The use of contractions is disallowed by certain rules. These include:

• Section 4, Letters and Their Modifiers - no contractions following a modifier, no contractions before or after a ligature indicator
• Section 5, Grade 1 Mode - no contractions within grade 1 mode
• Section 6, Numeric Mode - no contractions within grade 1 mode when set by a numeric indicator
•  Section 12, Early Forms of English - no contractions in Old English.

• In technical material these include: [See Guidelines for Technical Material:]
• Part 1, General Principles - no contractions in strings of fully capitalised letters.

 • Part 14, Shape Symbols and Composite Symbols - no contractions in the description of a transcriber-defined shape.

• Part 16, Chemistry - no contractions in letters representing chemical elements.

• Part 17, Computer Notation - no contractions in a displayed computer program.

Uncontracted (grade 1) braille is different from grade 1 mode.

Grade 1 mode exists only when introduced by a grade 1 indicator or by a numeric indicator.

Uncontracted (grade 1) braille is a transcription option which may be selected for any number of reasons, including:

• when the pronunciation or recognition of a word would be hindered: Section 10, Contractions
• in Middle English: Section 12, Early Forms of English
• in foreign words: Section 13, Foreign Language
• in texts for readers who have not learned contracted braille
• when the spelling of a word is featured, as in dictionary entries

Note: Braille authorities and production agencies may establish policies for the guidance of transcribers in the use of uncontracted (grade 1) braille.

Although contractions are not used in grade 1 mode, uncontracted (grade 1) braille may be employed without the use of grade 1 indicators.

Contracted (grade 2) braille

Note: The use of the contractions in contracted (grade 2) braille is covered in Section 10, Contractions.

Note: UEB contracted braille differs slightly from other forms of English contracted braille. See Section 1.3, Introduction, for basic signs found in other forms of English braille.

Other grades of braille

Note: Other grades of braille have been developed. One of these is grade 3 braille which contains several hundred contractions and is primarily for personal use. Another is grade 11/2 braille. Employing only 44 one-cell contractions, this was the official code of the United States from 1918 to 1932.

A letter or letters-sequence is considered to be "standing alone" if it is preceded and followed by a space, a hyphen or a dash. The dash may be of any length, i.e. the dash or the long dash.

Use foreign code signs in the representation of foreign language material where there is substantial occurrence of the foreign language, as in:

•  grammars and other instructional materials, 
  
•  English commentaries on foreign works for study, 
  
•  bilingual texts (whether set out in parallel or consecutively) such as official forms, opera libretti and other translations, and 
  
•  any situation where significant knowledge of the foreign language is presupposed or being taught.
  

When UEB signs are used, do not use code switch indicators.

When UEB signs are used, do not use foreign code contractions or other signs from the foreign language code such as punctuation or indicators.

Use UEB signs to represent accented letters, punctuation or Greek letters where it is judged likely that most readers will be unfamiliar with the foreign code signs, and where the nature of the material does not create a reasonable expectation that they should learn them. UEB signs should therefore be used:

•  for occasional foreign words and phrases occurring in English context; 
  
•  for longer foreign passages such as conversation occurring in English novels or in other English works regarded as primarily for leisure reading.
  

Refer to: Section 4, Letters and their modifiers, for the complete list of UEB signs for accents and Greek letters.