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How to Use Formal and Informal English - English Speaking and Writing Fluency
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- Greetings! My name is Gina Mares, and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to this
- Oxford Online English video lesson. Hello!
- My name’s Gina. Welcome to the class.
- Hey guys! Gina here.
- Let’s get started! What’s going on here?
- Why am I welcoming you three times? In this lesson, you can learn about formal and informal English.
- You’ll learn how to recognise and use formal and informal styles in your spoken and written English.
- Look at three sentences: Could I disturb you for a minute?
- Can I ask you something? You got a sec?
- All of these sentences have the same basic meaning—I want to talk to you and ask you about something.
- However, the tone is different. Can you see how?
- These three sentences show three levels of formality. The first sentence is formal; it shows politeness, respect and distance.
- The second sentence is neutral; it does not have a formal or an informal tone. The third sentence is informal; it shows that you and the person you are speaking to are
- familiar with each other, and you don't need to make an effort to be polite or respectful. Actually, there are more than three levels of formality.
- For example: Might I ask you something?
- May I take a moment of your time? Could I disturb you for a minute?
- These sentences are all formal. The first is extremely formal.
- It’s probably too formal to use in most situations. The other two are both formal; the second is probably more formal than the third.
- Why ‘probably’? Formality isn’t absolute.
- It also depends on context and intonation, so it’s not just about the words you use. So, there are many levels of formality.
- However, when you speak or write in English, it’s useful to think about three levels: formal, neutral and informal.
- But when should you use these different levels of language? In my experience, many English students use language which is too formal.
- They think: formal language is more polite. Polite language is better.
- Right? No, not always!
- Language which is too polite puts distance between you and the person you’re talking to.
- At best, this will sound awkward and unnatural. At worst, you can sound cold and unfriendly if you use language which is too formal.
- Knowing when to use formal language depends mostly on context. Let me ask you a question: when should you use formal language?
- Maybe you said things like: in job interviews, in business meetings or negotiations, when talking to older people, when writing business emails, and so on.
- The fact is, it’s not possible to say you should always use formal language in these situations.
- It always depends. For example, take job interviews.
- Some companies have a very corporate culture, with a strict hierarchy and lots of rules and procedures.
- Other companies are more relaxed, and pay less attention to rules and job titles. Obviously, if you’re going for a job interview at the first kind of company, you’ll want
- to dress, act and speak formally, to fit in with the company culture. On the other hand, if you go for an interview at the second kind of company, where things
- are more relaxed, it wouldn’t be appropriate to speak very formally. So, always think about the actual situation in front of you.
- If you’re not sure, try to listen to other people around you. If people around you are speaking informally to each other, you probably shouldn’t try
- to sound very formal. Also, if you don’t know, then use neutral language.
- Neutral language is safe. You can use it in any situation.
- Informal language is very important in spoken English, but you need to be careful. Using informal language at the wrong time could sound disrespectful or rude.
- Next, let's consider some of the main differences between formal, neutral and informal English. Formal English tends to use longer, more complicated sentence structures.
- Informal and neutral English tend to use shorter, simpler sentence structures. For example:
- I was wondering if you could make yourself available on Wednesday to provide more detailed guidance on these matters.
- --> This is a formal sentence. You can see that it’s quite long, with a complex structure.
- Do you have time on Wednesday to help us with these problems? --> This is neutral.
- You got some free time on Wednesday to talk about this? --> This is more informal.
- You can see that the neutral and informal sentences are much shorter and simpler. Let’s do one more example.
- I’ll give you three sentences. Can you see which one is formal, which is neutral, and which is informal?
- We should have a word with him first. It may well be necessary to contact him before we make a decision.
- We need to talk to him before we decide. Which is which?
- The first sentence is informal. The second sentence is formal.
- The third sentence is neutral. Did you get it right?
- Again, you can see that the formal sentence is longer and more complex. Another point is that we sometimes leave out words in informal English, especially in questions.
- For example, in the question Are you sure? it is possible to leave out the word are and just say You sure?
- In fact, you could even leave out the word you and just ask a question with one word: sure?
- Let’s see some more examples of this: Will you be joining us?
- (Formal—full form) Are you coming? (neutral—full form) You coming?
- (Informal—short form) Do you have any suggestions?
- (Formal—full form) Have you got any ideas? (neutral—full form) Any ideas?
- (Informal—short form) Do you notice any other differences between the formal, neutral and informal sentences
- you’ve seen in this section? You might notice that we use different words in formal, neutral and informal English.
- Vocabulary is another important difference between formal and informal language. Let’s look!
- Formal English tends to use more literary, rare or old-fashioned vocabulary. Generally, if you want to be formal, you need to be very precise with your use of vocabulary.
- Neutral English tends to use simpler, more common words. Informal English, like neutral English, uses simple and common vocabulary.
- However, informal English also includes slang, phrasal verbs and colloquial language which are not features of neutral English.
- Informal English is also generally looser. It uses more general words, and the meaning is understood from the context.
- Let's look at this in some more detail: We need to verify the data before we proceed.
- We need to check the data before we continue. We need to check everything before we carry on.
- You can see that the formal sentence uses more literary vocabulary: verify instead of check, and proceed instead of continue.
- The neutral sentence uses simple, common words. The informal sentence is less precise: instead of saying the data, we say everything.
- It also uses a phrasal verb: carry on instead of proceed or continue. In informal English, it's common to use vocabulary in a less precise way.
- For example, you might use words like stuff or things to refer to specific things. You wouldn’t do this if you were speaking formally.
- For example: You are required to collect your belongings and vacate the premises.
- You need to take your personal possessions and leave the building. You need to get your stuff together and get out.
- Again, you can see more literary vocabulary in the formal sentence (required, collect, belongings, vacate, premises).
- On the other hand, the informal sentence uses more basic vocabulary, including multi-part verbs like get…together or get out.
- The informal sentence is also much less precise. It simply refers to stuff, instead of belongings or possessions.
- It also says …get out, without specifying the place (the premises or the building). The neutral sentence is somewhere in between.
- In neutral language, you generally choose the simplest word you can. So, you would say take instead of collect, leave instead of vacate, and so on.
- You can also see that the informal sentence is much more direct than the other two. This is an important part of formality in English.
- Formal language tends to be much more indirect. Formal language often sounds quite impersonal, because it uses fewer personal pronouns like
- I, you, he, she, etc. Informal language tends to be more direct and personal.
- Informal language can be so direct that it can sound aggressive or rude if you use it in the wrong situations.
- Neutral language is in the middle, similar to other situations you’ve seen. For example:
- Lessons need to be learnt from the mistakes which were made. --> formal I hope you can learn from where you went wrong.
- --> neutral You made a mess of this and you need to do better next time.
- --> informal You can see that the formal sentence is impersonal.
- How does it achieve this? First, the formal sentence uses the passive.
- This makes it possible to avoid using personal pronouns. The other two sentences include the word you, but the formal sentence doesn’t.
- This makes it possible to express the idea without mentioning or blaming a specific person, which can be useful in certain situations.
- The neutral sentence is personal, because it uses you to refer to the listener. However, it’s not very direct, and wouldn’t generally be considered rude, even in a professional
- setting. The informal sentence is very direct.
- If you say this to someone, you’re not hiding what you think! This can be useful if you need to make yourself clear, but it could also sound rude or aggressive.
- It’s not appropriate in all situations. Let’s do one more example.
- Look at three sentences. Can you tell which is formal, which is neutral, and which is informal?
- We won’t be able to do anything until we deal with these issues. We won't be able to get anywhere until you sort this out.
- It may be difficult to make progress until these matters are resolved. Can you tell which is which?
- The first sentence is neutral, the second is informal, and the third sentence is formal. You can see that the formal sentence uses an impersonal structure (with it), rather
- than a personal pronoun (we or you). Again, this is useful if you want to be respectful and indirect, because it isn’t clearly directed
- at one person. The neutral sentence is more personal.
- Can you see the important difference between the neutral and informal sentences? The neutral sentence uses we in both parts, while the informal sentence is more direct:
- ...until you sort this out. The points you’ve seen so far in this lesson are true for both spoken and written English.
- However, there are some features of formality which apply only to written English. Let’s take a look.
- In writing, informal language uses contractions like he'll, it'd, or we're. In informal written English, you can also use abbreviations, like btw for by the way,
- ttyl for talk to you later, etc. In formal writing, you generally wouldn’t use contractions or abbreviations.
- In neutral writing, you can use contractions and some abbreviations. However, some abbreviations, like plz for please, are informal and shouldn’t be used
- if you want to sound neutral. There are also some abbreviations which are possible in formal English.
- For example, HR for Human Resources would be okay in formal language. If you want to write something in formal English, and you aren't sure whether an abbreviation
- is appropriate or not, then it's best to write the full form. Let’s see some examples:
- Just for your information, we would like to schedule another meeting in October. (Formal—there are no contractions or abbreviations)
- Just for your information, we’d like to arrange another meeting in October. (neutral—uses contractions, but no informal abbreviations).
- Just FYI, we'd like to fix up a meeting in Oct. (Informal—with contractions and abbreviations)
- Written language is often held to a higher standard than spoken language, so it’s important to get the tone right.
- In particular, don’t use language which is too informal. If you’re not sure, aim for a neutral tone.
- Let’s look at one more example: Thank you for all the hard work you have done.
- (Formal—there are no contractions or abbreviations) Thank you for the hard work you’ve done.
- (Neutral—uses contractions, but no informal abbreviations). Thx for everything you’ve done.
- (Informal—with contractions and abbreviations) Hopefully, now you have a good understanding of formality in English, and how to use formal,
- neutral and informal English. Don’t forget to check out our website for more free English lessons: Oxford Online English
- dot com. Thanks for watching.
- See you next time!
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