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Ain't is a non-standard feature commonly found in mainstream Australian English [46] and in New Zealand, ain't is a feature of Māori-influenced English. [47] In American English, usage of ain't corresponds to a middle level of education, [43] although its use is widely believed to show a lack of education or social standing. [48]
Some trademarks (e.g. Nabisco) and titles of published works (e.g. “Ain't That a Shame”) consist of or contain contractions; these are covered at Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Trademarks and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Titles, respectively. List of common (and not archaic) English contractions
Negatives are formed differently from most other varieties of English: [87] Use of ain't as a general negative marker. As in other English dialects, it can be used instead of am not, isn't, aren't, haven't, and hasn't. However, some speakers of AAVE distinctively use ain't instead of don't, doesn't, or didn't (e.g., I ain't know that). [88]
A aggravate – Some have argued that this word should not be used in the sense of "to annoy" or "to oppress", but only to mean "to make worse". According to AHDI, the use of "aggravate" as "annoy" occurs in English as far back as the 17th century. In Latin, from which the word was borrowed, both meanings were used. Sixty-eight percent of AHD4's usage panel approves of its use in "It's the ...
The English copular verb be has eight basic forms (be, am, is, are, being, was, were, been) and five negative forms (ain't (in some dialects), isn't, aren't, wasn't, weren't). [16] No other English verb has more than five forms. Additional archaic forms include art, wast, wert, and occasionally beest (as a subjunctive).
Because standard English does not have negative concord but many varieties and registers of English do, and because most English speakers can speak or comprehend across varieties and registers, double negatives as collocations are functionally auto-antonymic (contranymic) in English; for example, a collocation such as "ain't nothin" or "not ...
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The page states to list "common" English contractions, and also makes notes about potentially incorrect or improper usage of a few terms. But several of the items are ...