Part two Formal Language and Informal Language文档格式.docx

Part two Formal Language and Informal Language文档格式.docx

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EnglishisoftenspokeninformallyespeciallyintheStates,Canada,andAustralia.Informallanguageisallrightforfriends,co-workers,hostfamily,orservicestaff（atarestaurantforexample）.Informallanguagehaslessstrictgrammarrulesandoftenhasshortenedsentences.Forexample,

Y’wannagotothedancetonight?

NOTDoyouwanttogotothedancetonight?

IdunnoNOTIdon’tknow.

Ican’tspeakEnglish. 

NOTIcannotspeakEnglish.

Vocabularyisoftendifferentaswell.

Thatsucks.（informal）

Thatistoobad.（formal）

That’slegit/sweet/awesome.（informal）

Thatisgreat.（formal）

2.3Hintsforchoosingmoreformalwords

Inacademicwritingyoushouldaimtobesuccinct,thus:

1.Whenpickingaword,choosethemostrelevantandspecificoneforthepointyouwishtomake;

forexample:

（matchthecolorsacrosstheexamplestoseethealternativewords）

Informal

Formal

Lotsofjoblossisjustonethingresultingfromautomation.

Widespreadunemploymentisoneconsequenceofautomation.

Thecommonowlisactiveatnight.

Thecommonowlisnocturnal.

2.Alsotrytousethemostformalwayofexpressingyourpoint（thismaymeanyouuseamoretechnicalword）;

jobloss

unemployment

T.V.

television

workers

employees

thesameas

equivalent

HINT:

althoughyouaimtousemoreformalwordsinacademicwriting,youshouldnotaimtoobscureyourmeaningbehindalotofimpressivewords.Ultimatelyyoushouldtrytoachievesuccinct,clearprose.

2a.Avoidusingphrasalverbssuchas'

getup'

'

putinto'

findout'

thatareoftenusedinspokenEnglish.Replacetheseverbswithmoreformalsingleverbssuchas'

rise'

contribute'

and'

discover'

;

Researcherslookedatthewaystrainbuildsuproundageologicalfault.

Researchersexaminedthewaystrainintensifiesaroundageologicalfault.

Technologycompaniesgottogetherwithstockbrokingfirmsinordertodominateinternettrading.

Technologycompaniesmergedwithstockbrokingfirmsinordertodominateinternettrading.

3.Makesurethedescriptionyouprovideisasspecificaspossible.

Lookatthecolorcodedwordsandphrasestoseethedifferencesinwordchoiceinthefollowingexamples.Theexactnessofthedescriptionhasbeenincreasedbyincludingmorespecificadjective（fiscal）aswellasadditionaldescriptivewords（highlighted）;

Thegovernmenthasmadeprogressineconomicpolicy.

TheAustralianGovernmenthasmadeconsiderableprogressinimplementingfiscalpolicynationwide.

（1）.Aspecificdescriptionmeansyoualsoneedtoavoidusingunsophisticatedadjectivessuchas'

good'

bad'

big'

little'

Oneofthebadaspectsofchemotherapyisthesideeffects.

Oneofthenegativeaspectsofmulti-drugchemotherapyistheuncomfortableside-effects.

（2）.Alsoavoidusingadverbssuchas'

really'

very'

just'

Informal/Spoken

Itcausedareallybigreaction.

Itcausedaconsiderablereaction.

Itcausedadramaticreaction.

Itcausedanexplosivereaction.

Noticethatinthepreviousthreeexamples,amorecomprehensivedescriptionhasbeenachievedbecauseunsophisticatedandnon-specificwordshavebeenreplacedwithmoreformaldescriptivewords.

2.4FormalandInformalWords

Differentwordsandexpressionsareappropriatefordifferentoccasions.Justasyouwouldnotwearcut-offstoawedding,youwouldnotdescribealiteraryfigureas"

thepits"

inapaper;

todothiswouldbeinappropriatelyinformal.

Ifyouareunsureoftheaudienceandpurposeofyourwriting,maintainagenerallevelofusage.Ifyouknowtheaudienceandpurpose,thenadaptyourusagetothecontext.Keepinmind,however,thatwordsthatareeithertooformalortoocasualtendtodrawattentiontothemselvesandthusshouldservesomeconstructivepurposewhenused.

Ifyouarewritingaletterofapplication,youmightendbyusingwordssuchasthefollowing:

Ifyouhaveanyquestions,pleasedonothesitatetocall.

Youwouldnotwriteasentencesuchasthisone:

Itwouldbecoolifyou'

dgivemeabuzz.

Similarly,inahistorypaper,thefollowingwouldbeinappropriate:

GeneralLeewasaregularkindofguy.

Instead,youmightwritethis:

∙GeneralLeewasanunassumingkindofleader,onewhomixedeasilywithhistroops.

Thewordsregularkindofguyaretoocasualforthepurposeofthisassignment;

Thewordsunassumingkindofleaderstatethesameideainmoreappropriatewords.

Considerthecircumstancesinwhichyoumightuseeachofthefollowingwordsorphrases:

FORMAL

INFORMAL

celebration

party

momentous

important

deceased

dead

position

job

wishto

wouldliketo

onerous

difficult

beneficent

generous

misfortune

badluck

Useappropriatepunctuation.Forexample,AmericanEnglishemploysacoloninaformalletterasin“DearJohn:

”butBritishEnglishemploysacomma.Limitparentheses,exclamationpoints,anddashes（prefercolons）informalwriting.Avoidtheampersand（&

）;

writeouttheword“and.”Punctuateyourwritingasyougoalongtoreduceyourriskofleavingoutpunctuation.

Avoidcommoncolloquialwordsandexpressions（colloquialisms）,suchas"

cute"

（use"

adorable"

）,"

yeah,"

"

how-do-you-do,"

and"

movie"

film"

）,aslistedbeloworlabeledassuchinyourdictionary.

）,aslistedbeloworlabeledassuchinyourdictionary.Thisincludesslangsuchas"

cool,"

dude,"

humongous."

Twogoodphrasestodeleteare"

youknow"

and“youmightbethinking.”Youdonothavethepowertoknowyourreaders’thoughtswhiletheyreadyourpaper.Anotheremptysentenceis“Thinkaboutit.”Assumethatyourreadersarealreadythinkingaboutwhattheyarereading,andstateyourpointmoreclearly.Theadverb“pretty,”meaning“relatively,"

fairly,"

or"

quite,”isunacceptableinallformalwritingandisoftenunnecessary.

Donotusecontractions.Notethatthefullformof"

can'

t"

isoneword:

cannot,"

not"

cannot."

Trytoavoidthefirstandsecondperson.Formalwritingoftentriestobeobjective,andthepronouns"

I"

you"

tendtoimplysubjectivity.Phrasessuchas"

Ithinkthat"

canbedeletedfromasentencewhenitisobviousthatthisistheauthor’sopinion.Usingthepronoun"

isalmostalwaysacceptableinpersonalwriting,andthepronoun"

isalmostalwaysacceptableinlettersandhow-to’s.Inthemostformalwriting,thepronoun“I”isreplacedbythepronoun“we”;

thisisknownastheroyalweortheeditorialwe.Formalwritinggenerallyavoidsthepronoun“you”whenitreferstopeopleingeneral.

Youshouldsleepeighthourseachnight.（informal）

Oneshouldsleepeighthourseachnight.（formal）

Mostpeopleshouldsleepatleasteighthourseachnight.（formalusageallowingforexceptions）

Donothesitatetosplitaninfinitivewhenitiswarranted.Splitinfinitivesarecommoninlegalwriting,animportanttypeofformalEnglish.Infact,thesplitinfinitiveisencounteredinthemostformalofwriting.Splitinfinitivescanbeusedeveninveryformalwritingthatavoidstheactivevoice.Infinitives,alongwithgerunds,contributetoanactivewritingstyleandshowactionbutarenotactuallyintheactivevoice.Voiceisapropertyofclauses,andinfinitivesandgerundsformphrases.Splitinfinitivesaregrammaticallycorrect.Thesplit-infinitiveruleisbasedonLatin,butsplitinfinitivesactuallymakewritingmorelikeLatin,notlessso.TheRomanstendedtoplaceadverbsrightnexttoverbs,andadverbsusuallyprecededverbs.Informalwriting,adverbsalsotendtoprecedeverbsratherthanfollowthem.InLatin,CaptainKirkwouldhavesaid“audacterire”（translatedas“boldlytogo”or“toboldlygo”）.Oxforddictionarysaysthat“boldlytogo”ismoreformalthan“togoboldly”;

thatismostlikelybecauseoftheLatinwordorder.Theeffectivenessofthesplitinfinitivearisesfromthefactthat“to”andtheverbarelikeasingleunit.Afterall,“togo”wouldbetranslatedintoLatinasthesingleword“ire.”Foremphasis,anartistplacesalargepicturebetweentwosmallerpictures;

inthesameway,anadverbbecomesemphaticwhenplacedbetween"

to"

andtheverb.

Donotbeafraidtoseparatetheauxiliary（helping）verbandthemainverb.

Knowwhentoendasentencewithapreposition（eveninthemostformalofEnglish）.

Alwaysincludetherelativepronoun.InformalEnglish,youshouldbesuretoalwaysinclude"

whom"

which"

evenwhentheyarenotessentialtoyourmeaning.Therel