英语语法：132 Troublesome Contractions

Grammar Girl here.

Today's topic is troublesome contractions².

Guest writer Bonnie Trenga writes,

This episode’s about contractions. Or would it be better to say, “This episode is about contractions”? While we’re in the neighborhood, we’ll talk about some other potentially problematic contractions. What’s the fate of “I’d’ve,” with two apostrophes in one contraction¹, or “there’re,” a mouthful of an abbreviation of “there are”?

Contractions That Involve “Is”

First, we'll talk about contractions that involve the word “is.” You’ve probably learned from previous episodes that a contraction is the combination of two (or sometimes more) words into one, and that you use an apostrophe to represent the missing letter or letters.

Run-of-the-mill contractions you’ll encounter in everyday reading or speaking include “I’m,” for “I am”; “she’ll,” for “she will”; and “o’clock,” for “of the clock.” Most contractions pose no problem, but contractions that involve the word “is” can cause confusion or ambiguity³ (1).

You’ll encounter a problematic “is” contraction when you’re contracting it with a noun. Take, for example, the contraction of the words “the dancer” and “is,” which becomes “the dancer’s.” If you said, “The dancer’s flushed,” meaning “the dancer exerted herself and her face became red,” someone listening to you (instead of reading) might think you meant that some dancers flushed a commode. It would be easy to think that the contraction was a plural⁴ noun. In this case, it would be better to spell things out: “The dancer is flushed.”

In another example, it’s easy to misread the contraction as a possessive construction, which inconveniently⁵ uses an apostrophe too. Take, for example, “The man’s mad.” At first you might expect the word after “man’s” to be a noun, as in “the man’s hat” or “the man’s beard,” so when you read the word “mad,” you do a double take. To save readers from confusion, you should probably spell out the contraction: “The man is mad.”

In short, it’s best to avoid contractions with the verb “is” when you are using it with a noun, including a proper name. “Kim’s here” (Kim-apostrophe-s) isn’t wrong, but it just isn’t as clear as “Kim is here.”

Contractions That Involve “Had” or “Would”

Next, we'll talk about contractions that involve the words “had” or “would.” These can also be troublesome because you can interpret contractions to mean two things (2). Both “had” and “would” are contracted with an apostrophe plus a “d,” as in “I’d already been there” (for “I had already been there”) and “I’d rather not go” (for “I would rather not go”). Sometimes readers (or listeners) can become momentarily unsure whether you mean “I had” or “I would, for example, and they have to spend extra time working out what you mean.

So if you find yourself using a contraction with an apostrophe plus a “d,” consider spelling it out instead. Although your sentence might be perfectly⁶ clear to you, it might not be so clear to someone reading it for the first time.

Other Hazardous⁷ Contractions

Finally, at the top of the show, you heard me mention contractions such as “I’d’ve” and “there’re.” These mouthfuls are among those you should consider avoiding, especially when you write. It’s not a good idea to contract two things inside one contraction, as happens with “I’d’ve,” a contraction of “I would have” (3). It would be better to say, “I’d have” or perhaps not even use a contraction at all.

As for “there’re,” this is among a fairly long list of contractions that the book Woe⁸ Is I, a useful grammar reference by Patricia O'Conner, suggests you avoid (4).

Also among that list are contractions such as “could’ve,” “should’ve,” “would’ve,” “might’ve,” and “must’ve,” because they encourage people to believe the proper pronunciations are “could of” and “must of,” which are incorrect. It’s better to spell these out when you are writing them, though O’Conner’s book acknowledges that you'll probably find yourself using these contractions in regular speech.

Other contractions to consider avoiding include “what’d,” “that’ve,” and “when’re” because they “land with a thud.” (As you can tell, I can barely say them!) Most people’ll—oops, people will—find those contractions odd sounding and odd looking.

Summary

Contractions are useful, especially when you’re writing informally. But beware of potentially confusing or ambiguous contractions and try to avoid those that sound awkward.

The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier

This podcast was written by Bonnie Trenga, author of The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, who blogs at sentencesleuth.blogspot.com, and I'm Mignon Fogarty, the author of the paperback⁹ book Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.

 

1 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

2 contractions   

n.收缩( contraction的名词复数 )；缩减；缩略词；（分娩时）子宫收缩

参考例句：

• Contractions are much more common in speech than in writing. 缩略词在口语里比在书写中常见得多。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Muscle contractions are powered by the chemical adenosine triphosphate(ATP ). 肌肉收缩是由化学物质三磷酸腺苷(ATP)提供动力的。 来自辞典例句

3 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

4 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

5 inconveniently   

ad.不方便地

参考例句：

• Hardware encrypting resists decryption intensely, but it use inconveniently for user. 硬件加密方法有较强的抗解密性，但用户使用不方便。
• Even implementing the interest-deferral scheme for homeowners has proved inconveniently tricky. 甚至是对房主实行的推迟利息的方案，结果证明也是极不方便的。

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

7 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

8 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

9 paperback   

n.平装本，简装本

参考例句：

• A paperback edition is now available at bookshops.平装本现在在书店可以买到。
• Many books that are out of print are reissued in paperback form.许多绝版的书籍又以平装本形式重新出现。