Contraction Use

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by RichL

Can't say as I read it much but I hear it a lot. "The coffee'll be done in a bit." The house'll be down next week." etc. I'm from the Northwest (Portland Or.) and hear that contraction quite often.

Same here. I hear it quite often and even use it myself. So, maybe it's also a Northwest thing?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Same here. I hear it quite often and even use it myself. So, maybe it's also a Northwest thing?

I don't know if that's the case - my dialect is mostly Australian English...

[KyBunnies]

For this series to be traditionally published I am questions so much. I have finished the first book and started the second. Well the author put in that a tractor has a parking brake. I learned to drive a tractor before a vehicle. Never in my life have I seen a tractor with a parking brake. UGH!!!

[RichL]

Originally Posted by meeera

I don't know if that's the case - my dialect is mostly Australian English...

Mayhap it drifted down from the Pilbara area

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by KyBunnies

For this series to be traditionally published I am questions so much. I have finished the first book and started the second. Well the author put in that a tractor has a parking brake. I learned to drive a tractor before a vehicle. Never in my life have I seen a tractor with a parking brake. UGH!!!

Yet, I've seen enough references to tractors with a parking brake... (or rather, enough news items where they forgot to put on the parking brake and the tractor ended up somewhere else )

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by KyBunnies

For this series to be traditionally published I am questions so much. I have finished the first book and started the second. Well the author put in that a tractor has a parking brake. I learned to drive a tractor before a vehicle. Never in my life have I seen a tractor with a parking brake. UGH!!!

You must live somewhere very flat.
A tractor without a handbrake would be in a ditch pretty quickly around here.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Seems pretty normal to me for dialogue. My pet hate is people who write "of" instead of the contraction "ve". E.g., "I should of done it", rather than "I should've done it". That's just plain ignorant.

Yet there are people who talk that way. They mean "should've" but pronounce it "should-of". If it is in dialogue (or first person narrative) it would be appropriate if done to highlight the person's speech or background.

It is a tough choice fiction writers face because people don't speak by the book, grammatically correct. There's regionalisms, accents, personal foibles. And it can be an effective shorthand to give a character a distinct voice or tie them to their milieu or social stratum. It can be useful and it can be distracting. Writing good dialogue is a talent, not a rulebook skill.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

You must live somewhere very flat.

Not unheard of: https://greatplainstrail.files.wordp...5/dsc01056.jpg

Laura Ingalls raises her hand.

[silverraven]

I always enjoy the random sticking in of 'R' in words by people from different areas. My mother in law is from Long Island, NY. So any word that ends with an A has a R stuck at the end. So Linder instead of Linda, Donner instead of Donna. Then in upper east Tennessee, where I'm from, we stick random R's in the middle of words. Like warsh instead of wash.
I can't imagine how hard all these different ways of speaking would be for authors to get just right! The amount of southern accent we have where I'm from can change within just a few miles area. And we don't sound like a Georgia Peach either, totally different accent.
S

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by RichL

Can't say as I read it much but I hear it a lot. "The coffee'll be done in a bit." The house'll be down next week." etc. I'm from the Northwest (Portland Or.) and hear that contraction quite often.

Common in Massachusetts and Minnesota. I tend to use it myself. Haven't seen that in print much, but it doesn't seem awkward for dialog.

[DiapDealer]

I wouldn't've batted an eye at something like that.

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Dialect is ok when used in moderation but gets old quickly.

Agreed. Just give me taste to get me going, and my brain will provide the dialect after that. There's nothing worse than having to re-read phrases multiple times to try and decipher what a character (who is supposed to be speaking my language) is saying.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Common in Massachusetts and Minnesota. I tend to use it myself. Haven't seen that in print much, but it doesn't seem awkward for dialog.

Yup. Perfectly common in spoken language, but not so much in print.

[HarryT]

Yes, it's entirely normal in spoken British English, but I do find it jarring in print, other than in the common contractions such as "I'll".

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Agreed. Just give me taste to get me going, and my brain will provide the dialect after that. There's nothing worse than having to re-read phrases multiple times to try and decipher what a character (who is supposed to be speaking my language) is saying.

Mark Twain is one of the most challenging authors in that respect. I'm sure his reproductions of spoken accents are accurate, but they're tough on the reader!

[The Old Man]

Another one that is "gonna" upset me. Not in written dialog but when used by speakers in formal settings who should know better. When are they "going to" learn?