Is there a way to create a contraction between any noun and the word "is"?

However, I'm not so sure this is correct, and I'm having a hard time researching the topic. When I write it down, it looks like I'm trying to say something belonging to Amanda is out by the palm tree due to the rules of possession, and whatever that item is has been lost between the lines of the page. I'm aware that a contraction is the combination of two words to form another (e.g. "do" and "not" becoming "don't"). Does this apply to nouns and the word "is", or is this improper? If so, is how I'm writing it correct? Is there a way to create a contraction between any noun and the word "is"?

asked Jan 3, 2022 at 20:33 115 8 8 bronze badges

The answers currently given don't address your last question, so I'll just point out that no, there is no way to create a contraction for any noun and the word "is". For example, we usually don't contract a word that ends in a sibilant with "is": *"Moses's staying home today." *"The mouse's in the wall."

Commented Jan 3, 2022 at 22:58 The is is reduced, just the same; only difference is that vowels aren't deleted between sibilants. Commented Jan 3, 2022 at 23:02 @MarcInManhattan Updated my answer Commented Jan 4, 2022 at 12:57

2 Answers 2

Yes, you can say "Amanda's out of town". Any noun or noun phrase may be part of a contraction. For example, "the king of England's about to die".

One of the comments above says that you can't apply contractions after words that end in a sibilant (s, sh, z). I find that I still make a compromise contraction, with a schwa before the contracted verb instead. Your mileage may vary depending on dialect. It's probably best to avoid contractions in those cases though.

You may also not want to use these contractions in formal writing, but it's perfectly fine in speech and informal writing.

Your concern about confusion with the possessive construction doesn't usually manifest. In the example sentence, "out of town" is a prepositional phrase that cannot be possessed. In many other circumstances, "is" is part of a verb phrase, so there is also generally no confusion there: "Amanda's coming to play". While you could say that "Amanda's coming" is a noun phrase, the rest of the sentence does not contain a verb, or at least one that can take "Amanda's coming" as a subject, so there's no ambiguity.

You can also use 'll (from "will"), 's (from "has") and 'd (from "had" or "would") with nouns and noun phrases:

"Amanda'll be here in a few" ("Amanda will be here in a few")
"Amanda's already come over" ("Amanda has already come over")
"Amanda'd already eaten by the time we asked" ("Amanda had already eaten by the time we asked")
"Amanda'd like to eat soon" ("Amanda would like to eat soon")

All of these additional options, except for 's sound to my ears particularly informal. Note that 'll is still pronounced as its own syllable: "uh-MAN-duh-ull".