and then say the short one. You are saying the same words with the small one flattened, which is what the first lesson described. When you are listening, expect the short forms to be the normal ones in talk, and listen hardest for n't, because it is the one that reverses the sentence.
Interactive
Every contraction in the text, with the full form it stands for
Method
Four steps, and the table in the lab lets you check each one.
Everything after it is a short word that has lost its vowel. What stands before it is a whole word, with one exception that step three deals with.
N't is not. 'll is will, 'm is am, 're is are and 've is have. Write the whole word in. I've becomes I have.
Cut n't off won't and what is left, wo, is not a word. The full form is will not. Shan't is shall not, and can't is cannot, which the table writes as can not.
I'd give anything: I had give is not English, so it is I would give. He's gone is he has gone, and he's going is he is going. Mr. Worthing's ward is neither: the 's shows that the ward belongs to him.
They appear 77, 17, 17, 14, 14, 12 and 11 times in the whole play, in that order. The right-hand column is the full form.
Five of the seven are a whole word and a short ending: do and n't, is and n't, it and 's, I and 'm, I and 'll. Put the word back and the full form is there. Can't has also lost a letter, and won't is the one that does not work that way: nothing in it is the word will. The two words were said as one for so long that the spelling changed, and shan't did the same.
It's looks like one answer in the list, and in this play it is one answer: all three in the lab's 1,975 words are it is. But he's in the same lines is he has once and he is once, and the page only gives you the letters.
Say the full form aloud and then the short one. The short one is the one the first lesson was about: the same words, with the vowel gone from the small one.
You should be able to write out the full words behind n't, 'll, 'm, 're, 've, 'd and 's, sort the ones that have more than one answer by the word that follows, read off a printed text how much of not is written n't, and say which kind of text contracts and which does not.
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