What are contractions in writing? A non-native speaker's victory! 🇧🇷

[BartBonz]

I just have to share this happy moment with someone because I'm honestly so proud of myself! I'm from Brazil, and I've been learning English for about five years. For the longest time, contractions scared me to death. In Portuguese, we don't really have an equivalent that's used in formal writing, so using "don't" or "it's" in an essay felt... wrong, like I was being disrespectful to the language. I would write everything out: "I do not think," "I cannot agree," "I will not."

My sentences were so long and clunky! But last week, I submitted a paper for my political science class, and I decided to just go for it. I used contractions naturally, the way I speak with my friends. I was so nervous getting it back. And my professor wrote: "Excellent command of tone and voice. Very natural and persuasive."

NATURAL! That word meant everything to me. I finally feel like I'm not just translating words, but actually writing in English. To all the ESL students out there: you belong here too, and your voice deserves to be heard, contractions and all!

 

[Melissa]

I'm a native speaker and even I struggled with contractions in academic writing because teachers drilled "formality or bust" into us. But here's the thing—English is weirdly flexible. Contractions don't dumb down your writing; they humanize it.

The fact that your professor specifically called out your "natural" tone? That's huge. It means you've graduated from "someone who learned English" to "someone who writes in English." There's a difference, and you just crossed that bridge.

Also, Portuguese is beautiful, and the fact that you're navigating two languages? Respect