Fandom Grammar

shiawaseiro asked: Is it acceptable to use contractions outside of dialogue?

My first thought was that I sure hope so because otherwise I've been doing it wrong for a while now.


Contractions occur when the writer or speaker drops a letter or letters from a word, shortening it. An apostrophe indicates the missing letters. For example, cannot becomes can't, would not becomes wouldn't. Should've, would've, could've in full become should have, would have and could have, just to deal with a pet peeve of mine. Should of may possibly be acceptable in dialogue or where you're reproducing a character's note or letter, for example, but it's simply plain wrong otherwise.

Standard contractions are just fine in any writing barring the most formal. Indeed, some authorities, especially those encouraging plain and easy to understand language in legal documents, think that contractions should be used more often.

Tone and ease of reading will influence whether you use contractions in your writing or not. Are you going for a formal or colloquial tone, or for some sort of emphasis, or other effect? It's a common convention in science fiction, for example, to indicate alien speech patterns by not using contractions. A story written from a first person point of view may use contractions differently from one written in third person.


Different approaches to using contractions:

If Jack O'Neill heard Loki say "We cannot assist the Tauri" one more time, he was convinced he'd puke.

Jim Ellison really didn't like this line of questioning from that shark of a lawyer. "Yes, I am absolutely sure that I saw the defendant shoot Mr Kozinski."

I would have laid down my life for Holmes in that moment, if he had asked it of me.


The short version is that contractions are perfectly acceptable in writing outside of dialogue. So long as your meaning is clear, contractions are okay, and there's no need to feel obliged to write everything out in full.


Resources:

About.Com's grammar and composition guide to contractions This link contains a list of the most commonly used standard contractions

Thoughts from a professional adviser on business writing