Pronouns
The
nominative personal pronouns in English can all be contracted with the present
tense forms of the verb be, as well
as with the auxiliary verbs have, has, had, will and would.
|
Singular |
Plural |
|
I’m, I’ve, I’d,
I’ll |
we’re, we’ve,
we’d, we’ll |
|
you’re, you’ve,
you’d, you’ll |
you’re, you’ve,
you’d, you’ll |
|
she’s, she’d,
she’ll |
they’re,
they’ve, they’d, they’ll |
|
he’s,
he’d, he’ll |
|
|
it’s,
it’d, it’ll |
Observe
that the ’d contraction can stand
for either had or would and that the ’s contraction can stand for either is or has. There is
seldom any ambiguity, however, because the contractions of had and has are always
followed by a participle, would is
always followed by an infinitive, and, in its auxiliary use, be is always followed by a gerund.
Remember not to confuse the form it’s, which means it is or, less often, it has,
with the possessive pronoun its,
which indicates possession (eg The UOC
bases its educational model on the Virtual Campus).
Note
that the possessive personal pronouns in English are often formed adding an s to the possessive adjective: eg your → yours, her →
hers, our → ours, etc.
In this
case the suffix has nothing at all to do with a plural, so these forms
mustn’t be used as attributive adjectives. Examples:
our
friend → our friends, not ours friends.
