Understanding When to Use Contractions!
Can you guess what the following words have in common?
Don’t
Can’t
Shouldn’t
They’re
If you guessed that they’re all contractions, you’re right!
Contractions, such as “don’t” and “can’t,” are common in everyday spoken and informal writing. However, when it comes to academic writing, the use of contractions is a topic of debate.
Therefore, in this week’s blog, we will examine different considerations and when it is appropriate to use contractions!
Let’s look at the following considerations:
✏️Understand Formal Tone: Academic writing often demands a formal and professional tone. Contractions, being a feature of informal language, can take away from the formal tone of an academic piece of writing. As a general rule of thumb, it is safer to avoid contractions in academic writing unless explicitly permitted by the instructor or style guidelines. If you’re not sure, always ask!
✏️ Following Style Guidelines: If you’re in college or university, it is important for you to learn the style in which your essays should commonly be written. For example, some scientific journals or scholarly publications prohibit contractions, while others may allow them sparingly. Again, if you don’t know, ask your professor!
✏️Examining the Audience and Purpose: Like the point above, in formal academic settings, such as research papers or dissertations, where the audience consists of scholars and experts, it is advisable to avoid contractions to keep a professional tone.
✏️What is Formal and Informal Writing: You now understand the importance of avoiding contractions in academic writing, but what is informal writing? Some common pieces of informal writing include blogs, social media posts, informal emails, journaling, and opinion pieces.
General Rule of Thumb:
👍🏼 If you are writing a report or presentation for academic purposes (high school, college,
or university), avoid contractions.
👍🏼 If you are writing a report or presentation for professional purposes, try to avoid contractions or ask a supervisor if you’re unsure of the tone or expectation of your writing.
👍🏼If you are writing something more informal, such as blogs, reflections, news articles, informal emails, or personal essays, then use contractions!
👍🏼My forever and always rule of thumb… when in doubt, ask!
This week’s blog buzzwords:
1. Topic of debate: a subject that is commonly discussed because people have different opinions or views.
2. General rule of thumb: the general way to do something based on experience “A general rule of thumb when going to the beach is to wear sunscreen.”
3. Prohibit: forbid or prevent someone or a group from doing something
4. Sparingly: used in small quantities
Your English Writing Coach,
Sabrina 😊