Editor's Corner

Dear Editrix,

I believe that there are a few contractions that could be considered full sentences (don’t, perhaps?), but I recently ran into a situation where a response I got was intended to be a full sentence but made my skin crawl reading it.

I was texting with someone, and I asked them to let me know if their availability changed. Her response was “I’ll.” That was it! I know that she meant “I will,” but I chuckled at the simple “I’ll” and wondered why this seems so wrong? No wonder English is one of the hardest to languages to learn. So many rules.

Anyway … any insight you can provide on why some contractions are acceptable responses to questions and others not? I would never respond with “I’ll” or “you’ll” or “we’ll” as a full sentence. I’m sure that there is a rule somewhere.

Dear Reader,

I really had to work at finding an answer to this question! First, you are correct. “Don’t!” can be a complete sentence. The “you” is implied, as is the full meaning of the sentence “You do not do (whatever it is you are doing)!” But let’s look at the main question: Can you answer a question or end a sentence with a contraction?

I could not find an actual rule, but I found a lot of advice from smart people, whose advice was crammed into this explanation from AI:

Yes, there’s a strong grammatical tendency against ending sentences with positive contractions (like he’s, you’re) because they lose necessary stress and clarity, often leaving the sentence feeling incomplete or "hanging," while negative contractions (isn’t, can’t) are fine because the not carries the weight, but in cases of contrast, the full word (e.g., "I am," not "I’m") is preferred for emphasis.

Why Positive Contractions Don’t Work at the End

• Stress and Emphasis: Words at the end of a sentence usually carry emphasis. Positive contractions, by nature, are weak forms of words (like "he is") that lose their stress when contracted, making them sound unnatural or unfinished.
• Clarity: A sentence like "I think we’re almost there" works because the main verb "there" provides closure. But in a question-answer scenario, "Are you coming?" "Yes, I’m" leaves the listener waiting for the "am," so "Yes, I am" (full form) is required for clarity and completeness.

When They Can Work (or are acceptable)

• Negative Contractions: Isn’t, can’t, won’t are fine at the end because the "not" provides the necessary grammatical weight and negation.
• For Style/Poetry: Poets or informal writers might bend the rule for effect, but it’s generally considered non-standard in formal writing.

The Bottom Line: Stick to the full form (e.g., "I am," "he is") when the contraction would end the sentence or a clause to maintain clarity and proper emphasis.

So, dear reader, your instincts are good! For those of you with English as your second (or third, or 33rd) language, remember the short version of this AI-compiled rule:

You can end a sentence with a negative contraction (Is he here? No he isn’t), but not a positive one (Is he here? Yes, he’s).

And if you aren’t sure? Spell out both words until you become an expert at contractions.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/