Using Formal and Informal Language Appropriately

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.
• What determines formal or informal:
• public versus private occasion,
• The size of the audience,
• The relationship of the speaker/writer with the audience,
• The ability to vary your language according to the situation is often considered a mark of an educated person.

Certain Situations

• Formal Situations
• job interview
• principal’s office visit
• business letter
• class essay

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

What makes INFORMAL language?

• Simple grammatical structure
• Personal evaluation
• Using first person
• Using forms of “you”
• Colloquial or slang vocabulary
• Contractions are considered slang