Top Tip Of The Week

Contractions

Building on my tip from last week, this week contractions is the subject of my top tip. A contraction is where words are shortened. As the words are being shortened, an apostrophe needs to be used to indicate the missing letters e.g. I’m is short for I am and so the apostrophe highlights that there is a letter missing and in this case, the missing letter is ‘a’.  Here are a few examples for you:

Contraction                         Full Form

shan’t                                    shall not

can’t                                      can not

couldn’t                                 could not

doesn’t                                  does not

isn’t                                       is not

let’s                                       let us

I’d                                          I would

what’s                                    what does

we’re                                     we are

they’re                                  they are

 

There’s just one thing for me to do and that’s to say, happy Friday!

 

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4 responses to “Top Tip Of The Week”

  1. Christine Steenfeldt Avatar
    Christine Steenfeldt

    Thanks for these. I find myself unsure when to use contractions in fiction writing. Sometimes using the full form feels forced and formal but I’m sure I’ve read that it’s wrong to use contractions except in dialogue. Love the cat!

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    1. I’ve found that contractions seem to be used more and more in fiction these days so the full form then looks stilted when it does appear. The best lead is the magazine you’re writing for or in a competition, look back over past winning entries to get a feel for the judge’s preference.

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  2. Why don’t we see sha’n’t? It doesn’t look very tidy does it? 🙂

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