It'd and love'd etc.

[emsr2d2]

Wouldn't that be, "My mate Cathy'd've done that"?

In any case, 'Cathy', ending in a vowel, is different from 'love' and 'Clive;, which end in a consonant.

Yes, I just spotted my missing word and entered it.

Anyway, yes, I would still pronounce "love'd" the same way I pronounce "loved".

[Balkenende]

Apologies for not coming back here earlier - I had some computer trouble.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

It seems my poems are 'saved' ;) I.e. I can used 'love'd'. Although the consonant/vowel-remark seems to a very good point.

Even so...: Two other consonant examples, which I hope can also be pronounced as one syllabe:

- there will've been many rides

- he might well've been describing himself.

[emsr2d2]

Apologies for not coming back here earlier - I had some computer trouble.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

It seems my poems are 'saved' ;) I.e. I can used 'love'd'. Although the consonant/vowel-remark seems to a very good point.

Even so...: Two other consonant examples, which I hope can also be pronounced as one syllabe:

- there will've been many rides

- he might well've been describing himself.

There is no physical way to pronounce "will've" or "well've" as one syllable. No matter how you try to shorten or clip them, they will always be the main word followed by "uh-v" (or however you write it!)

[Balkenende]

Bummer... But thank you ;)

Lastly (I hope), what about:

to've been (in love, for instance)?

[5jj]

to've been (in love, for instance)?

That would be two syllables for me.

I'll just remind you that none of these forms (it'd, love'd, will've, well've, to've) are acceptable in writing, except perhaps for informal dialogues.

[Tdol]

Lastly (I hope), what about:

to've been (in love, for instance)?

That's the closest- you can make a case for it IMO.

[Balkenende]

That would be two syllables for me.

I'll just remind you that none of these forms (it'd, love'd, will've, well've, to've) are acceptable in writing, except perhaps for informal dialogues.

Well, I'll only use it in poetry or film dialogue, so in creative writing.

('It'd', by the way, has an official entry in respectable on-line dictionaries)

[Balkenende]

That's the closest- you can make a case for it IMO.

Alright, so one 'yes', one 'no'. :)

Any more people for 'yes'?

[5jj]

'It'd', by the way, has an official entry in respectable on-line dictionaries)

Perhaps I was a little too dismissive of It'd. However, I would still maintain that it'd only be used in written representations of dialogue.

[Tdol]

Alright, so one 'yes', one 'no'. :)

Any more people for 'yes'?

More a maybe than a yes. I wouldn't go for an absolute no- you could pronounce it as one or two.