I Got Rhythm

When we talk we naturally use contractions in our speech. We do this without thinking, and we modulate their use without thinking, either. In other words, depending on the moment, the conversation, the sentence construction, the topic, the context, and even the person with whom we’re speaking, we use or don’t use contractions. It’s as if we hear what we’re saying before we say it – and we get it right every time. But for some reason when we write we often go deaf; we stop “hearing” – we forgo contractions, which results in stilted and sometimes stultifying writing. Good writing is about rhythm as much as anything – word choice and their inflection, where words are placed in a sentence or phrase, the pauses and stops created by punctuation, the varied time it takes to read short words versus long words, the smooth transitions from one word to the next, and a mix of short and long sentences and paragraphs. Contractions are essential to creating the right rhythm. Don’t get caught up thinking it’s more “appropriate” or businessy or, God forbid, mature, to abstain from using contractions. Just as you use contractions when you speak because it’s naturally what your brain leads you to do, using contractions when you write will endow your words with a natural – and compelling – sense of rhythm. Who could ask for anything more?

Note: It’s true that some clients prohibit the use of contractions, but that’s about their quaint view that contractions are somehow wrong or too colloquial to use in a business setting. They're plain wrong. (Some contractions, like "gonna” and “wanna,” take no apostrophe; these really are too colloquial to use in most circumstances.)

Anyhow, I’ll leave the final word to Bill Walsh, copy chief on the national desk of The Washington Post, who notes that unless you “want to communicate the idea that you’re very, very constipated, don’t strain to avoid contractions.” I couldn’t have said it better myself (actually, I’m too uptight to have said it at all.)

Comments

[Lisa Braithwaite]

I've had articles edited by magazines to eradicate all of my contractions. I'm an informal speaker and writer, and when they change my writing like that, it literally changes my voice! I also had a friend, who's in a scientific/academic field, express discomfort with the contractions in my public speaking e-course that she proofread for me. I guess it's a matter of taste, but I'll take contractions any day over stilted, "constipated" writing!

[Rich Rosa]

Now why would anyone “want to communicate the idea that [they're] very, very constipated ...”?

Dan, today is the first time I've read your blog, but I'm sure it won't be the last time.

[Marilynn Mobley]

I have written speeches for corporate executives for 20 years now and I find that the best way to test how well a written document conveys a message simply and clearly is to read it out loud. If it doesn't "sound right," it's usually because the language is stilted.

Dan, you're absolutely right... contractions are our friends. We should spend more time with them.

[Karen McGreevey]

Dan,

Count me with the others lovin' your take on "contractions".

Being of a certain "age" persuasion, I learned (it was more or less required) to be somewhat "stilted" when writing business stuff.

I'll take your way any day--unless I have to make adjustments because of someone's request, that is.

This is the first time I've landed here; you can be sure I'll be back. I like the way you "talk".

[Britt Stromberg]

Great post. I hadn't thought about explaining it this way to clients. Sometimes they just get so caught up in doing what they think will sound the most "official."

Good fodder for future contraction battles!

[Ragdoll]

My favorite contraction is "I'm'na", which is short for "I am going to." I only ever write it out in informal IM conversations, though, and I admit I'm being a bit cheeky when I do.

Some people take it further and just say "I'm'a." They shorten that 13-character phrase to just five, if you count the apostrophes.