Taint is used
for tisn't. Their use is indicative of an entire lack of culture.
Isn't
No one need hesitate to use this word. It is smooth in utterance and
contributes much to the freedom and ease of social intercourse. Its
equivalent is too stately for colloquial forms of speech, and is often
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suggestive of pedantry. Compare "Isn't he an eloquent speaker?" "Isn't
this a beautiful flower?" with "Is not he an eloquent speaker?" "Is
this not a beautiful flower?"
Wasn't
Although not so elegant as the present tense form isn't, yet the
contraction wasn't is in excellent repute. It is properly used only in
the first and third persons singular. No one who makes any pretension
to culture would be guilty of saying" You was my neighbor, but you
wasn't my friend," "We was engaged in trade, and they wasn't of any
use to us." Say we were or were not, but never wasn't or wa'nt.
Weren't
The forms aren't, and weren't do not have the sanction of the best
speakers and writers, and should be used sparingly, if at all.
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