I don't fully understand what a contraction is. So if I put an 's, 'll, 'd, 've, etc after any word does it make it a contraction? Only in spoken English. But in written English, some contractions are not usually written that

To tell you the truth, I've never heard any foreigner (unless they learned English when they were very young, or had lived in an English speaking country for at least a decade, and had extensive, and personalized accent coaching) ever be able to

Interesting. I can't even think what distinction might be made ... pronounces it in "halve"). What distinction do you make, exactly? Some accents in the Eastern US have a split in the "short a" class. Vowels before certain