Contraction We can see elision clearly in contracted forms (e.g., I’ll, she’s, he’d). Vowels or consonants, or both, can be elided in contraction. Contractions are a necessary ingredient for rhythm and clarity since by reducing them, we can emphasize content words. If we do not use a contraction when expected, we are signaling something different. For example, the following two sentences convey different meaning: He’s finished his homework. He has finished his homework. “He’s finished his homework” states a fact, but “He has finished his homework” signals something like a surprise or an emphasis. So we should use a contracted form when expected. Pronunciation of contracted words Contracted words sound different from what we expect, so we need to know how they sound. These are common contractions and their sounds: I'm rhymes with dime. you're sounds the same as your/yore. he's and she’s (is, has) rhyme with bees. it's (is, has) sounds the same as its. we're rhy