Alexandre is a proper noun, so shortening it to "qu'Alexandre" is optional and not necessary. Yet I got marked wrong for writing "n'a embrassé que Alexandre"
Why not "n'a embrassé que Alexandre"?
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Why not "n'a embrassé que Alexandre"?
Bonjour Sympathetic,
The contraction does happen most of the time. Also, when "que" is followed by a name that is long, like "Alexandre", the contraction happens. However, it might not happen with shorter names or with names starting with a "foreign" consonant (Yves, Anouk)
Take a look here (Office québécois de la langue française) where you'll find a good set of examples explaining this:
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !
You shouldn’t be marked wrong for not contracting, although it is common practice now to contract, especially with well-known proper nouns such as Alexandre.
Is it possible the answer was expected to be “ n’a que embrassé Alexandre “ ?
It was "she kissed only Alexandre", hence "elle n'a embrassé que Alexandre" was my response.
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