Write effectively

134135One of the most important areas to master in terms of register is the difference between formal and informal English. Of course, there are many degrees of formality, and most written English (including news-papers, magazines and novels) is situated somewhere between the two extremes. The answer to the question “How formal or informal should I be when I write my papers?” depends on several factors: who your readers are. The mode/audience of your writing will restrict or otherwise influence the possible range of expression. For example, in a formal essay or scientific report the intrusion of your personality would be out of place; conversely, a letter to a friend would seem oddly distant without indications of the writer’s personality; how personal or impersonal you want to be. Do you want to meet your readers as an intimate friend, or a distant acquain-tance, or as a colleague, or as an advisor or superior who expects to be treated with respect and obedience? Which approach will best accomplish your purpose? whether the subject dictates or restricts your attitude toward it. If so, in what ways? For instance, it would seem pompous to treat the death of a rat in a trap with the same dignity you’d ac-cord to a discussion of military heroism under fire; how lightly or seriously you want to treat the subject. For in-stance, you could treat an event from your childhood analyti-cally, or with nostalgic humor, or even with weighty symbolism. Which way will best accomplish your purpose?As each level of formality has a set of particular language means, the chosen level of formality will govern the choice of voice, tone, vo-cabulary and sentence structure in your paper. Now read the abstract from the textbook “Strategic Writing” by Lynn Z. Bloom on how lan-guage means contribute to the level of formality and summarize the differences among the levels of language in the table below. This knowledge will help you to construct the level of language you wish for any given ...