Formal and Informal Language PDF

FORMAL AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE Are you a good speaker? Formality is all about your relationship with the person you are speaking or writing to. If you use formal language, it may be because you wish to show respect, politeness, or to put yourself at a distance (for example, 'official' language). Inf...

FORMAL AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE Are you a good speaker? Formality is all about your relationship with the person you are speaking or writing to. If you use formal language, it may be because you wish to show respect, politeness, or to put yourself at a distance (for example, 'official' language). Informal language can show friendliness, equality or a feeling of closeness and solidarity with someone. You should never use informal language just to sound fluent or clever. What is the difference between formal and informal language? Do formal and informal language serve different purposes? The tone, the choice of words and the way the words are put together vary between the two styles. Formal language is less personal than informal language. It is used when writing for professional or academic purposes like university assignments. Formal language does not use colloquialisms, contractions or first-person pronouns such as ‘I’ or ‘We’. Informal language is more casual and spontaneous. It is used when communicating with friends or family either in writing or in conversation. It is used when writing personal emails, text messages and in some business correspondence. The tone of informal language is more personal than formal language. How do we know whether formal or informal? Contractions It is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters and sounds. Examples: Informal: The improvements canʼt be introduced due to funding restrictions. Formal: Improvements cannot be introduced due to funding restrictions. Examples: Informal: I don't believe that the results aren’t accurate. Formal: I do not believe he results are not believed to be accurate. Examples: Informal: The research project won't continue next year. Formal: The research project will not continue next year. Phrasal Verbs They are phrases that indicate actions. They are generally used in spoken English and informal texts. Examples of such verbs include: turn down, come across and run into. Examples: Informal: The balloon was blown up for the experiment. Formal: The balloon was inflated for the experiment. Examples: Informal: The patient got over his illness. Formal: The patient recovered from his illness. Informal: The results of the study were mixed up. Formal: The results of the study were confused. Slang/Colloquialisms Slang- unconventional words or phrases that express either something new or something old in a new way. Colloquialisms- used for casual communication. It is the most common functional style of speech. Examples: Informal: The mob was very rowdy during the protest against cuts to university funding. Formal: The crowd was very rowdy during the protest against the cuts to university funding. Examples: Informal: Lecturers still count on students to use correct grammar and punctuation in essays. Formal: Lecturers expect students to use correct grammar and punctuation in essays. Examples: Informal: It was raining cats and dogs. Formal: It was raining very heavily. First person pronouns Informal: I considered various research methods for the study. Formal: Various research methods were considered for the study. Examples: Informal: We believe the practice is unsustainable. Formal: It is believed the practice is unsustainable. Examples: Informal: During the interview, I asked students about their experiences. Formal: During the interview, students were asked about their experiences. Short Monosyllabic Informal Words Examples: Informal: It cost me ten quid. Formal: It cost me ten pounds. Informal: I will help you peel the spuds. Formal: I will help you peel the potatoes. Examples: Informal: The milk is in the fridge. Formal: The milk is in the refrigerator. Clipping is one of the ways new words are created in English. It involves the shortening of a longer word, often reducing it to one syllable. Many examples are very informal or slang. Examples: Informal: I will meet you in the lab. Formal: I will meet you in the laboratory. Informal: What is on telly tonight? Formal: What is on television tonight? Examples: Informal: Her sister is a vet. Formal: Her sister is a veterinary surgeon. Acronyms An abbreviation is a truncated word; an acronym is made up of parts of the phrase it stands for and is pronounced as a word Examples TAFE Technical and Further Education ANZAC Australian and New Zealand Army Corps QANTAS Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Initialisms is an acronym that is pronounced as individual letters. Examples UTS University of Technology Sydney ISO International Standards Organization OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Rule for Acronym and Initialism The first time an acronym or initialism is used in an essay, it is acceptable to write the name in full with the acronym or initialism in brackets after it. Every subsequent time the acronym or initialism can be used on its own. If an acronym or initialism needs to be made into a plural, add a small ‘s’ to it without an apostrophe.