Hello readers, sometimes you can feel puzzled where you should use contractions or not use . Trying to make clear a bit of this issue I want to show you some facts about contractions.
Let's begin talking about what a contraction really is. It can be defined as a shortened combination of two or more words. Generally use for saving space in communication. They're expressed by apostrophes in writing. Examples? You have a number of them. Even a few I didn't know they existed. Just take a look at this list:Wikipedia: List of English Contractions
Contractions are present to the English language for long. They date back from the Old English period, something around 450 AD - 1150 AD. They were brought by Angles and Saxons to England. Their Germanic languages introduced shortened forms like "nis" (= is not), "ne waes" (= wasn't), "wolde" (= wouldn't) and "ne haefde" (didn't have).
Middle English period (1150 AD - 1450 AD) saw flourish negative contractions like " ne were" ( = weren't), "noot" (= knows not), "thilke" ( = the same) among others. More on contraction's history here
Apart from the historical trajectory of contractions, what remains uncertain among a few students is when to use contractions in a proper way.
Let's consider the command is to keep in mind the word "discretion". You have to know what communicative situation you are, for adequating the use of this kind of resource, according to some of the best sources of English teaching.
If you're writing a formal style text,for example, an essay in school, college, graduate school or a business letter at your work isn't reccomended to use contractions. It's rule and must be followed if you want to go well in the end.
But, on the other hand, if you're writing an informal style, like a dialogue or a post for your close friends, for instance, it's necessary to use them. Here, one more contraction's page for you to check how they're alive in English: List O' Common Contractions
At the end of my post, I just want to make a logical observation about the no use of contractions rule. If English have contractions since its historic origins, why discard them in formal styles? Maybe, it can be an outdated or ignorant rule which should be reviewed. That's just my opinion! What yours? What do you think about the no contractions rule in the English language? Tell me below in the comment's section.
Comments
Btw, as you say, I've been taught not to use contractions in formal letters and I,ve also wondered why or what's the reason. My teacher's replies: 'that's that' :/
Thanks for sharing the useful links.
It's quite acceptable here to use the contractions on the list. A contraction is just one form of abbreviations, though.