I've been told I should use more contractions in my writing - something my formal, old fashioned schooling seems to rebel against.
Is 'd'you' as in 'do you' acceptable ? even grammatically correct?
I've seen it in published books, I suppose it's okay in dialogue - but it grates on me I seem to have a lot of do you's in my novel and I'm thinking should I change them ?
Help! Any thoughts on the subject gratefully received ?
can't help it Jonathan it goes with the odd way I think!!!
Paul.
I agree with Adrian, too - keep them for speech where they happen naturally. I never use contractions in narrative, though a lot of writers do. I'm afraid I'm old school as well, and to me it smacks of lazy writing even if it's not.
The MLK thing is interesting because circumstance dictated he not use a contraction, much like it often does when we write.
Paul - go sparing with the jokes, mate ;)
May I also agree with the above, I sometimes use contractions in text but not a lot, for me it helps stop everything being too formal. I remember, and that's something I'm not good at!!! or maybe "I am" not good at... one of my English teachers would always read the long hand as if it had been written with contractions, and I found that confusing during novel reading, yes we had to read round even at fifteen, hey ho! In dialogue I will use mostly contractions unless, like Carla mentioned it doesn't sound right when I read aloud.
There is one thing I would like to ask Sarah. Sarah, what did Martin Luther King have to do with that great Welsh poet Ivor Dream? I know, I'm sorry, rubbish joke but I couldn't resist, My problem with these bad jokes, which by the way I love to hear people groan at, is I tend to incorporate them into my text just after some dialog from the protagonist.
Regards and further apologies, Paul.