# When counting the words in a sentence, do contractions count as one word or two? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2018, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122 "2018-08-05T09:22:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/22 "2018-08-05T23:31:30Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I’ve seen publishers specify that the word count of a manuscript is the total number of characters/5. ([Although](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_count) Wikipedia say /6 is also used but I have heard of an example.) > > Since for some articles authors are paid by the word (with a given target number of words), this “standardizes” the length expected and avoids authors either using a lot of small words (to reach the limit) or a lot of large words (to get around the limit). > > So "he’d " is one word, including the space after it. And the traditional way to count newspaper columns (for payment of reporters on casual rates), was by the column inch. By the 1980’s some newspapers and magazines had switched to character counts for casual rates, but I don’t remember if it was /5 or /6 ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/23 "2018-08-06T02:06:16Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > But if you define a contraction, it’s taking two words and _contracting_ them into ONE. > > So I’m guessing it counts as one. This is my thinking as well. Clear logic.😃 +1 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/24 "2018-08-06T02:24:14Z")
FWIW, I will mention that my wife was a professional translator, French to English. She charged by the word of the source text. A phrase such as qu’est-ce counted as three words. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/25 "2018-08-06T05:29:21Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > FWIW, I will mention that my wife was a professional translator, French to English. She charged by the word of the source text. A phrase such as qu’est-ce counted as three words. Helping to demonstrate that unless there’s a particular explicit purpose for counting some words, there can’t be clear answers to questions on how it ought to be done. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/26 "2018-08-06T07:24:39Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > It’s must be challenging to run a profitable German telegraph business. Back in the day when telegrams were a thing (I sent a few in the 1980s, usually for birthdays, one when the party did not answer their phone), words of more than 10 characters counted as one word per 10 characters. People economised by dropping pronouns, prepositions and articles, and merging separable verbs (ANKOMME MONTAG ELFUHRDREI = I will arive on Monday at 11:03 am). Nowadays it’s flat rates of 12.90€ for up to 160 characters, 18.35€ for up to 480 characters, for telegrams within Germany, but of course they are not transmitted over teletype anymore. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/27 "2018-08-06T13:18:28Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > I’ven’t any idea what you might be referring to. > > Replace “could” with “count.” > > I think the spirit of the question is whether contractions of multiple words should count as one or multiple words. > > Seems straightforward to me. > Replace “could” with “count.” > > I think the spirit of the question is whether contractions of multiple words should _count_ as one or multiple words. > > Seems straightforward to me. Whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/28 "2018-08-06T13:24:42Z")
[Readability measures such as Flesch](https://www.mchughconsulting.com/images/mediaguide/ReadabilityPresentation.pdf) count contractions as one word. (Cite is a 1.2MB PDF, see p. 8, 26) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/29 "2018-08-06T15:47:09Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > FWIW, I will mention that my wife was a professional translator, French to English. She charged by the word of the source text. A phrase such as qu’est-ce counted as three words. And shows how wanting to maximize income drove the definitional process. > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Whoosh. Got me. In my defense pulykamell had a typing error that through\* me off. That’s a type of error I do all the time so it stands out for me. \* I leave that as an exercise for the student. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/30 "2018-08-06T19:20:06Z")
Thanks for the replies everyone. Actually I did not have a particular purpose of counting in mind, it was more of whether there is a universally applied social convention of considering a contraction as one or two words conceptually. It seems to me that the predominant view is that, unless a particular counting purpose dictates otherwise, it would be considered as one. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/31 "2018-08-06T21:48:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Got me. In my defense pulykamell had a typing error that through\* me off. That’s a type of error I do all the time so it stands out for me. Are we speaking of human-fingered typos, rather than erroneous auto-completions? If so, are we speaking of the aphasia I’ve mentioned before, with _ **vowels–\>values** _ as my go-to example, though I’ve made other, even more bizarre, substitutions? If so, I admit to noticing these in other Dopers’ posts, though only _since_ I first mentioned my peculiar aphasia. Sorry if it was contagious and I was the Typhoid Mary. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/32 "2018-08-07T01:57:07Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Because-someone-will-always-come-along-and-claim-hyphenated-words-count-as-a-single-word … Well, time period enters into that also. I’ve worked with Distributed Proofreading for Project Gutenberg, dealing with books written a century or more ago. It’s common to see terms like _to-day_ or _to-morrow_ as hyphenated items. In even older works, they are two completely separate words _to morrow_. I’ve even seen times given as _10 of the clock_ or _10 o’ the clock_. Not sure how those would be counted as words. I don’t very often see much use for counting words. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/33 "2018-08-07T13:09:12Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > I don’t very often see much use for counting words. I have six words for you: See the quotes in the OP 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122/34 "2018-08-07T16:28:27Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The standard was five characters plus a space, which is why you’ll see variously 5 or 6 used. If you didn’t know what the number meant you weren’t a writer and so could be ignored. Thanks for the info. I must of misunderstood about the space due to my computing background where a character is a character. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-counting-the-words-in-a-sentence-do-contractions-count-as-one-word-or-two/819122.md?page=1)