In this Pronunciation episode I teach you guys how contracting IS onto nouns and indefinite pronouns is easy and makes you sound more like a native!

Pronunciation: Contracting IS onto nouns and indefinite pronouns

G’day guys. Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today is going to be contractions of the word “Is” onto nouns and indefinite pronouns. So, this is the last episode in the contracting of “Is”, and “Is” as I’ve said before is the second person singular form of the verb “To be” in the present tense. And so, here we’ll practice it with some nouns and indefinite pronouns before we dive into the substitution exercise. So, here we’ll do a listen and repeat exercise where you guys contract “Is” onto the noun or onto the indefinite pronoun. So, listen and repeat after me.

Listen and repeat:

Nouns:

The dog is

The dog’s

My car is

My car’s

That tree is

That tree’s

A bag is

A bag’s

Indefinite pronouns:

Someone is

Someone’s

Somebody is

Somebody’s

Everyone is

Everyone’s

Everybody is

Everybody’s

Anyone is

Anyone’s

Anybody is

Anybody’s

No one is

No one’s

Nobody is

Nobody’s

And I know what you guys are going to be thinking here after having done this exercise. It does look and sound pretty much the same, if not exactly the same, as using the possessive “’s” on words, and the way that you know whether or not it’s possessive [‘s] or it’s the contracted “Is” is through context. So, you’re going to know when someone is talking about a bag BEING something, a bag IS something, as opposed to something that BELONGS to a bag. So, “a bag’s zip”, for example. Anyway, it just comes with practice. You’ll get the idea just keep practicing these exercises and look for context when people speak, when you’re reading, or when you’re writing.

So, as usual guys we’ll go through a substation exercise. By now I’m sure you know the drill. I’m going to say a series of paired sentences. The first one is not contracted, or uncontracted, and the second one is going to have the contraction of “Is” onto, in this case, the noun or the [indefinite] pronoun. So, let’s get started guys.

Substitution exercise:

The dog is mine.

The dog’s mine.

My car is in the driveway.

My car’s in the driveway.

That tree is very old.

That tree’s very old.

A bag is waiting to be picked up.

A bag’s waiting to be picked up.

No one is listening to you.

No one’s listening to you.

Nobody is interested in it.

Nobody’s interested in it.

Someone is looking for you.

Someone’s looking for you.

Somebody is going to find us.

Somebody’s going to find us.

If anybody is tired we can go to bed.

If anybody’s tired we can go to bed.

Everyone is waiting for the new book.

Everyone’s waiting for the new book.

Anyone is welcome to come to my party.

Anyone’s welcome to come to my party.

Everybody is pretty angry about the news.

Everybody’s pretty angry about the news.

So, that’s it for this episode guys. As I always say, keep practicing, keep repeating these exercises, eventually they’re going to become natural. You’re not going to have to think about it too much, and you’ll find that when you speak, when you write, you’re going to be using these contractions without having to think about it. So, keep at it and your English is going to improve dramatically guys, I promise you. See you in the next episode.