Causative Verbs

Causative verbs

Causative structures indicate that one thing or person causes another thing or person to do something or be something.

Examples of causatives

Have (give someone the responsibility to do something)

• I had John fix the car

• I had my hair cut

Make (force someone to do something)

• The teacher made the students work in groups

• Our boss made us work extra hours

Get (convince or trick someone into doing something)

• He got the mechanic to repair the machine.

• She got him to read more.

Let (allow someone do something)

• Jane let her son go out

• They let the children play in the yard

Other causative verbs

Other causative verbs include:

allow, help, enable, keep, hold, force, require, persuade

Contraction

What is contraction?

A contraction refers to a shortened form of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters which are replaced by an apostrophe.

Examples:

• I am = I'm

• He is = He's

Contractions should not be confused with:

1. Abbreviations which consist of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase as in Dr for Doctor

2. Clipping which is the word formation process consisting in the reduction of a word to one of its parts as in spec for speculation.

3. Acronyms which is an abbreviation formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word (example: FBI, Benelux, radar)

A list of contracted forms in English

Here is a list of some examples of contraction in English:

Full Forms	Contracted forms
I am	I'm
you / we / they are	you / we / they're
she / he is	she / he's
I am not	I'm not
you / we / they are not	you / we / they aren't
she / he is not	she / he isn't
I / you /we / they have	I / you /we / they've
she / he has	she / he's
they have	they've
I had	I'd
I would	I'd
I will	I'll
I do not	I don't
he does not	he doesn't
I did not	I didn't
I have not	I haven't
I had not	I hadn't
I cannot	I can't
I could not	I couldn't
I will not	I won't
I would not	I wouldn't
I should not	I shouldn't
I must not	I mustn't
There is	There's
where is	where's
who is	who's

Clipping

What is clipping?

Clipping refers to the reduction of a polysyllabic word by dropping a syllable or more from it.Clipping is also called truncation orshortening.

Examples:

• spec = speculation

• vet = veteran

Types of clipping

There are three types of clipping:

Back clipping

In this type the beginning is retained:

Examples:

• ad = advertisement

• cable = cablegram

• doc = doctor

• exam = examination

• fax = facsimile

• gas = gasoline

• gym = gymnastics, gymnasium

• memo = memorandum

• pub = public house

• pop = popular music

Fore-clipping

The final part is retained:

Examples:

• chute = parachute

• coon = raccoon

• gator = alligator

• phone = telephone

Middle clipping

The middle part is retained.

Example:

• flu = influenza

• fridge = refrigerator

Complex clipping

Clipping may also occur in compounds. In complex clipping, one part of the original compound most often remains intact. But sometimes both halves of a compound are clipped:

Examples:

• cablegram= cable telegram

• op art = optical art

• org-man= organization man

• linocut = linoleum cut

• navicert = navigation certificate

When both halves are clipped, as in navicert, it becomes confusing whether to consider the resultant formation as clippingor as blending.