IELTS Preparation Series 2, Episode 9: Whale Sharks
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Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
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Today, we're going to look at the use of contractions in spoken English. A contraction is like a
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short form in speech.
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I've just used three examples:
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I'm for 'I am',
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we're for 'we are',
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and I've for 'I have'
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English speakers often use contractions, so mastering them will help your speech improve.
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Our story today is about tourists helping scientists study whale sharks off the coast
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of Western Australia.
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Listen to this conversation, and try to identify the contractions.
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So what sort of information are you recording in your log?
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The latitude and longitude, the depth, the time, the sex and any sort of interaction
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that the swimmers have with it. The whale sharks don't actually seem to mind the interaction
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with them and certainly if it wasn't for them being out here we wouldn't have the amount
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of knowledge we do about them.
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The difference is, I suppose, with scientific research, you might have a research team here
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for a week, two weeks, and then they leave. They might come here once every few years.
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But when you've got, well, six or seven whale shark boats here, three or four in Coral Bay,
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running for three or four months then their contribution to research is awesome. They're
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out here every day.
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Did you hear the contractions? The first speaker used three of them.
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Simon said: don't, wasn't and wouldn't.
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Listen again.
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The whale sharks don't actually seem to mind the interaction with them and certainly if
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it wasn't for them being out here we wouldn't have the amount of knowledge we do about them.
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Don't is a contraction of do not.
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Wasn't is a contraction of was not.
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Wouldn't is a contraction of would not.
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These are all examples of a very common style of contraction - a verb and the negative,
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not.
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Now listen to a tour guide, Steve Gibson, talking about the tourists who help study
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the whale sharks. He uses another type of contraction. Can you identify it?
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The difference is, I suppose, with scientific research, you might have a research team here
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for a week, two weeks, and then they leave. They might come here once every few years.
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But when you've got, well, six or seven whale shark boats here, three or four in Coral Bay,
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running for three or four months then their contribution to research is awesome. They're
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out here every day.
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Steve says: 'you've got' and 'they're out'.
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These are contractions of pronouns with the verbs to have and to be.
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You've is a contraction of you have.
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They're is a contraction of they are.
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We can also make contractions with nouns and other words. Let's look at a few.
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My brother's studying.
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Brother's is a contraction of brother is.
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Who's going out tonight?
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Who's is a contraction of who is.
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There's our bus.
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There's is a contraction of there is.
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When writing informally, for example in notes or postcards, it's fine to use contractions,
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because they represent spoken language. However, if you are writing formally, do not use contractions.
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Remember that in formal writing, words that are not in the dictionary should not be used.
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Finally, let's consider the pronunciation of contractions. Some are stressed, and others
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are not.
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But just remember, the rules for stressing words can change according to context.
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Here's a guide.
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Contractions are 'stressed' when they're formed from nouns, main verbs and negatives.
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For example:
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my brother's studying
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if it wasn't for them
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we wouldn't have
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Contractions are 'not' stressed when they're formed from pronouns and auxiliary words.
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For example, Steve says:
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when you've got boats here
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they're out here every day
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Notice that contractions cannot occur at the end of a sentence, except for the contraction
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of a verb and 'not'.
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For example,
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He's sick Yes, I know he is. We cannot say, Yes I know
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he's.
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But we can say:
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I'm hurt. No, you aren't.
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OK. Now we're going to watch the story again. This time, listen for the use of nouns.
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So what sort of information are you recording in your log?
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The latitude and longitude, the depth, the time, the sex and any sort of interaction
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that the swimmers have with it. The whale sharks don't actually seem to mind the interaction
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with them and certainly if it wasn't for them being out here we wouldn't have the amount
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of knowledge we do about them.
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The difference is, I suppose, with scientific research, you might have a research team here
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for a week, two weeks, and then they leave. They might come here once every few years.
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But when you've got, well, six or seven whale shark boats here, three or four in Coral Bay,
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running for three or four months then their contribution to research is awesome. They're
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out here every day.
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All the speakers use a number of nouns.
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In English nouns are either countable or uncountable - that is, we can either count them or we
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can't.
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Let's look at countable nouns.
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Countable nouns are generally things like:
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people - a teacher, a cook, a swimmer
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animals - a dog, a cat, a whale shark
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plants - a lily, a bush, a tree
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objects - a chair, a table, a boat
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units of measurement - a litre, dollar, a cup
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Uncountable nouns are generally more abstract, and include things such as:
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languages - Chinese, Japanese, German
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emotions - happiness, sadness, anger
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ideas - intelligence, luck, knowledge
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substances or materials - like air, oil or rice
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Countable nouns have two forms. They can be 'singular' or 'plural'.
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But uncountable nouns have only one form, and cannot form a plural.
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Let's have a look at that.
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Chair can be singular or plural, chairs. It is a specific, concrete thing, so it is a
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countable noun.
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We can say:
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I would like to buy three chairs.
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However, furniture is an abstract noun. It has only one form, and cannot be made into
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a plural.
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It is an uncountable noun.
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We can say:
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I would like to buy all that furniture.
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Using a word like 'all' indicates quantity or amount.
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Listen to how Simon Stevens measures knowledge in this clip.
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The whale sharks don't actually seem to mind the interaction with them and certainly if
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it wasn't for them being out here we wouldn't have the amount of knowledge we do about them.
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He says an amount of knowledge.
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Knowledge is an uncountable noun. It can't be counted. We haven't got a specific number
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we can apply to define a 'quantity of knowledge'. We use 'quantity words' or 'measure words'
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with uncountable nouns, instead of numbers.
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We say:
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an amount of knowledge
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a cup of tea
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a loaf of bread
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a degree of happiness
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a measure of luck, or
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a gust of wind
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OK, so today we've looked at different types of contractions and how they are stressed
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in phrases, and we looked at countable and uncountable nouns.
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If you would like to watch today's story again, look at some study notes or do some exercises,
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you can go to our website anytime. It's at abcasiapacific.com/studyenglish.
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That's all for today. I'll see you next time on Study English. Bye bye.
