The phrase "appears to contract" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing something that seems to be shrinking or reducing in size, scope, or intensity.
Example: "As the temperature drops, the metal appears to contract, causing the joints to tighten."
Alternatives: "seems to shrink" or "looks like it is reducing".
But despite, in some cases because of, this respect for particular freedoms, every day the scope of our lives appears to contract.
"Then the flat surface appears to contract, transforming itself into a green-spoked spinning wheel".
"Then the flat surface appears to contract, transforming itself into a green-spoked spinning wheel". Lasers even played a role in the chill-out arena.
Molt duration appears to contract with increasing latitude in parallel with the decreasing summer duration.
With each successive moult the pattern appears to contract and become more distinct, especially in males (Figure 7).
This is hinted at by the demonstrations that CTCF appears to contract chromatin structures by recruiting cohesin (Hadjur et al. 2009).
Last month, the number of unsold homes in the market appeared to contract a little.
One revolutionary aspect of relativistic motion, put forth by Einstein but previously built up by Lorentz, Fitzgerald, and others, was that rapidly moving objects appeared to contract in space and dilate in time.
The ignition domain appears to strongly contract when the oxygen content decreases, so that the steam threshold for inertization of the containment with respect to the recombiners ignition becomes very low.
In China, the vast manufacturing sector appears to have contracted in July for the first time in a year, according to the closely watched HSBC survey.
In the early 19th century, however, the number of European ships calling at Delagoa Bay appears to have contracted, and this may have increased competition for the cattle and ivory trade.
