Can a word be contracted twice (e.g. "I'ven't")?
I've seen a contraction of two words. I can't see why it wouldn't've been possible to have been contracted twice. Is it possible and how should it be punctuated?
Update: Ok, to sum up the answers so far
- This appears in spoken British and American English
- It is from one of the lower registers of English
- Even if spoken this way sometimes, it isn't really written as a double contraction, except as written speech in fiction.
- And from my own googling in Wiktionary, it appears most written forms are old British words, often nautical like fo'c'sle.
Solution 1:
This is not the highest register, but you may hear it in speech. Native speakers tend to slur words together and leave out sounds even if they wouldn't write that way.
Double contractions are not used in writing. They may be grammatically correct, but a professor would not allow you to use them in an essay. Typically, even single contractions are avoided in formal writing.
Solution 2:
Two of my favorite double contractions are "couldn't've" and "shouldn't've", both of which are flagged by my spell checker, but seem completely correct to me.
Solution 3:
"Fish 'n' chips" and similar phrases with "'n'" technically have a double-contracted "and."
Solution 4:
The example you give is not done in American English. You can't contract non-auxiliary "have". "I've not a clue if this is possible" is also not grammatical in American English. It may be in British English, though.
I copied this from a comment I left below, because I think it clarifies what I'm trying to say:
I've" is a fine contraction, just in American English you can only use it to replace "I have" when "have" is used as an auxiliary verb (e.g. in conjunction with a past participle). "I've been there" is OK. "I've a dog" is not. In the example "I'ven't a clue"—"I haven't a clue", the verb "have" is not auxiliary, so it can't be contracted with the pronoun "I".
Solution 5:
I don't think you can get away with "I'ven't" in writing either. However, I think I've read "'tweren't," "'twouldn't," and "'twasn't" before. I'm guessing, though, that double contractions like that are never technically correct. Colloquially speaking, if you're understandable, anything goes.