Formal Standard vs.
Informal Standard English
All English 11 and English 12
written assignments require
Formal Standard English
ACT Tuesday
Formal academic writing is quite different from spoken
English
In general, informal spoken English contains
colloquialisms that are inappropriate for formal written
English.
DO NOT MIX THE STYLES
Informal vs. Formal
In formal
• It didn’t happen.
• They’ve finished now.
Formal
It did not happen
They have finished now
DO NOT USE CONTRACTIONS
IN FORMAL ENGLISH
Informal vs. Formal
In formal
• Er
• Um
• Like ah
Formal
Do not use
Informal vs. Formal
In formal
• You put chemicals in the
test tube first.
Formal
• The chemicals are put in
the test tube first.
Eliminate 2nd Person
Pronouns – you
Informal vs. Formal
In formal (imprecise words)
Lots of
Nice
Big
Things
like
Formal (precise words)
One hundred
Pleasant
Massive
Reasons, problems
Such as
Informal vs. Formal
In formal
• It’s
• E.g.
• i.e.
• Etc.
Formal
• It is
• For example
• That is
• And so on
Informal vs. Formal
In formal-tentative
• VERBS
–
–
–
–
–
Appear to
Seems to
Tends to
May
Might
Informal - indefinate
• ADVERBS
–
–
–
–
–
Perhaps
Possibly
Probably
Apparently
Likely
Take a stand and write definite
statements.
Try the exercises: