Must..resist...urge to use...contractions! (PS question)

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amakhosidlo

amakhosidlo

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Anybody else realizing how much of a crutch these d*mn things are?

I'm trying to work them out of my PS but it's completely sucking the life out of it. I searched for advice on their use in the PS, but couldn't reach a definite conclusion. That and the posts were really old.

Anyway, can someone with some authority on the subject tell me if contractions are completely off limits, frowned upon, or fine if you make them work?

Thanks...
 
I didn't feel like it was too hard to keep them out, but when I type other things like lab reports or papers I don't use them. How are they sucking the life out of it?
 
I think it's fair to say that lab reports and papers are devoid of excitement.

That said, I also find it hard to believe that contractions are that difficult to avoid. Are you using quotations in your PS? If so, don't. Problem solved!
 
I personally would not use contractions. Something I have been taught in my English classes.
 
I'm not sure about med school PS's, but for college, I used tons of contractions. I can't imagine the tone being so different for med school PS's that they're shunned.

But if you're going for a professional tone, it really should not be that hard.
 
Let's be honest - I would most definitely not notice contractions in your PS if I were reviewing it. You have bigger fish to fry.
 
I agree. People make it harder than it is. Write your statement. Then go through and take out the contractions. It really is as easy as that, and it really doesn't make your statement more boring or tedious in any way.
 
Whether or not it will hurt your application is another question. In most cases, the reader probably will not notice or care, but some will. Since contractions add nothing, why use them? No one will penalize you for writing the actual words.
 
I used contractions in my PS, and I don't think it hurt me at all. I actually received quite a few compliments on my writing. I personally think that taking out contractions can sometimes make it sound awkward and unnatural. I think that, in a personal statement, it's important that you sound like a real person with a real voice, and sometimes taking out contractions takes away from that.
 
majestic red said:
I used contractions in my PS, and I don't think it hurt me at all. I actually received quite a few compliments on my writing. I personally think that taking out contractions can sometimes make it sound awkward and unnatural. I think that, in a personal statement, it's important that you sound like a real person with a real voice, and sometimes taking out contractions takes away from that.
Click to expand...
With an application like yours, you could've written an essay without vowels and still been accepted.
 
lrkoehle said:
I didn't feel like it was too hard to keep them out, but when I type other things like lab reports or papers I don't use them. How are they sucking the life out of it?
Click to expand...

It's not conversational, but my PS has a certain flow to it that's interrupted when I try to remove them all. I try to avoid them where I can, but sometimes it just makes things sound....dry.

majestic red said:
I personally think that taking out contractions can sometimes make it sound awkward and unnatural. I think that, in a personal statement, it's important that you sound like a real person with a real voice, and sometimes taking out contractions takes away from that.
Click to expand...

This.
 
why arent you supposed to use contractions? I dont think I could even write my PS without them 😕. Is it bad i used them?
 
majestic red said:
I used contractions in my PS, and I don't think it hurt me at all. I actually received quite a few compliments on my writing. I personally think that taking out contractions can sometimes make it sound awkward and unnatural. I think that, in a personal statement, it's important that you sound like a real person with a real voice, and sometimes taking out contractions takes away from that.
Click to expand...

There's really no way to know if it hurt you. You got some great acceptances, which was your goal, but maybe you missed out on 1 or more additional acceptances because the person who read your statement was turned off by the contractions. I highly doubt your essay would have been weaker sans contractions.

In previous threads on this topic I have challenged contraction defenders to provide an example of a sentence or passage which would be weaker or more awkward without contractions. I have yet to see a good example. Maybe you have one?
 
koko_eats said:
I think it's fair to say that lab reports and papers are devoid of excitement.

That said, I also find it hard to believe that contractions are that difficult to avoid. Are you using quotations in your PS? If so, don't. Problem solved!
Click to expand...

so is it totally and completely frowned upon to use a quotation in one's PS? i really want to use a very short quote (12 words) from one of my students that illustrates what i've been doing for the last year perfectly as my opener, but don't know if that's totally cliche and a really bad idea. thoughts?
 
mexicochangedme said:
so is it totally and completely frowned upon to use a quotation in one's PS? i really want to use a very short quote (12 words) from one of my students that illustrates what i've been doing for the last year perfectly as my opener, but don't know if that's totally cliche and a really bad idea. thoughts?
Click to expand...

In my opinion, a quote as an opener is a big risk. If it is really a great quote, and the rest of the essay is stellar and revolves around that quote, then go for it. A mediocre quote as an opener is essay suicide though.
 
mexicochangedme said:
so is it totally and completely frowned upon to use a quotation in one's PS? i really want to use a very short quote (12 words) from one of my students that illustrates what i've been doing for the last year perfectly as my opener, but don't know if that's totally cliche and a really bad idea. thoughts?
Click to expand...
Well I found that it interrupts the flow of the essay and it's a bit irrelevant since you aren't quoting verbatim anyway. I prefer simply to paraphrase if the conversation is important to your story.
 
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