Choose the word or phrase which best completes each sentence.  Enjoy!

___________________________

1. I'm going to Selectdorunthrowmake …… a big party for Ella's birthday this summer.
2. I managed to pass my driving test first time, but it was a Selectthinfinenarrowclose thing.
3. Her maths improved by leaps and……… Selectraceswalksboundsjumps and she got 90% in her final exam.
4. I was in the ……… Selectpitsabyssvalleydepths of despair before I heard the good news.
5. You're just … Selectputtingbreakinghittingbanging your head against a brick wall -- you might as well give up now.
6. She didn't give chapter and……… Selectversepagebookline but I got a general idea of what she meant.
7. I've always been very Selectfondaffectionatecloseattached………… of my grandmother.
8. His comments about our project ………… Selectgotbeganmadeencouraged me thinking.
9. The girl managed to Selectgo onkeep upmake outcarry out ………a conversation while doing her homework.
10. The bedspread was … Selectdonemadeformedtaken up of hundreds of small squares of material sewn together.
11. Local residents have complained about the music constantly………… Selectboomingthunderingroaringblaring from the club.
12. The film's success is amazing……… Selectevaluatingremarkingseeingconsidering the poor reviews it has received.

(From: Newbrook J. & Wilson J. (2001) New Proficiency Gold Coursebook. Edimburgh: Longman - Pearson Education Limited.)

Anonymous

“And how about hafta, gotta, gonna, wanna, shoulda... even on the news - Peter Jennings started using them on the evening news!  ”

If I fully enunciated "have to" "going to", "want to" and other common reductions in a casual conversation, my comrades would think I was being stuck up and superior. This would not be conducive to winning friends.

Language is a living thing, and changes in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary are part of its natural evolution. There is no "Academy of English" - it is truly a grass-roots democratic language with many dialects and variations; its changes are directed by millions of people writing and speaking every day.

By the way, Americans typically stereotype the French and British upper class of having these sorts of affectations.

AlpheccaStars

“Oh yes, we Americans throw parties, too! ”

Thank you, A-s.

I can't remember why I got that idea. It must be something I read in a thread long ago.

repharim

“I wouldn't call it sloppy, I would call it evolving. Every language changes over time and things that were once unacceptable change in nature. Is it really so bad to abbreviate 'should have' into shoulda? You save yourself from writing/typing/a breath of air by making it shorter. Language isn't some rigid block that is not supposed to change. It changes with culture, people and time.

”

I agree with this but I wouldn't write 'should have' as 'shoulda' unless, I was directly quoting or writing in vernacularly.  We already have a contraction for the concept, should've.  This is actually why many of our words have pronunciations different than their spelling.  For instance, German and Old English pronounced a hard 'k' at the beginning of the word knight and the gh was pronounced too.