Formal and Informal English
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When writing English texts, there are mainly two styles of writing- informal or formal. The most common differences between informal and formal text are often these:
Elements used in Informal texts:
- Colloquial words/expressions (kids, guy, awesome, a lot, etc.)
- Contractions (can’t, won’t, etc.).
- First, second, or third person.
- Clichés (by absence, etc.)
- Address readers using second person pronouns (you, your, etc.)
- Imperative voice (ex. Remember)
- Active voice (ex. We have noticed that…)
- Short and simple sentences.
Elements used in Formal texts:
- Avoids contractions (write out full words – cannot, will not, etc.).
- Avoids using colloquial words/expressions (children, man/boy, wonderful, many, etc.)
- Third person (except in business letters were first person may be used).
- Avoids clichés (was absent, etc.)
- Avoids addressing readers using second person pronouns (use one, one’s, the reader, the reader’s, etc.)
- Avoids imperative voice (Please refer to…)
- Passive voice (ex.. It has been noticed that….)
- Longer and more complex sentences.
- State your points confidently.
You should probably know the difference between an informal and formal text, but I’ll show you an example as well, where I will talk about
Informal text:
While reading todays news, I found an interesting text about the investigation on the ISAF and U.S guy, General John Allen. The general is now in the FBI’s spotlight after discovering lots of mails between him and Jill Kelley. And if you didn’t know, Jill Kelley was the woman leaked the threatening emails from Paola Broadwell- but let’s not talk about that. It isn’t totally clear how Allen and Kelley communicated, but FBI are investigating 30 000 emails and documents, 30 000! I’m not sure If this will play an important role in the CIA-case, but I do believe this will lead to some more interesting news. What do you think?
Formal Text:
Pentagon revealed this day that ISAF Commander and U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, is under investigation for inappropriate communication with the woman who should have received threatening e-mails from Paula Broadwell, as CIA chief Petraeus had a relationship.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reported the news to the journalists who were in his flight from Honolulu to Perth in Australia, and said the FBI notified the incident on Sunday.
The woman Allen in all probability has communicated with, Jill Kelley, is also the woman who notified the FBI about what she perceived as threatening e-mails from Broadwell, and thus led to the investigation that revealed the relationship between Petraeus and Broadwell.
It is not clear what or how this communication between Kelley and Allen have been, but the American federals are investigating between 20 000 and 30 000 pages of e-mails and other documents, which likely has been sent between Allen and Kelley between 2010 and 2012, according to one of Panetta employees.
The fact that Allen is not suspended yet, may indicate that the general has not violated U.S. law, but rather violated military policy.
This is my two examples of an informal and formal text, where I talked about the investigation on John Allen, and were I used aids like :
- Colloquial words/expressions (guy, a lot, etc.)
- Contractions (isn’t let’s etc.).
- First person.
- Address readers using second person pronouns (you, your, etc.)
- Imperative voice (ex. Remember, If you didn’t know)
And in the Formal text, I used aids like:
- Avoids contractions (write out full words – cannot, will not, etc.).
- Avoids using colloquial words/expressions (man/boy, many etc.)
- Third person.
- Avoids addressing readers using second person pronouns (use one, one’s, the reader, the reader’s, etc.)
- Avoids imperative voice.
- Passive voice.
- Longer and more complex sentences.
I hope you understood and enjoyed this article.
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