Writing Tip of the Day | Writer's Block Philippines

Posted on01 April 2012. Tags: gonna, tip of the day, wanna, wbp, writers block philippines, writing tip of the day

Wanna Speak and Write English Well?
You?re Gonna Need This

?Girls?just wanna have fun,? sang Cyndi Lauper in the 1980s. ?When you gonna live your life right?? is another line in this famous song.

We have to allow for poetic license because to sing, ?Girls just?want to?have fun,? and ?when?are?you?going to?live your life right?? simply will not fit the lyrics. It would sound strange.

Wanna and gonna

Wanna?and?gonna?have been around for a long time and are commonly heard in informal speech. They are found in written work too.

American novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist Stephen Crane (1871?1900) used?wanna?as a colloquialism in his novella?Maggie: A Girl of the Streets(1893).

American writer John Steinbeck (1902?1968) used?wanna?and?gonna?in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel?The Grapes of Wrath?(1939).

In informal speech and in the mouths of characters in creative writing,?wanna?andgonna?have etched their place. This is where they must remain, in close company with other words of their kind. They are called reduced forms.

Reduced forms

Here is a table of some of these reduced forms with the original forms and examples:

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Table of Reduced Forms
Reduced form	Example of usage	Original form	Example
dunno	I dunno what you mean.	do not know	I do not know what you mean.
gimme	Gimme that gun!	give me	Give me that gun!
gonna	He?s gonna do it.	going to	He?s going to do it.
gotta	I gotta do this.	got to	I have got to do this. (Better: I have to do this.)
hafta	I hafta do this.	have to	I have to do this.
kinda	I feel kinda sick.	kind of	I feel kind of sick. (Better: I feel sick.)
lemme	Lemme take your pulse.	let me	Let me take your pulse.
oughta	You oughta take a nap.	ought to	You ought to take a nap.
sorta	I?m sorta tired.	sort of	I?m sort of tired. (Better: I am tired.)
wanna	I wanna sleep.	want to;	I want to sleep.
wanna	Wanna blanket?	want a	Do you want a blanket?
wannabe	She?s a wannabe movie star.	would-be? (want to be)	She?s a would-be movie star.
whaddaya	Whaddaya know! She won an Oscar.	what do you	What do you know! She won an Oscar.

Remember that these reduced forms must not be used in formal speech and in formal writing. Always call into question any usage that sounds like a reduction and refer to a dictionary to be sure to use the proper term in your essays.

Be sure to do this if you?wanna?oops!?want to speak and write well and get good grades in English.

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Source: English Essay Writing Tips

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