contraction

Definition:

A shortened form of a word or group of words, with the missing letters usually marked by an apostrophe. See also:

• A List of Standard Contractions in English
• Diction
• Tone
• Kinky Friedman's Interior Monologue

Etymology:

From the Latin, "to draw together, make a contract"

Examples and Observations:

• Your style will be warmer and truer to your personality if you use contractions like 'I'll' and 'can't' when they fit comfortably into what you're writing. . . . There's no rule against such informality--trust your ear and your instincts."
  (William Zinsser, On Writing Well. HarperCollins, 2006)



• "Why shouldn't things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? They are so, and we are so, and they and we go very well together."
  (George Santayana)



• "In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock* in the morning, day after day."
  (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
  * "O'clock" is short for "of the clock."



• "There are two modals that do not form contractions with not. May does not contract . . .. Shan't exists as a contraction of shall not only in British English and is restricted largely to use with a first person pronoun."
  (Ron Cowan, The Teacher's Grammar of English. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008)



• "Don't you set down on the steps.
  'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
  Don't you fall now--
  For I'se still goin', honey,
  I'se still climbin',
  And life for me ain't been no crystal stair."
  (Langston Hughes, "Mother to Son")
  * "Ain't" is short for "am not."



• "TV--a clever contraction derived from the words 'Terrible Vaudeville.' However, it is our latest medium--we call it a medium because nothing's well done."
  (Goodman Ace)



• "I have a friend who is a juggler. If I'm at his house, I don't like to take food from him, if it's in threes. He has three apples left, I guess I can't have one. I wouldn't want to screw up his practice routine."
  (Mitch Hedberg)

Pronunciation: kun-TRAK-shun