Asked by: Toni Smith

And that’s not irrational: while there are many good reasons to break the rules, a student needs to learn the rules before he can learn when to break them. But in any case, contractions aren’t “bad grammar”, they’re perfectly legitimate.

Can you use contractions in first person?

People in real life often use contractions when they speak and so it makes sense that many of our characters would as well. This is equally true for a first person narrator, which uses the character’s voice to narrate the story. Casual voices will use contractions more often. More formal voices will use them less.

Can you use contractions in a personal narrative?

In personal essays especially, contractions reflect the way people really speak. Use contractions consistently throughout your essay and especially within the same sentence. For example, notice the inconsistency in writing: “I’ll tell them when we are together: we’ll persevere or we are doomed.”

Can you use contractions in a children’s book?

So don’t have the child or teen in your story use words like “shall,” or never use contractions. If you do, the dialogue will sound too formal and your work will not have a child’s or teen’s voice. Adults Who Step In to Save the Day for the Child — I know what you’re thinking.

Can you use contractions in creative writing?

You can use contractions both in dialogue and in narration. If you want to establish a more formal tone or character, cut down on your use of contractions. Cutting contractions in dialogue can also make a character sound either more intelligent or snooty.

When should you not use contractions?

Generally speaking, avoid contractions in formal writing, such as business letters, essays, technical papers, and research papers. In other words, don’t use contractions in any academic writing unless you’re directly quoting someone or in a passage that contains contractions.

Does JK Rowling use contractions?

Rowling has managed to capture the reality of human speech in her inventive use of these double contractions. They may not appear in a dictionary, but they exist in the wild, and therefore, they may someday make their way into the dictionary. My question is this: I want my readers to become lost in my books.

Should you have contractions in your writing?

In writing situations that are informal, such as blog posts or personal narratives, using contractions is acceptable, unless your professor states otherwise. Informal pieces also have a more conversational tone to them compared to an academic paper that has an authoritative tone.

Should I use contractions in dialogue?

Whether to use contractions or not in dialogue is a style choice. There are no rules. However, a style choice that renders dialogue stilted and unrealistic is not good dialogue.

Are writers allowed to use contractions and tags?

It is recommended that writers refrain from using contractions in formal essays, professional reports, and other scholarly writing; however, there is not really a hard and fast rule about when contractions are and are not allowed.

Can you use contractions in AP style?

The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style) prefers to avoid contractions in formal writing.

Can you use contractions in a magazine article?

It’s acceptable to use contractions for informal writing, such as a newspaper article, but less so in formal writing, such as an essay for a college course. Traditionally, use of contractions has been strictly forbidden in academic writing. You might remember a teacher at some point who told you never to use them.

Why we should use contractions?

Contractions make your writing seem friendly and accessible. They give the appearance that you are actually “talking” to your reader. When writing dialogue in a novel or play, contractions help reflect how a character actually speaks.

Can I use contractions in my college essay?

You won’t be able to use contractions for everything, especially if it sounds weird to do so. The best rule of thumb is to read out loud. When you’re tempted to make a contraction, do it. When it sounds weird or it sounds better to place emphasis on each word by separating them (That is my mistake), do that instead.

Why are contractions considered informal?

Informal contractions are short forms of other words that people use when speaking casually. They are not exactly slang, but they are a little like slang. For example, “gonna” is a short form of “going to”. If you say going to very fast, without carefully pronouncing each word, it can sound like gonna.