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Won't
Sept 10, 2014 7:34:03 GMT
Post by cleefarqhuar on Sept 10, 2014 7:34:03 GMT
Contraction of what? Etymological dictionaries tell me it is the contraction of 'will not' Don't b'lieve 'em 'Tis 'bsurd 'will' and 'wo' are not homophones -they are good straight words not artificially married
My guess is that 'won't' is the contraction of 'would not' But then we would expect 'wo'n't' won't we not? Also a tensor problem ain't there what wiv won't being future and would being past
It is my wont when I won't do summat to do it any way and then say I wouldn't have done it
There's another problem - if won't is teh contraction of 'would not' then 'wouldn't' is redundant init?
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Won't
Sept 10, 2014 8:39:52 GMT
Post by jean on Sept 10, 2014 8:39:52 GMT
It's simple - the contraction won't came into use during the ME period when woll was a common variant of will.
The German verb cognate with English will has kept both vowels in some of its modern forms - the present tense of wollen goes
ich will du willst er will wir wollen ihr wollt sie wollen
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