In this Pronunciation episode of Aussie English I show you how contracting HAS & HAVE onto THIS, THAT, THESE & THOSE is easy!

Pronunciation: Contracting HAS & HAVE onto THIS, THAT, THESE & THOSE

G’day guys. Welcome to this episode of Aussie English.

Today we’re going to be contracting HAS and HAVE onto some demonstrative pronouns. I won’t get too bogged down into the grammar, I won’t talk about that too much, but a demonstrative pronoun includes words such as THIS and THAT, THESE and THOSE. So, the difference between THIS and THAT, THIS is closer to me, THAT is over there. So, if I was in a car I could say THIS CAR if I was talking about it. Whereas, if I was standing on the road and there was a car over on the other side of the road I would refer to that car THAT CAR because it’s away from me. So, THIS is close to me, THAT is away from me. And it’s the same with THESE and THOSE except they’re plural. So, if there were two cars near me or really close to me I could say THESE CARS, THESE TWO CARS. If the cars were incredibly far away or on the other side of the road I could say THOSE CARS, THOSE TWO CARS.

So, in previous episodes we’ve done HAS on its own with the pronouns SHE, HE and IT, and we’ve done HAVE on its own with the pronouns I, YOU, WE and THEY. So, this episode’s going to be good because you’re going to have to think on your feet, you’re going to have to think more than usual because you will be contracting both HAS and HAVE onto their respective demonstrative pronouns. So, the singular ones get HAS, THIS HAS becomes THIS’S, THAT HAS becomes THAT’S, and the plural ones get HAVE, THOSE HAVE becomes THOSE’VE, THESE HAVE becomes THESE’VE.

And so, as usual we’ll go through just a listen and repeat exercise, guys, where we can practice our pronunciation of both the uncontracted and the contracted forms of THAT HAS, THIS HAS, THOSE HAVE and THESE HAVE. So, listen and repeat after me. I’m going to say each one of those in their uncontracted followed by contracted forms five times. You know the drill. Let’s go.

Listen and repeat:

That has – that’s x 5

This has – this’s x 5

Those have – those’ve x 5

These have – these’ve x 5

Something to add here, guys, is that when writing, particularly when writing formally, you’re probably not going to ever see HAS or HAVE contracted onto THAT, THIS, THOSE and THESE. So, it’s not that big of a deal and I would definitely write it contracted if I’m writing on Facebook or on some kind of thing on the internet and it’s incredibly informal. However, if you’re getting a job in an English speaking country and you’re planning to write formal documents or write on formal documents, say a report for work or say you’re writing a résumé I would not contract HAS or HAVE onto demonstrative pronouns like THAT, THIS, THOSE and THESE. So, that’s the take away message here. If you’re writing formally at work or to get a job, some kind of formal writing, maybe avoid contracting HAS or HAVE onto demonstrative pronouns because it is an informal way of speaking and a very informal way of writing if you were to write it contracted at all.

Anyway, as usual guys let’s jump into the substitution exercises, and you’re probably getting the idea of the pattern here for HAS and HAVE. In the first substitution exercise I tend to use HAS and HAVE with the word GOT in two different ways. When GOT is used followed by a noun it means that you HAVE something, you POSSESS something. So, YOU’VE GOT something. And remember this is used to avoid confusion when HAS is contracted onto words and it could sound like you’ve contracted IS onto those words. So, if you were to say HE HAS A CAT versus HE IS A CAT when they’re both contracted they both sound the same, they both sound like HE’S A CAT. And so, my automatic assumption that you’re talking about something or someone that IS a cat instead of someone or something that HAS a cat. To avoid this confusion we add the word GOT after HAS. So, HE’S GOT A CAT avoids that confusion of him BEING A CAT, i.e. HE’S A CAT.

And the second form is when HAS and HAVE GOT is followed by a verb, and remember that when HAVE GOT, when something HAS GOT to do something, that verb, TO BE somewhere, TO GO somewhere, it means TO HAVE TO, TO NEED TO, that something MUST do something. So, it’s imperative.

So, as usual we’re going to use the first substitution exercise to do the contractions of HAVE and HAS followed by the word GOT, and then in the second one we’re going to do it with the PAST PARTICIPLE of the verbs when we’re talking about something that’s happened in the past.

So, I might add too guys that just before we do this exercise if you get confused about understanding what I’m referring to in the sentences then make sure check the manuscript because I’ve written in brackets after each one of these demonstrative pronouns where the context is a bit confusing I’ve put a noun in this so that you get the idea of what I’m talking about. So, if I just say a sentence like THESE ARE MINE without any context there you’ve got absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. It could be shoes, it could be pets, it could be houses, it could be cars. So, in each of these sentences where it is confusing just to hear THESE HAVE GOT SIX LEGS, for example, on its own and you don’t know what I’m talking about I’ve put a noun in there so that you can imagine what I’m talking about when you’re doing these exercises. So, that’s just a nice way of knowing the context and better thinking about these sentences when you read them as opposed to just repeating them without thinking. So, that’s it guys. I just wanted to make sure that you understood that before we did it.

So, let’s go guys. Here’s the first substitution exercise with HAS GOT and HAVE GOT.

Substitution exercise: HAS/HAVE + GOT

This (fighting) has got to stop.

This’s got to stop.

That (statement) has got nothing to do with it.

That’s got nothing to do with it.

These (insects) have got six legs.

These’ve got six legs.

Those (shoes) have got to be ours.

Those’ve got to be ours.

This (answer) has got to be it.

This’s got to be it.

That has got be the last of it.

That’s got to be the last of it.

These (clothing stores) have got some nice clothes.

These’ve got some nice clothes.

Those (recipes) have got dairy in them.

Those’ve got too much dairy in them.

That (car) has got two doors.

That’s got two doors.

These (dogs) have got long fur.

These’ve got long fur.

Those (houses) have got large windows.

Those’ve got large windows.

This (activity) has got his name written on it.

This’s got his name written on it.

So, in this substitution exercise, guys, we’re going to use HAS and HAVE followed by a PAST PARTICIPLE. So, THIS HAS BEEN or THESE HAVE BEEN, for example. And just remember that in order to allow you to understand the context of some of these sentences, if you read the manuscript where it could be confusing I’ve put example nouns in brackets in the sentences so that you can better imagine what that sentence, what that example is referring to when you’re thinking and when you’re reading and repeating these exercises.

So, let’s go guys.

Substitution exercise: HAS/HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE

This (argument) has been going on too long.

This’s been going on too long.

That (computer error) has happened a few times now.

That’s happened a few times now.

These have been questions I have asked before.

These’ve been questions I’ve asked before.

Those (reports at work) have waited to be done all day.

Those’ve waited to be done all day.

This (TV series) has just finished.

This’s just finished.

That (explanation) has failed to impress him.

That’s failed to impress him.

These have been a wet past few days.

These’ve been a wet past few days.

Those (old clothes) have fallen apart.

Those’ve fallen apart.

This (puzzle) has taken so long to finish.

This’s taken so long to finish.

That (plan) has worked out well.

That’s worked out well.

These (problems) have occupied my mind all week.

These’ve occupied my mind all week.

Those (documents) have come from work.

Those’ve come from work.

So, that’s it for today, guys. I hope this episode helps. Remember, go over it a few times. Keep practicing these things and eventually it’s going to become subconscious. You’re not going to have to think about it. You’re just going to make the appropriate contractions in the sentences that you say or in the sentences that you write in English without having to think about it. And just one last reminder, if any of these sentences were confusing when you were reading them and you didn’t understand what I could potentially have been referring to make sure that you read the manuscript and have a look for the nouns that I’ve placed after each demonstrative pronoun to give you context about what each sentence could be referring to. ‘Cause I always think that it’s really useful to be learning in context. If you want to learn anything in a language you need to understand what it is that you’re learning. So, I definitely recommend reading the manuscript, understanding the context of each one of these sentences and repeating the exercise. See you in the next episode guys.