Contractions - it was - it's

[Unregistered2005]

I saw in this thread examples of
"it's" as contraction of "it has" have
been discussed: http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/2442-contractions.html

Can it be used as a contraction for
"it was"?

Thanks

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Hi,

"It's" is a contraction for "it is".
Can "it's" be also used as a contraction
for "it has" or "it was"?

For example: "It's been nice meeting you."
Here, does "it's" mean "it has".

Thank you very much.

[Casiopea]

"It was" contracts to 'twas, which is no longer in use in Modern English. "It was" wouldn't contract to "It's" because it has a word-initial consonant w-. There are only two possibilities for "It's": It is, It has. The contraction is possible because "is" has a word-initial vowel, i-, and "has" has word-initial h-.

[englishstudent]

Thank you Casiopea for your response.

>"It was" contracts to 'twas, which is no longer in use in Modern English. "It was" wouldn't >contract to "It's" because it has a word-initial consonant w-. There are only two possibilities >for "It's": It is, It has. The contraction is possible because "is" has a word-initial vowel, i-, >and "has" has word-initial h-.

I'm sorry I could not catch the difference between:
"has" has word-initial h-.
and
("was" ) has a word-initial consonant w

Thanks

[Casiopea]

"It's": It is, It has. The contraction is possible because "is" has a word-initial vowel, i-, >and "has" has word-initial h-.

With contractions, the apostrophe (') replaces a missing vowel:

EX: It is => It's

The sound represented by the letter "h" is a puff of air, and so it's often dropped:

EX: It has => It _as => It's

The sound represented by the letter "w" requires a great deal of articulation: rounded lips, vibrating vocal folds, raised tongue height, so it's never dropped:

EX: It was => It was

In short, It was cannot contract to It's beacuse "w" is in the way.

[englishstudent]

Thanks again Casiopea for patiently explaining the answer in so much detail.
I appreciate it.

[Casiopea]

You're most welcome.