Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/64

 Dialect, slang, and colloquialisms are considered of value in giving piquancy to a story or novel, and each writer has a method of his own which the compositor must follow. When he can do so, and the author permits, he should make one word of all colloquial clippings of speech, as ain't or hain't, don't, won't, can't, shan't, putting no space between the words and using the apostrophe in place of the cancelled letter. Ain't and are n't are of bad form, but permissible as exhibits of vulgarisms. According to rule, shan't should have two apostrophes (one for the elision in shall, and one for that in not), but two apostrophes in one short word are unsightly, and one is customary.

I 've, you 'll, 't was, 't was n't, 't is, 't is n't, etc., are more clearly expressed when a thin space is put between the words, but in some printing-houses this space is often omitted by order.

The Century dictionary prefers a thin space before the apostrophe when is or has is clipped to 's,