I can’t go further because it’s so hard to act like I haven’t ever seen something resembling a frog, although I guess it’s not that I can’t, but that I won’t, and I’m only now realizing this sentence doesn’t make any sense, because I was trying too hard to work in contractions.
(Did anyone else find themselves unable to fully comprehend that sentence because they were reading all the italics like they were emphasized? Really? Wonderful, I’m not alone.)
Basically contractions are when you shove two words together because English-speaking humans are lazy and don’t like putting in any more effort than they have to. You might not have known what a “contraction” was before, but I guarantee you’ve used them (if not in your writing, in your everyday speech). They are not the same thing as possessives (see next section) even though they both use apostrophes (the little comma that floats in the air).
The most common contractions are...pretty much all of them. There are only a limited number of contractions people use –– you can’t slap just any two words together for the heck of it –– and you should be familiar with almost all of them.
Example: “I’m” “I’d” “I’ve” “She’d” “They’ve” “Couldn’t” “Should’ve” “Didn’t” “Shan't”
So you get the point here, I’m assuming? Good, because I don’t want to go through the entire list. Essentially, if you’ve said it before, it’s probably a contraction and you’re allowed to use it. Don’t mix contractions up with possessives, and you’re golden.
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Writing Mistakes You're Making
RandomA self-help book for beginning writers, covering everything from grammar to plot with a dash of humor to keep you interested and learning! (The best part? Anything you already know, you can just skip over.)
