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I understand contractions as just a means of merging two words into one, with some added punctuation, but there's some cases where I feel I'm grammatically correct, but using them incorrectly.

For example, "Have you ever been to the market downtown? I know I've."

Or, "Will you guys be coming with us?" ... "Yes we'll."

And, "If that won't work, what'll?"

Is there some grammar rule against doing this? Is there a reason why this isn't common? What makes doing this feel awkward?

Boom
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    I have a feeling I've answered this recently, but I can't find it. So, yes, there is a rule -- or a set of rules -- that effectively forbids subject-auxiliary contractions at the end of a sentence. Auxiliaries, to be contracted or deleted, must be followed by their main verb; if that has been deleted (by, for example, conjunction reduction, as here), then contraction can't occur. This is because the clause at the end has to have a stressed predicate, if it has a predicate at all, and you can't stress a subject-verb contraction. This is not true, for instance, of auxiliary-negative contractions – John Lawler Oct 02 '15 at 21:00
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    @Hellion I disagree that this is a duplicate of the discussion you linked, because it specifically deals with contractions at the end of sentences, rather than simply contracting the main verb in a sentence. – Holly Oct 02 '15 at 21:21
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    W.S.Gilbert did it for comic effect in Ruddigore: Oh innocent, honest, though pure: / If I had been virtuous I'm sure / I'd have been as nice-looking as you're. / You are very nice-looking indeed. / Oh innocents, listen in time! / Avoid an existence of crime! / Or you'll be as ugly as I'm / And now, if you please, we'll proceed. – Colin Fine Oct 02 '15 at 21:55
  • Voting to close. This has already been asked {When can one use a contraction at the end of a sentence? [duplicate] } // To which closure the OP reasonably responds: << 'My question isn't a dupe, but the top answer to your linked question answers my question. Shall I delete?' – Fixee Jun 29 '12 >> So this has also already been answered. //// We need a better protocol for closing questions which are well answered in near-duplicates. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 03 '15 at 02:05
  • WTH??? There are so many similar questions to this one and it gets linked to a question that's completely totally and utterly unrelated. Completely unbelievable. How are we meant to get good questions round here when we behave like this. It's crazy. AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh. – Araucaria - Him Oct 03 '15 at 20:57
  • @EdwinAshworth Can we do something to get this linked to one of the many suitable ones on offer? How would one go about getting this done? (There's about five listed in the answer below!!) – Araucaria - Him Oct 03 '15 at 20:59
  • @Araucaria The snag here is that there is no answer to this question at the 'duplicate', but a good answer at the 'other' question which does not exactly match this one. It would be best, IMHO, if the more general question (if not too broad for ELU) were preserved in cases like this, and particular examples requiring different explanations appended. Of course, with questions with titles like 'Can you please help me with this sentence?', the title needs editing. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 03 '15 at 22:01

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You cannot end a sentence with a pronoun-verb contraction.

From LiveMocha:

...you CANNOT end a sentence with contraction if it is a Type 1 (Pronoun-Verb). Not in formal English, not in informal English – never! In this case, you must write out the entire verb that follows the pronoun. So take a look at the contraction at the end of your sentence. Does it contain a pronoun? If it does, then break it up into its two original words.

From English expert Eugene Mohr:

[In written English,] No contraction takes place if the form of be, will, or have occupies the final position.

You may also be interested in the following discussions/posts:

Is there some rule against ending a sentence with the contraction “it's”?

Ending a sentence with a contraction

Yes, I'm.

Why does it sound so weird to end a sentence with a contraction?

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Holly
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