• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Erin Wright Writing

Writing Tips for the Real World

  • Microsoft Word Tutorials
  • Adobe Acrobat Tutorials
  • Writing Tips
  • Editing Tips
  • YouTube Videos
  • Contact

Are Contractions Okay in Business Writing?

By Erin Wright Leave a Comment

Are Contractions Okay in Business Writing?Contractions are unavoidable. They appear in everything from songs and articles to product packaging. (Even the tiger on my box of breakfast flakes is telling me that “They’re great!”) But are contractions okay in business writing? Maybe. Maybe not. That’s frustrating, I know!

Here are three questions to ponder as you decide if you should use contractions in your own business writing.

1. Does your organization allow for contractions?

Your organization’s in-house style guide may provide contraction guidelines. However, many organizations haven’t taken a stance on contractions and instead defer to their primary style guide or allow employees to make independent contraction choices, which can obviously lead to content chaos. Business writing and chaos don’t mix well, so let’s assume that all of those undecided organizations lack a contraction policy because they’re following their primary style guide. Which brings us to the next question…

2. Does your primary style guide allow for contractions?

The four most popular style guides differ on contractions:

  • The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style) and the Modern Language Association (MLA style) allow for “thoughtful” contraction usage.1
  • The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style) prefers to avoid contractions in formal writing.2
  • The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style) also prefers to avoid contractions, but the APA Style blog confirmed that the APA accepts contractions in a few limited scenarios.3

3. Is your content formal, semi-formal, or informal?

Contractions create a conversational tone that is more appropriate in semi-formal and informal writing than in formal writing. However, determining formality levels isn’t always easy because the business world doesn’t have universal rules dictating which types of content should be formal, semi-formal, or informal. For example, some company websites are reserved and tightly edited while others are casual and seemingly unedited. Despite this ambiguity, here are some general guidelines to consider:

  • Formal writing: White papers, case studies, proposals, reports, and instructional material are typically formal, meaning that they follow established grammar and style guidelines as closely as possible.
  • Semi-formal writing: Blog posts, web content, marketing material, and social media posts are generally semi-formal, meaning that they follow established grammar and style guidelines while allowing for intentional creative deviation. Semi-formal content normally maintains a relaxed tone meant to connect with the reader on an emotional level while still being informative.
  • Informal writing: Off-the-cuff remarks and other unedited responses are examples of informal content. Truly informal business writing is rare because even the most unscripted-sounding content has usually been revised—at least a little bit.

Remember, these are just guidelines—and exceptions are lurking around every corner of the Internet.

Longtime readers of this blog may have noticed that I, myself, have waffled between using contractions and not using them. After careful consideration, I have decided to use them when appropriate because my primary style guide is The Chicago Manual of Style, which, as mentioned above, allows for thoughtful contraction usage. In addition, I consider this blog to be semi-formal rather than formal because I always strive to convey a conversational tone that makes grammar and writing issues accessible to a general audience.

My next post will offer some tips for avoiding awkward contraction usage in your business writing and other semi-formal content—because awkwardness is, well, awkward.

References

1. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 5.105; “Does the MLA Allow the Use of Contractions in Scholarly Writing?” Ask the MLA, The MLA Style Center, last modified May 25, 2017.

2. The Associated Press Stylebook 2020–2022 (New York: Associated Press, 2020), 66.

3. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020), 4.8; Chelsea Lee, “Contractions in Formal Writing: What’s Allowed, What’s Not,” APA Style (blog), December 10, 2015.

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: AP style, APA style, business writing, Chicago style, MLA style, spelling, usage

Home » Are Contractions Okay in Business Writing?

Meet the Author

Technical Writer and Editor Erin WrightHello! My name is Erin. I am a technical writer and editor who shares step-by-step software tutorials and writing tips for the real world on this blog and YouTube

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Never Miss a Tutorial!

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts.

Recent Blog Posts

How to Create a Cover Page in Microsoft Word (Built-In and Custom)

How to Insert and Modify Image Watermarks in Microsoft Word

How to Open Links in Separate Tabs in Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader

How to Create Newspaper-Style Columns in Microsoft Word

How to Insert and Modify Text Watermarks in Microsoft Word

Tags

Acrobat Standard Adobe Acrobat DC Adobe Acrobat Reader AMA style APA style AP style blogging book review business editing business writing capitalization Chicago style copyediting CSE Style dictionaries editing tips figures and tables formatting Google Docs grammar marketing Microsoft 365 MLA style proofreading punctuation readability spelling structure style guides substantive editing Track Changes Turabian style usability usage Word 365 Word 2010 Word 2013 Word 2016 Word 2019 writing resources writing tips

Footer

  • Resources
  • About Me
  • Microsoft Word Tutorials
  • Adobe Acrobat Tutorials
  • Writing Tips
  • Editing Tips
  • YouTube Videos
  • Contact
Email: erin@erinwrightwriting.com
Phone: 708-669-9503

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

© Erin Wright, 2012–2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this website’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Erin Wright with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.