I am glad my posting on reasons not to use contractions created some thought, but part of my point was missed. I said that you should avoid contractions in formal text, such as a simple declarative statement explaining an artifact or exhibit. But when you are using a quote, or in
the case cited below, an appearance of a quote designed to give the feeling of someone speaking to the viewer, then in that informal use, contractions serve a purpose.
The use of set styles for the two separate uses helps clarify the type of information being presented.
My personal reference is the AP Stylebook, a great reference for clear and concise use of the language. AP style is to avoid contractions, using them (but avoiding over using them) in informal writing.
So if your goal is to set a certain tone of familiarity, or give the flavor of the spoken word, or to give the impression of someone speaking to the viewer of the label, contractions are a tool to use in that case.
"That's all."

Chris Taylor
Atchison County Historical Society
Not superstitious, just adhering to a specific style



Eugene Dillenburg wrote:

> Good points.  I admit my initial post was written in haste, in response to
> two anti-contractionists.  I have already amended my position to: use
> contractions whenever they sound more natural -- and since that is very,
> very often the case, one should always review one's labels and actively
> seek out places where contractions can be so used.
>
> As for whether a contraction ban amounts to the same level of
> Fowlerian "superstition" as those against split infinitives, terminal
> prepositions, initial conjunctions, etc., I would propose it is a matter of
> degree rather than of kind.  Twisting a sentence out of shape to avoid
> ending with a preposition creates a much more unnatural construction -- and
> is thus a much greater sin -- than simply spelling out "do not."  On the
> other hand, an experiment label that says "Let us see what happens when we
> mix the solutions" does, in my opinion, cross over into Unnecessarily
> Stilted territory.
>
> (And let us not forget, as I hinted before, that contractions reduce both
> word count and character count without sacrificing meaning -- about as
> close to an unalloyed plus as one finds in the label-writing world.)
>
> You ask:
>
> >I would debate, however, the assumption that an exhibit label needs to be
> >something that can be read aloud comfortably (as distinguished from text
> that
> >doesn't need to be read aloud comfortably, apparently).  Where did that
> rule
> >come from?  What is the practical rationale?  It begins to sound like a
> >superstition to me.
>
> I am on the road and away from my references at the moment, but I believe
> something along these lines is mentioned in Serrell's book (in the appendix
> on 14 Helpful Research Findings, if I am not mistaken).  I seem to remember
> Rand's Fish Tales making similar points.  And it has been repeated at every
> workshop or other writing session I can recall.
>
> -- Eugene Dillenburg
>
> P.S.: On the digression of "it's" vs. "its," I believe it's a simple matter
> of the exception proving the rule.  As children we are constantly
> told "apostrophe plus S equals possessive."  So it only makes sense that
> the possessive of "it" should be "it's."  It's not, of course.  But this
> sort of honest mistake warrants a gentle reminder, and not the sort of
> tirades I have witnessed.  (In preson, I mean; not on this list.)
> Misapplications of apostrophe-S in non-possessive situations are less
> forgiveable.  (Years ago, Dave Barry wrote that the purpose of an
> apostrophe is to alert the reader that an "S" is coming next.)
>
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