Contraction
A contraction is a shortened form of two words combined with an apostrophe, such as "do not" becoming "don't" or "it is" becoming "it's" in conversational writing.
Also known as:
Contracted form
What is contraction?
A contraction is a word formed by combining two words and replacing the dropped letters with an apostrophe. English contractions almost always involve pronouns, auxiliaries or the word "not," producing forms like "you are" into "you're," "they have" into "they've" and "cannot" into "can't." Contractions are standard in spoken English and in most informal writing, and they have become common in many business and product contexts too.
Full: You are not alone. Do not worry. It is fine.
Contracted: You're not alone. Don't worry. It's fine.
Why does contraction matter?
Contractions matter because they are one of the simplest levers for adjusting how warm or formal your writing sounds. A sentence with contractions feels close to how people speak, which suits marketing, product and support copy, while the uncontracted form feels more deliberate and is often preferred in legal, scientific or executive writing. Your rule on contractions is one of the clearest signals of your brand voice.
How do you use contraction?
Set one default: allow contractions freely, limit them to specific surfaces or avoid them entirely.
Apply the same rule across product UI, marketing copy and help content so readers experience one voice.
Watch for ambiguous forms such as "it's" versus "its" and "they're" versus "their," since contractions introduce the most common proofreading errors in English.
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