1

From what I can glean, it'll and I've exist as standard contractions, but I am unsure of whether it'll've either exists or is acceptable.

"It will have" should be able to be reduced to "it'll've", shouldn't it?

Improve this question
6
  • 1
    englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_future-perfect.htm
    – Jim
    Apr 25, 2014 at 15:02
  • It does exist! It's right up there in your post: ^
    – user61268
    Apr 25, 2014 at 15:09
  • Ha, yes but is it acceptable! I suppose as Neil below says logically and phonetically it is correct but is it OK to use it? I think it probably is OK just not standard/popular.
    – Greg
    Apr 25, 2014 at 15:11
  • @Jim They don't have it'll'no've : It will not have .... Maybe that's advanced. :)
    – Frank
    Apr 25, 2014 at 15:21
  • @J.R.: I'd'nt know that any native Anglophones speak like that.
    – FumbleFingers
    Apr 25, 2014 at 16:24

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

It is true that "it will have" (or "it'll have") is usually reduced in pronunciation to something that might arguably be better represented in writing is "it'll've".

But not every such reduction is standardly represented in writing. For example, the standard spelling is to write "would have", even though the vowel of "have" is usually pronounced as a schwa. Hence one might argue that it would be perfectly logical to spell this "would've", just as it would be perfectly logical to spell "women" as "wimmin": perfectly logical, just not the standard spelling.

Improve this answer
4
  • Although non-standard renderings are by no means uncommon, and the books they appear in often seem to sell. There was Adrian Plass's 'green and common wimmin', for instance.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Apr 25, 2014 at 15:09
  • 1
    I agree. Because the contraction It'll've isn't commonly used in writing, it could give the impression of writing dialect, which is often risky business.
    – frances
    Apr 25, 2014 at 15:11
  • We have lots of these in spoken English. Many native English speakers use a single word sound for "I am going to" in sentences like "I am going to go to the store".
    – David Schwartz
    Apr 26, 2014 at 7:13
  • From a site on grammar: Uses of the, on the other hand, is real toughie. You can use it or choose to leave it out of the sentence you give us. I would've put it in myself, but it's strictly up to you -- in this case, anyway. I recommend the University of Toronto Library's document "The Rules for Using the Word The".
    – Hot Licks
    May 25, 2018 at 11:10

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.