I’m reviewing an important document at work, and I come across the word “that’s”. I flagged it as being incorrect because it’s not a correct contraction, like “doesn’t” or “hasn’t”. Someone else is telling me that it is a word. He looks up “that” at www.webster.com, and one of the definitions says “that’s a cat”.
BUT, if you type in “that’s”, it says that word doesn’t exist.
Now, if you say that contractions aren’t in the dictionary, just look up “doesn’t”. They’re there.
Also, in the end of one of the dictionaries here, it says contractions can also be used to group words, like “he’s” or “she’s”.
I guess overall, we agree that this word shouldn’t be used in a important document. But we use it so much, that it is very confusing.
You may regard contractions as valid words in their own right, or not. It’s a matter of taste, custom and usage. Dictionaries tend to include some examples of contractions as words in their own right, and leave others out (to include them all would take up too much space).
Finally, “that’s” and other contractions are always counted as one word in the sense of counting the words in a document.
The dictionary I keep on my desk (a paperback Random House Dictionary, 1978 edition) has this listed:
's - contraction of:
a. is: She’s here.
b. has: She’s gone.
c. does: What’s she do?
d. us: Let’s go.
Though it doesn’t have “that’s” listed separately, I think the 's definition covers it. (Assuming you accept the authority of cheap 25-year old dictionaries.)
Oh well, I guess it was correct to flag it at least.
(By the way, one of the Ford dealers near me has a BIG sign outside their place that reads…
“Over 500 Ford’s available”. At least I know that one is wrong! (Right?)
Correct. In this instance, one does not use an ‘apostrophe S’ to make Ford a plural (and the cases in which one does are rare, so, watch your p’s and q’s).
But, back to your assertion that ‘if it is not in the dictionary, then it is wrong.’ This is not true.
Take, for example the possessive:
The dog’s bone is under the chair.
You won’t find dog’s in the dictionary. A dictionary would get mighty thick if it had to list every noun with its possessive ‘apostrophe S’ form.
In the same way, no dictionary is going to show every possible noun that can be the subject of a sentence with a contracted verb attached to it.
For example:
The dog is in the yard. = The dog’s in the yard.
But again, you won’t find dog’s in the dictionary.
And as far as usage goes… Contractions are no longer cosidered forbidden for ‘formal writing,’ although, one shouldn’t overdo it.
And, as you can see in the preceeding sentence, the way shouldn’t is used would be perfectly acceptable for formal writing.
Good grief! I hope not! That’s a perfectly acceptable word. Er, “that’s” is a perfectly acceptable word. Ancient, too. Honorable. Parallel with dozens if not hundreds of other English words: it’s, who’s, where’s, she’s, they’re, we’re, I’ll, they’ll. Should’ve and could’ve are not quite as acceptable, but they’re also real and commonly used. (But not “could of” or “coulda”.)
All of these are formed with the part of speech called auxiliary verbs, and I’m positive your English teacher is just cool with them. Auxiliaries are commonly swallowed in casual English speech and that has carried over into writing.
Look up auxiliary verbs contractions on Google for more examples.
I’m diggin my heals in. That would have been crossed off in red if I put that in a college paper.