Some common errors could be avoided by not using contractions in formal business writing. For example, take the word pairs
Its/it’s Its is the possessive form of it .
The Post Office raised its rates.
It’s is the contraction of it and is .
It’s the second time this year.
Whose/who’s Whose is the possessive form of who .
Whose book is that?
Who’s is the contraction of who and is .
Who’s on first?
Your/ you’re Your is the possessive form of you .
Is this your book?
You’re is the contraction of you and are .
You’re late.
There/their/they’re
There is generally used as an adverb describing a location.
We arrived there at 6:30.
Their is the possessive form of they .
Their plane was late.
They’re is the contraction of they and are .
They’re going to be late for dinner.
In general, the apostrophe s form shows possession. If your cat has a bowl, it is the cat s bowl .
You might have learned in school that all words ending in s take the simple apostrophe at the end to show possession, but that is no longer the case. Even words that end in s take the apostrophe s ending to show possession. Thus, you would write,
The duchesses s tiara was stolen.
The Jones s house is beautiful.
Strangely enough, this rule is suspended for major historical and religious figures. (Don t ask me why!) You would write,
Moses law
Jesus teaching
Confucius ethics
To show plural possession, you generally use the s apostrophe ending. Thus, if you have two cats,and each cat has a bowl, you would describe them as the cats bowls .
If you are ever in doubt about whether you have used the apostrophe s form correctly, remove the contraction and write out the phrase. If your sentence still makes sense, you have used the contraction correctly. For example, if you had written
The Post Office raised it’s rates, you would check yourself by writing out it is, which would yield The Post Office raised it is rates, which is clearly nonsense.
People often write sentences like I’m sorry to return you’re book late or Their going to make a decision today because they write in a hurry and do not pause to reread. Develop the habit of rereading everything you write. No document is so short that you can’t make yourself look bad by making basic errors such as these. The best way to revise your work is to read it aloud before you send it out. Your ears will force you to see errors that your eyes had overlooked.
Contractions are informal. If you have a formal relationship with someone, avoid contractions. On the other hand, if you want to seem more familiar, you might choose to use a contraction. You can warm up or cool down the tone of your writing by using or not using contractions.
A good reason to avoid using contractions in email is that the apostrophe often gets garbled when translated into email format. What you write might look normal to you, but what your reader receives may be something with an @ or # sign or some other gobbledygook instead of the apostrophe. So check your work carefully before you email it and make sure that you have written out all contractions.
In short, contractions can be useful, but be careful to avoid incorrect sound alikes. Trot them out now and then if you want to sound chummy, but avoid them in formal writing.
Author Resource:
Elizabeth Danziger, author of business writing text "Get to the Point!", offers customized on-site writing training as well as a full range of copy-writing and editing services. She can be reached through http://www.worktalk.com or in Los Angeles at (310) 396-8303.
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