contractions in writing article
Contractions are a way to combine two words with an apostrophe. If you are reproducing an idiom that contains a contraction (e.g., “don’t count your chickens before they hatch”), leave the contraction (no need for “do not count your chickens…”). And sometimes there can be a good deal wrong without them. A contraction is a word or phrase that has been shortened by dropping one or more letters. Examples of contractions include it’s, wasn’t, haven’t, and hundreds more (see our contractions list below) We use contractions every day, usually without noticing them. … They’re far more acceptable today than they were when your grandpa was just a dad, and there’s nothing wrong with contractions in the right context. An informal, conversational tone is appropriate for these assignments, so contractions are permissible. If you are writing about contractions (e.g., in a paper about language), naturally you must be able to use contractions as linguistic examples. While common to spoken language and informal communications (think of e-mails), contractions are rarely seen in academic writing. A contraction is a shortened version of a word or phrase that uses the apostrophe to replace the elided characters. As you can probably see, Contractions can be used to join two separate words in order to create one shorter word. A few examples include can’t for cannot, isn’t for is not, and what’s for what is or what has. For example, to create the contraction "don't," the phrase "do not" has been squeezed into one word, and the "o" in "not" has been replaced by an apostrophe. An apostrophe can also replace more than a single letter: when forming "can't" from "cannot," the apostrophe replaces both the second "n" and the "o." Using them depends on your audience. A contraction is a combination of two words—almost always a noun with a verb—linked with an apostrophe into one, shortened word. Contractions make it easier for readers to understand your writing because they help your language sound natural. Contractions are commonly used in speech (or written dialogue), informal forms of writing, and where space is at a … Benjamin Dreyer says of the rule against contractions: This may be a fine rule to observe if you learned English on your native Mars, but there’s not a goshdarn thing wrong with “don’t,” “can’t,” “wouldn’t,” and all the rest of them that people naturally use, and without them many a piece would turn out stilted and would turn out stilted and wooden… Contractions are why God invented the apostrophe, so make go… The most basic rule about contractions is that an apostrophe is used in place of all omitted letters. I found a statement against avoiding contractions in Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style. A: Contractions aren’t wrong—they’re just less formal than the expanded forms. 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