Seriousness Spelling contractions - Page 4

HarryT · 08-25-2010, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Sure, but the OP was about more recent works, I thought. Where is the evidence that contractions are generally lacking?

No, I don't believe that's true, either.

MacEachaidh · 09-08-2010, 07:02 PM

I'm a child of the late Cold War, and at school here in Australia we were taught in no uncertain terms that the use of contractions would mark us as common and ill-educated. Only lower-class working people would use contractions, and we wouldn't want to be seen as that, would we? (Admittedly, this was back when Australia was still trying to be more British than the British ... or at least, how we perceived the British to be, from what we heard of the BBC's "veddy veddy" use of language and its RP accents.)

Many people I encounter professionally still see the use of contractions in writing as poor English, even though the magazines I sub-edit are largely conversational in their tone. Most of our contributors have technical knowledge in their field but aren't natural writers, and I'm amazed at the contortions they put their phrasing through in attempting to sound "professional". (I suspect that's fairly common in business and academic writing as well, with people striving to sound "posh".) There's one bloke I edit who writes in a very conversational tone, but never uses a single contraction, and the effect it has is interesting - his column sounds constipated, as if he's simply trying too hard.

SameOldStory · 09-08-2010, 09:08 PM

Someone else on this thread mentioned that they weren’t allowed to us contractions in school. I seem to recall something of the same. I was a WWII baby boomer and things were different back in the late '50s and early '60s.

In conversations I'll use contractions except to emphasize a point. In writing I tend not to use contractions. I'll then reread what I wrote and change it so that it reads in a less stilted manor.

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09-08-2010, 07:02 PM	#47
MacEachaidh Browser Posts: 745 Karma: 578294 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura HD	I'm a child of the late Cold War, and at school here in Australia we were taught in no uncertain terms that the use of contractions would mark us as common and ill-educated. Only lower-class working people would use contractions, and we wouldn't want to be seen as that, would we? (Admittedly, this was back when Australia was still trying to be more British than the British ... or at least, how we perceived the British to be, from what we heard of the BBC's "veddy veddy" use of language and its RP accents.) Many people I encounter professionally still see the use of contractions in writing as poor English, even though the magazines I sub-edit are largely conversational in their tone. Most of our contributors have technical knowledge in their field but aren't natural writers, and I'm amazed at the contortions they put their phrasing through in attempting to sound "professional". (I suspect that's fairly common in business and academic writing as well, with people striving to sound "posh".) There's one bloke I edit who writes in a very conversational tone, but never uses a single contraction, and the effect it has is interesting - his column sounds constipated, as if he's simply trying too hard.

09-08-2010, 09:08 PM	#48
SameOldStory My True Self Posts: 3,126 Karma: 66242098 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Trantor, Galactic Center Device: Galaxy Tab 2 7.0	Someone else on this thread mentioned that they weren’t allowed to us contractions in school. I seem to recall something of the same. I was a WWII baby boomer and things were different back in the late '50s and early '60s. In conversations I'll use contractions except to emphasize a point. In writing I tend not to use contractions. I'll then reread what I wrote and change it so that it reads in a less stilted manor.

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