Contractions

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Another aspect of achieving desirable tone and style in your academic writing is that it is also important to avoid using contractions; e.g. didn’t should be did not.

Contraction	Full Form	Example
didn't	did not	He did not give any references.
haven't	have not	They have not presented yet.
isn't	is not	He is not an expert.
aren't	are not	The books are not available.
weren't	were not	The books were not returned on time.
hadn't	had not	I wish I had not been late.
can't	cannot	I cannot speak Japanese.
couldn't	could not	I could not reach the top shelf.
wouldn't	wouldn't	I would not do that if I were you.
I'd	I would / had	I would like a grade 'A', please.

Task

Instructions:
Edit these sentences to eliminate the contractions:

Answers

1.	Your answer was: The correct answer is: "I would certainly look forward to working with him again.
2.	Your answer was: The correct answer is: "If you asked the same question in ten or 20 years time, I would probably say, "Yes"." (This is a conditional sentence.)
3.	Your answer was: The correct answer is: "But whatever the problems, the play shows fairness and humanity: admirable qualities, I would say, for an educational tour." (This is a conditional sentence, it is short for "If you asked me, I would say...")
4.	Your answer was: The correct answer is: "I told the teacher I had left my homework at home." (This is a past perfect tense.)

Last updated on 03 October 2002.

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1.
2.	If you asked the same question in ten or 20 years time, I'd probably say, "Yes".
3.	But whatever the problems, the play shows fairness and humanity: admirable qualities, I'd say, for an educational tour.
4.	I told the teacher I'd left my homework at home.