Question about contractions in cursive

[Piper]

When writing contractions in cursive, do you make a break where the apostrophe goes, or do you complete the entire word without breaks and then go back and add the apostrophe?

 

For example, if you were writing the word  don't,  would you write  don  then put in the apostrophe then add the final  t  as a separated letter?  Or would you write  dont  then go back and put in the apostrophe?

[Chris in VA]

Break.

[Arcadia]

I write contractions in cursive without the break. It is easier that way for me, just like dotting the I and crossing the t later.

[mommybee]

No break

[73349]

I break, but I think it's legible if you don't--as long as the apostrophe is clearly made.

[Ellie]

There must be a break. Otherwise it just looks like a random apostrophe hanging out, lol.

[Hunter]

I have chosen to teach a break, because otherwise, I see students forming their letters wrong to leave room for the apostrophe. 

[HappyClassical]

I was taught that writing contractions is informal, but if you do use them, you should have break. I will be teaching my children cursive with the break as well.

[kiwik]

I have never thought about it and don't think I was ever instructed in this. Whether in cursive or print I write the word as if there were no apostrophe then stick it in at the end of the word.

[Hunter]

I'm known as the "handwriting nazi" so whatever I teach that is debatable, is what will produce consistent  handwriting. I am all about consistency.

[Piper]

LOL, I should have made this a poll! :laugh:  The variation in answers is really interesting, but it looks like so far the majority are going with a break.  Nice to know!  (I was never taught proper cursive, and I'd like to get it right for my dc.)

[Chelli]

No break. It feels odd to me to stop and then continue. Isn't the entire point of cursive to have a constant handwriting flow with minimal stops?

[Ellie]

No break. It feels odd to me to stop and then continue. Isn't the entire point of cursive to have a constant handwriting flow with minimal stops?

 

Not necessarily. Cursive is how you write English; people have only recently used the constant-handwriting-flow-with-minimal-stops feature as a reason for teaching cursive. :-)

[MiMi 4under3]

Break!

 

The apostrophe holds the space of the omitted letters - so there must be a break.

 

No break implies there are no missing letters, ie. "dont" instead of don't. Even typing it out now, the apostrophe has its own space, and the "n" and "t" are spaced apart.

[Eagle]

I don't think I have ever seen cursive that does not break for an apostrophe. I always break, and am really surprised how many respondents do not.

[Clear Creek]

R&S teaches a break for an apostrophe, so we break. We also break for hyphens.

[Cheryl in CA]

It never occurred to me to break, and I can't say that I've ever seen anyone else break either.  However, I haven't been looking for it, and it's not like I see many write in cursive anymore.  It makes sense, but I also don't see myself slowing down to put in breaks.  I do break for hyphens, but they take more space than apostrophes so I don't know how one could not break for them.  I learn something new every day!

[Piper]

This is so interesting.  I was taught a terrible mish-mash of methods for my cursive, with the result that I lift my pen at various random places throughout a word - but I find that I never lift or break for an apostrophe!  I think what I tend to do is make the join a little longer, to make space for the apostrophe, which is probably wildly incorrect!  As I said before, at least I'll get the chance to teach my dc properly. :)

[mamamindy]

I only recently realized that there was supposed to be a break.  I never do.  But I wasn't really taught cursive very well.  My handwriting is nice, and legible, but it's not really cursive...or print...  I'm teaching my girls to break.  DD resists...grrr

[kiwik]

To be honest I can't see that it matters. While I think learning to print quickly and neatly is very important I very rarely use cursive.

[maize]

I break. The most cursive writing I did was when I was in French schools and the break was definitely expected.

 

I don't think it matters hugely one way or the other though as long as the intended meaning is clear.

[rocassie]

I do not break and add the apostrophe after like when dotting i's and crossing t's.  Even when I am printing, the space for my apostrophe is smaller than the space for my letters, although I do add the apostrophe before writing the next letter.  Interesting enough, I almost never join the capital letters to the lower case letter and my capitals look very similar in cursive and printing.  Many a teacher tried to correct me, but it's just my handwriting despite not being taught to do it this way.  This type of thing is probably one of those nuances that distinguish one's handwriting from another . 

[EKS]

No break here, but I'm not a cursive expert.