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Its, It's, POV, and when to use Contractions! by AnneLea

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All right, now that we have covered the two most prominent mistakes in word usage, let us now turn our attention to the subject of contractions.

We have all seen them. We have all used them, but how much is too much, and when is there not enough?

The truth is, you'll never come across a situation when you do not have enough conjunctions, except, of course, if you're required to find them on a school test or in a game show of some sort.

Honestly, it's killing me not to put a whole bunch of them in here right now, but I am doing it! If I can do it, so can you!

Now, we'll start off with the origin and purpose of contractions.

Contraction literally comes from the latin word contract. Contract means the drawing together of two or more items in that original form. With contractions, we are shortening two words by joining them together in a shortened form. (MacBook dictionary, under Contractions, bottom of the entry)

Now, let us look at some general contractions, just to get the idea.

They're=they are
Let's=let us
Should've=should have
Would've=would have
Could've=could have

I believe those, like most, are straightforward and need no extra explanation. Yet, there are two words with the exact same letters in the exact same order, pronounced the exact same way, but have different meanings all because of a ' mark.

Its and It's. Many times, the reader can write it off as a typo when one is used in place of the other. However, when this happens multiple times in a row within the same story/chapter, one has to wonder whether or not the writer knows the difference.

Its is a possessive noun meaning belonging to it.

It's is a contraction meaning it is.

The loss of the apostrophe (') between the t and the s of Its came about around the time the conjunction of it is first began to appear in the English language simply to show the difference in the two words when written. The old was outed by the new in this case, just as we now find the word ain't in the modern dictionary today as a way to say are not instead of the original aren't. Languages evolve, and so should we.

Because of this, we can not have a plural form of it. It as a plural becomes they and them, and the possessive noun their is then applied rather than its.

Now, on to when it is all right to use contractions in your writing and when it is cutting corners.

Contractions in speech are common place because that is the way people tend to talk. Humanity as a whole likes to shorten things up so that it can use less time to do the same or greater amount of work.

However, when writing professionally or in imitation of a professional work, we must learn to leave behind our spoken language for the written one which is slightly different.

I can hear it now, you are telling me "But there is no long paragraphs of simple narration and science and history book crap in Naruto and other Manga and Anime." I am telling you that there actually is. It is just presented to us in a different way than written language. Such narration is given to us in drawings and sound effects. When we write fanfiction without the exact same medium (cartoon pictures and sound effects markers in our case) we need to translate it completely and correctly into the new medium. Fanfiction given in this format we all use here on TONFA and other sites is written language. We are translating our minds' imitations into the written language.

"So, when is it all right to use contractions?" you ask. Well, it is simple. Contractions can be used any time your caracter is thinking or speaking. It can also be used in notes or other things your characters write, or throughout the entire story if the story is written in the first person. It is not acceptable in narrations of third person point of view. Second person, is a bit more tricky, and anyone who has written in second person without worrying about whether or not a contraction is acceptable knows that that particular point of view is tricky enough on its own.

Second person point of view is the way I am currently writing to you. It is a constant shift back and forth from first to third person points of view. At times, it is like the usual narration we have all come to know and use in our fanfiction. At other times, it is the narration becoming the narrator and speaking directly to the reader. Have you noticed that in this very paragraph, I have used two first person and two third person kinds of sentences?

Or, have I? Actually, it has all been second person. Second person is simply the narrator talking to you and relating the story and/or information to the audience without constantly referring to themselves or their audience, but occasionally drawing them back in by using pronouns to do just that.

"The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien is written in second person and is extremely entertaining, but how often do we see contractions in the narration of that story? Not often.

So, what does all this point of view speech have to do with where conjectures are allowed? I'll break it down for you. (Did you notice that there was an acceptable contraction in the previous sentence?)

In first person narration, contractions are acceptable anywhere that your character would speak or think them while relating the story to the reader.

Third person stories only allow contractions in the character's speech, thoughts, and personal writing. It does not allow it in the narration what-so-ever.

Second person allows it within the occasional first person sentences and in the same ways as allowed in third person.

Hopefully, you now have a bit better of an understanding of the who, what, when, and where of contractions.

*******************************************************

Here's your brainy word for the essay... Shan't. Ever heard of that word before? It is the contraction of shall with not. We all know what shall means, but do you know what shall means? Shall is a word recently replaced by will. At one time, shall was used for statements while will was used as the question form of shall.

"I shall not (shan't) swim in that dirty river!" was the statement one might have once replied to; "Will you swim in the river?"



All of the information here is my own knowledge and understanding of the English language. If you see any errors in information, please contact me and give the correction you would like made to the essay.
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