: No Contractions When writing essays for History class, 5 points are taken off for every contraction. I don't see why writing it fully out is better than using a contraction, since it's shorter

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While I do see avoiding contractions completely as fairly arbitrary for expository writing in a History class, in a composition or creative writing class, there is a case to be made for seemingly arbitrary rules such as "no contractions".

When we learn the craft of writing, it is helpful to take us out of our natural conversational style. A conversational style can be appropriate for many kinds of writing, but developing the skills to write in other styles is at least helpful, and in some cases it's critical.

I can think of three types of writing off the top of my head where attention to seemingly minor details, like contractions, is very important: lyric writing (poetry and song), dramatic dialog, and political speeches. I'm sure there are others. Potentially all writing can be improved by attention to word choice, but details of word choice can be especially critical in these three categories.

In all three of the above cases, mostly because they are spoken aloud and heard, as opposed to read, tone and meter are highly important. By tone, I'm referring to the phonological content of each word. By meter, I mean the pattern of strong and weak syllables.

Contractions share a few tonal qualities that can be problematic. Contractions are formed by eliminating vowel sounds and compressing two or more consonant morae into one syllable. In some cases, two or more unvoiced consonants are put together (e.g., it's and let's). Consonant clusters can slow down singing and speaking and also create phonological noise and ambiguity. Consider both the auditory and lingual physical experiences of the following ways that say approximately the same thing:

Don't
Do not
Never

Don't is the hardest of the three to say (barring a speech impediment), because of the contraction, which places the voiced /n/ right against the unvoiced /t/. To listen to, it could be considered harsh and creates a stop in the sound because of the /t/. Do not changes the initial vowel sound to a longer one and adds the vowel sound between the /n/ and /t/, which helps it flow a bit better. Never is included as a contrast because it is completely voiced and includes no stops.

Next, consider the meter of the following four phrases that again, all have similar meanings (meter for each phrase is indicated in parenthesis):

Don't think (strong strong)
Do not think (weak strong strong)
Do not ponder (weak strong strong weak)
Never ponder (strong weak strong weak)

From a metrical standpoint, don't think is bordering on a disaster. A third strong syllable would make the phrase sound like a fall down some stairs, and don't think alone is a bit of stumble. Again, the unvoiced consonants of /t/ and /k/ slow things down, and the cluster of /n/ /t/ /th/ is bound to displease speakers and listeners alike. (On the other hand, you might be able to get a fun little EDM beatboxing started with just /nt'th/ /nt'th/ /nt'th/ /nt'th/.)

Never ponder has a much more musical trochaic flow. Tack on another two to seven metrically related syllables and repeat at least part of the line, and you've got the beginning of a song or persuasive speech. There is only one unvoiced consonant, /p/, and the stop there can be effective in strongly establishing the pattern of two trochees.

Finally, even though we got here by discussing sound, note the stronger and more nuanced meaning of never ponder versus don't think. Not only are contractions fairly "weak" words, their expanded forms are rarely much better. By being forced to completely eschew contractions, you are required to more carefully consider your word choices. Teachers of writing may often impose such arbitrary rules, not to annoy students, but to force them out of their stylistic comfort zones and encourage them to more carefully consider each word. I once took a class where we were asked to never use any form of the verb "to be". I learned a lot about writing style in a very short time.

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