Using Formal and Informal Language Appropriately

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Using Formal and Informal Language Appropriately
Using Formal and Informal Language Appropriately
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Everyday life is not like a Grey Poupon
Commercial

• Most of us remember the Grey Poupon
  commercials of the 90s where a man in a
  limousine is asked for some fancy mustard and
  replies, But, of course! We all inherently know
  why the commercials are amusing, but we probably
  havent taken the time to actually analyze the
  reasoning.

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Art Imitates Life

• In the example of the Grey Poupon commercial, the
  language of the perceived wealthy man with the
  fancy mustard is formal in tone, indicating a
  certain class difference marked by education
  level, therefore, marketing the mustard toward
  people of more sophisticated tastes.
• In writing, formal and informal language work in
  a similar way to influence tone, which, in turn,
  speaks to your audience.

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Tone

• Tone is defined as the writers attitude
  toward the subject matter and his or her readers.

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Audience

• The audience is your reader or listener the
  recipient of your verbal or written communication.

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Diction

• Diction is word choice
• Word choice is important in establishing tone
• Three levels of diction
• 1. high or formal diction
• 2. neutral diction
• 3. informal or low diction

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Characteristic of Formal and Informal Language

• Informal
• light
• humorous
• personal
• casual
• offhanded
• "loose"
• plainspoken
• simple

• Formal
• serious
• objective
• impersonal
• reasoned
• controlled
• reserved

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Why does it even matter?

• Official or serious situations are often signaled
  by the use of formal language, while ordinary or
  relaxed situations are signaled by the use of
  informal language.
• Formality of language varies in relation to such
  factors as public versus private occasion, the
  size of the audience, the relationship of the
  speaker/writer with the audience, and so on. The
  ability to vary your language according to the
  situation is often considered a mark of an
  educated person.

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Certain Situations

• Formal Situations
• job interview
• principals office visit
• business letter
• class essay

• Informal Situations
• text message
• friendly letter
• locker conversation
• Journal-style writing

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What makes INFORMAL language?

• Simple grammatical structure
• Personal evaluation
• Colloquial or slang vocabulary

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What makes FORMAL language?

• Formal language, even when spoken, is often
  associated with the conventions expected of
  written standard English.
• Although you generally dont worry as much about
  formality in speaking, it is extremely important
  in writing because of the knowledge you are
  recording through the written word.

Continued on next slide
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Remember when you are speaking, writing or
analyzing language in a formal situation
What makes formal language (continued)?

• Formal language does not use contractions
• Avoids personal pronouns such as you, I, us, me,
  and we
• Includes more polysyllabic wordsBIGGER words
• Complex, complete sentences
• Avoidance of colloquial or slang vocabulary
• Impersonality
• A consistent preference for learned words

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Remember when you are speaking, writing or
analyzing language in a formal situation
What to avoid in formal writing

• Exclamation marks
• Needless words like well and you know
• First and second person point of view
• Beginning sentences with coordinating
  conjunctions
• Too many short, choppy sentences that could be
  combined to make more complex sentence structures

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What to avoid in formal writing

• Avoid most shortenings in formal writing. In
  formal English, you talk on the telephone, not
  the phone
• Know what acronyms may be used in your writing.
  In formal English, you should limit your use of
  acronyms, abbreviations making use of letters
  that stand for certain words
• Similarly, limit your use of absolute terms, such
  as "everybody," "always," "never"
• Avoid clichés, stage directions and
  colloquialisms

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Common Colloquialisms and Informal Words

• A lot, alot
• Ain't
• Alright, all right
• Anyways
• Anybody, anyone
• As
• Big, large great
• Buy
• Contraption
• Could of, would of, should of

• Cute
• Fellow
• For sure
• Get, obtain
• Get, understand
• Gonna, wanna
• Got
• How come
• How do you do
• Humongous
• Kid

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Common Colloquialisms and Informal Words Continued

• Kinda, kind of, sorta, sort of
• Let
• Like
• Most
• On the other hand
• Pretty
• Real, really
• Shall, will, should, would

• So
• Thus, thusly
• Until, till, til
• Use
• Use to
• Yeah

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Formal or Informal?

• After reading The Red Badge of Courage, it is
  easy for you to see Cranes purpose in telling
  the story.

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Formal or Informal?

• Native American literature is rich in
  cultural information and poetic language.

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Formal or Informal?

• Native American literature isnt rich in
  Puritain characteristics.

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Formal or Informal?

• Native American Literature is oral. It is
  passed down by word of mouth.

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Formal or Informal?

• Everybody knows that Snickers is the best candy
  bar.

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Formal or Informal?

• The field trip participants will meet at the
  A-Town Wal-Mart.

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References

• Formal/informal language. 15 October 2008
  lthttp//www.arts.gla.ac.uk/
• SESLL/EngLang/LILT/forminf.htmgt.
• How to Avoid Colloquial (Informal) Writing. 16
  October 2008 lthttp//www.wikihow.com/Main-Pagegt
  .
• Tone A Matter of Attitude. Capital Community
  College. 2006. 15 October 2008
  lthttp//grammar.ccc.commnet.
• edu/grammar/composition/tone.htmgt.