By Contractions

AHA... Now it makes sense. I don't know whether it's right or not. I think I was told contractions only work for the present tense but I could be wrong. Let's wait for a native.

Sure it does. These contractions can be used for the past tense:"I'd never seen that before" = "I had never seen that before""It's been nice to know you" = "It has been nice to know you"In your case, "It's a pen" always means "It...

Like most people, I felt insecure about unsecured to venturing I'm today. Looking back, had I not made the move, I would still be an average 9 to 5 employee.

Why don’t you have a medical check up regular appointment was set on that day to meet the beautician.Whose is possessive; who's is the contraction of "who is"

I have a question about the use of contractions with a proper name. For example, if I wanted to say/write "Jeff is funny" could I also write/say it as "Jeff's funny" with the use of an apostrophe? If no, what is the rule that defines the use of this?Thanks in advance! Jamie

Hi YLHere is one last try:"Don't I receive" is a standard way to write the contracted form of the inversion "do I not receive". In other words: - don't I receive = do I not receive- don't I receive is a subject-verb inversion ==> The uninverted, uncontracted...

Hi AvangiThis goes off in a slightly different direction since it leaves the "Not only" aspect out of the discussion.To me, "do not I" would sound rather biblical (or so sayeth the Lord). On the other hand, the contraction "don't I" is in common use. However,...

Hi Yankee, Just doin' my thing here. Can you think of a sentence where "do not I" would work? I was thinking it sounded sort of Elizabethan, like maybe The Merchant of Venice. I couldn't find it, but came across lots of third person examples, like "Does not a doubling...

Hi YLNo, 'do not I' doesn't work uncontracted in that sentence. However, if a contraction is used, that is technically what the word order is.

Hi YLMaybe looking at these two sentences will help clarify what's happening in N2G's 'not only' sentences:- Which part do you not understand?- Which part don't you understand?Both of the sentences above are correct, right? The only difference is the contraction in the second...