Another kind of slurring--occurring almost exclusively in Modern English poetry--is effected by contraction of a short vowel with a preceding long one, so that a disyllabic word becomes monosyllabic, e.g., _flower_, _lower_, _power_, _tower_, _coward_, _prayer_, _jewel_, _cruel_, _doing_, _going_, _being_, _seeing_, _dying_, _playing_, _praying_, _knowing_, &c.: _Whose pówer divíne_ Sur. 118; _prayer: prayr_ Wyatt 26; _His crúel despíte_ Sur. 7. All these words are, of course, not less frequently used as disyllables sometimes even when their usual pronunciation is monosyllabic, e.g.: _How óft have Í, my déar and crúël foe._ Wyatt 14. _I'll práy a thóusand práyërs fór thy death._ Shak. Meas. III. i. 146. _There ís no pówer ín the tóngue of mán._ id. Merch. IV. i. 241. § =111.= Other groups of sounds which allow slurring are: vowel + _r_ + vowel, where the second vowel may be slurred, e.g., _spirit_, _alarum_, _warrant_, _nourish_, _flourish_, &c.; _My fáther's spírit in árms!_ Shak. Haml. I. ii. 255; _flóurishing péopled tówns_ id. Gentl. V. iv. 3; _I wárrant, it wíll_ id. Haml. I. ii. 243. In the group vowel + _v_ + _e(i)_+cons. the _v_ is slurred, if a consonant appears as the initial sound of the following word, and _e(i)_ if the following word begins with a vowel. Such words are: _heaven_, _seven_, _eleven_, _devil_, _even_, _ever_, _never_, &c.; e.g., _and é'en the whóle_ Wyatt 80; _had néver his fíll_ id. 108; _disdáin they né'er so múch_ Shak. 1 Hen. VI, V. iii. 98; _and drível on péarls_ Wyatt 195. These words have, of course, not less frequently their full syllabic value: _Of Héaven gátes_ Wyatt 222; _Then sét this drível óut of dóor_ Sur. 79. Also _th_ between vowels may be subjected to slurring, as in _whether_, _whither_, _hither_, _thither_, _either_, _neither_, _rather_, _further_, &c.; e.g., _go ásk him whíther he góes_ Shak. 1 Hen. VI, II. iii. 28; _Good Sír, say whéther you'll ánswer mé or nót_, id. Caes. V. iv. 30; _Whether óught to ús unknówn_ id. Haml. II. ii. 17. When a syllabic inflexional ending forms one thesis with a following syllable, as in _The ímages of revólt_ Shak. Lear, II. iv. 91; _I hád not quóted him_ id. Haml. II. i. 112, &c., it is preferable to assume a disyllabic thesis rather than a slurring. Sometimes, however, the _-ed_ of past participles (rarely of preterites) of verbs ending in _t_ is actually cut off, as _torment_ instead of _tormented_ Wyatt 137; _deject_ instead of _dejected_ Shak. Haml. III. i. 163. Contractions of another kind--partly to be explained by negligent colloquial pronunciation--are: _ta'en_ (=_taken_) Wyatt 182; _I'll_ (=_I will_) Shak. Tempest, II. ii. 419; _carry 'em_ (=_carry them_) id. 2 Hen. VI, I. iv. 76, &c.; _Ma(d)am_ id. Gent. II. i. 6; _in's_ (=_in his_), _doff_ (=_do off_), _dout_ (=_do out_), _o' the_ (=_of the_), _w'us_ (=_with us_), _let's_ (=_let us_), _thou'rt_ (=_thou art_), &c., &c.