I\'ve had some requests to go over the pronunciation of various contractions.
So, let\'s start with the \'to be\' contractions, as in I am, you are, we are. First, I\'m. It\'s
one syllable, the \'ai\' as in \'buy\' diphthong and the M consonant sound. I\'m here, I\'m here.
You are, you\'re: begins with the Y consonant sound, then the schwa, and finally the R consonant
sound. You\'re, you\'re. You\'re here! You\'re welcome. He\'s, she\'s, and it\'s. Now the apostrophe
S for the word \'is\' in these three contractions is pronounced as a Z sound for he and she,
and as an S sound for it\'s. He\'s, zzz, zzz, Z sound, she\'s, zzz, zzz, Z sound, it\'s, sss,
S sound. The apostrophe S in he\'s, she\'s, and it\'s, can also be shortening the word
\'has\', not just \'is\'. He has, he\'s been here before. She has, she\'s, she\'s been here before.
It has, it\'s, it\'s been here for a while. We\'re begins with the W consonant sound. It
then has the schwa/R sound combination, just like the \'er\' as in \'her\' vowel sound: ww,
er. So even though it would be written with two different symbol sounds, it\'s just the
one rr, rr, rr sound. We\'re, we\'re, we\'re coming! They\'re: pronounced just like these
two words their/there. Th, the voiced TH sound, th, the \'eh\' as in \'bed\', the-er, er. The
schwa/R sound finishing off the word. They\'re. They\'re. They\'re here! Question words are
often part of contractions as well. For example, how is. How\'s, how\'s. The S is pronounced
as a Z sound, how\'s. How\'s it going? Why\'s, why is. Why\'s, again it is pronounced like
a Z sound. It\'s pronounced just like this word wise. Why\'s, why\'s it there? What is,
what\'s. So the apostrophe S is pronounced as an S, what\'s. Now, make sure you get the
T for \'what\' in there. It\'s a stop, what\'s, not just an S sound. What---ss. So do move
the tongue up to the roof of the mouth to make that stop for the T. What\'s, what\'s.
What\'s it doing there? The apostrophe S could also be the word does. What does, what\'s.
What\'s it mean? When. When is becomes when\'s, zz, zz. Here the apostrophe S is pronounced
as a Z. When\'s, when\'s, when is, when\'s it over? The apostrophe S can also mean does.
When does, when\'s, again, pronounced as a Z, when\'s it end? When does it end, when\'s
it end?
