Is there a term for words like "wanna" or "gonna" which have been shortened from their originals of "want to" and "going to"?
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Informal expressions, slang expressions. ecenglish.com/learnenglish/node/403– user66974Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 9:38
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But (to my surprise) becoming more standard nowadays. Found even in formal writing.– GEdgarCommented Sep 28, 2017 at 11:37
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2 Answers
They are called contractions.
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Welcome to ELU. The majority of this answer is a direct quote from Wikipedia. While corroboration is fine and encouraged, quotes must be preceded by > and correctly cited [and linked, if online]. I've done this here.– Andrew Leach ♦Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 10:05
gonna /ˈgɒnə / informal ▸ (contraction) going to: so what you gonna do now?
wanna /ˈwɒnə / informal ▸ (contraction) want to; want a: you wanna know how low I've stooped? I wanna guitar. OxfordLivingDictionaries
answered Sep 28, 2017 at 10:13
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That's not OED you've linked to, mahmud. It's a different Oxford dictionary. Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 13:09
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@EdwinAshworth, Yes, you are right. Thanks for pointing out the mistake. It's OLD! Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 13:57
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I use the abbreviation ODO, which I think is the one the Meta people advise us to use. Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 14:04