Can I use contractions in IELTS?
What are contractions?
Here are some common contractions:
’m = am (I’m)
’re = are (you’re, we’re, they’re)
’s = is and has (he’s, she’s, it’s)
’ve = have (’ve, you’ve, we’ve, they’ve)
’ll = will (I’ll, you’ll, he’ll, she’ll, it’ll, we’ll, they’ll)
’d = had and would (I’d, you’d, he’d, she’d, it’d, we’d, they’d)
You can find more information about contractions here
Using contractions in the IELTS exam
- Writing Task 2 / Writing Task 1 Academic
While you will not be automatically penalised for using contractions in Writing Task 2 and Task 1 Academic, our advice is to avoid doing so.
- Writing Task 1 General Training
You should use contractions (where possible) in Task 1 General Training informal letters, but you should not use them in formal letters.
- Speaking
It's fine to use contractions. In fact, since contractions are a common feature of natural speech, it would be unusual (and sound overly formal and stilted) if you didn't use some contractions in your answers.
- Listening and Reading
Official guidance from IELTS is that contractions are never tested in the Listening and Reading modules, so you will never be required to write a contraction as an answer to a question.
