Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> I have to admit I have no idea if this contraction is wrong or acceptable.
> It *sounds* wrong to me, but how should I know? The answer to this is also
> something just impossible to find with google:
>
> "The rest of it is not difficult." -> "The rest of it's not difficult."
>
> --
>                                                           - Warp

From a purely technical point of view. the words "it is not" can be replaced
with either "it's not" or "it isn't" without generating a grammatical error.

Stylistically, however, the option of "The rest of it isn't difficult" would
generally be considered preferable for the following reason:

The core sentence is: "The rest is not difficult" with "of it" being an
elaborative  modifier.  Since the core sentence would be contracted with
"isn't", this choice is generally considered to be clearer when used in the
elaborated sentence.

In highly formal English, which one would generally be compelled to use only in
a few specific contexts, such as a doctoral dissertation, contractions should
not be used at all.

Best Regards,
Mike C.

P.S.

Other useful hints about English grammar:

A preposition is the wrong thing to end a sentence with.

Remember to not split infinitives.

.... And NEVER begin sentences with conjunctions!

;-)

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