FORMALITY LEVEL OF LANGUAGE FEATURES OF FORMAL AND

FORMALITY LEVEL OF LANGUAGE - FEATURES OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE May Horverak 2014

FORMAL AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE Contracted forms (I’m, he’s) No contracted forms; (I am, he has) Abbreviations (info) No abbreviations (information) Slang expressions (mate, wanna, gonna) No slang expressions (friend, want to, going to) Informal expressions (kids, teens, mom, dad) No informal expressions (children, teenagers, mother and father) Personal style (I, you) Neutral pronouns (One, we; do not use “you” + do not use “I” more than necessary) Dialect (youse) Standard English (you) Sentence fragments (Over there. Fantastic. ) and Only full sentences (It is over there. ) (I have been there. ) incomplete sentences (Have been there. ) Double negatives (I haven’t said nothing. ) No double negatives (I have not said anything. ) Punctuation: Sentences often start with conjunctions Punctuation: No exclamation marks (!), follow comma rules and never start (And, Or, But, For), punctuation rules are not followed. sentences with conjunctions (and, or, but, for), use conjuncts followed by a comma (However, In addition, Therefore, ) May Horverak 2014

FORMAL LANGUAGE • No slang • ‘Going to’, not ‘gonna’ • No contractions • ‘It is’, not ‘it’s’ • ‘I am’, not ‘I’m’ • No informal abbreviation • ‘okay’, not ‘ok’ • Some formal abbreviations: e. g. (for example) + i. e. (that is) • Modify your words • ‘I am critical to this’, not ‘I hate this’ • ‘In my opinion he should be punished’, not ‘He deserves to die, they should shoot him!’ May Horverak 2014

EXERCISES • Look for informal language in «Brenda’s got a Baby» . Change 5 sentences so they become more formal • Look for informal language in the text you have written. Make the text more formal May Horverak 2014