Can I use “they’re” as a contraction for “they were”?
When is it appropraite to use the contraction of "have"?
contractions - Have or 've? When can we not contract "have"? - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
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My understanding is that it is inappropriate to use the contraction of "have" when "have" is being used as the main verb in a sentence. For example, "I have a dog" cannot be transformed to "I've a dog".
However, in the sentence "I have to sleep" or "I have to get a dog", I believe "sleep" and "get" are, respectively, the main verbs in these sentences yet it still seems inappropraite to use the contraction.
Could someone help clarify what I am missing here? Any help would be most appreciated!
In normal speech, most people pronounce unaccented have as /əv/, and so it would make sense to write it "'ve".
But in fact, this is not common except in I've and they've, (where it loses the vowel and sounds like /v/), and in the forms would've, should've and could've.
You can find other examples occasionally, but they're not common. For example, in the iWeb corpus there are 36 instances of people've, compared with 20820 of should've, and 449 594 of they've.
The 've contraction works with:
- I've = "I have"; and
- they've = "they have";
- you've = "you have";
- we've = "we have";
- (one) must've = "(one) must have";
- (one) should've = "(one) should have";
- (one) could've = "(one) could have";
- (one) would've = "(one) would have".
Those not listed above, including "my parents have", cannot usually be contracted in the same manner.
My parents have just arrived
You may alternatively choose to refer to your parents as "they" and therefore use "they've" in your sentence.
My parents (they) have just arrived.
- They've just arrived.
- Who?
- My parents.
- They must've been traveling all day.
In addition to whether it is possible to be used, it should also be noted that contractions such as these are generally more informal and something should be avoided. When writing an academic paper, for example, it is often advised to use the full phrase ("I have" or "should have") instead of opting for the contraction.