Formal and informal language

Have you ever been invited to a party and felt unsure about what to wear? Turning up in a ball gown or a tuxedo when everyone else is in relaxed outfits could be wrong and would make you stick out. Using the wrong level of formality in your language can lead to the same thing.

Do you sometimes feel like you stumble while trying to speak another language? Maybe you don’t know all of the words you need, a sudden rush of adrenaline might make your mind go blank, or you could end up offending the person you’re speaking to by accidentally using the wrong words.

Understanding the difference between formal and informal language, and being able to know when to use them, can result in greater success in your social, academic, and professional life.

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Frustrert dame som står foran klesskapet og er usikker på hva hun skal ha på seg av klær
Frustrert dame som står foran klesskapet og er usikker på hva hun skal ha på seg av klær

Formal or informal language?

Formal and informal language is also called register. Formal means serious or very polite, while informal means relaxed and friendly. How can you decide if you should use formal or informal language?

Consider your audience!

To help to understand this, compare the following. Imagine sitting in the park and eating a sandwich with your best friend one afternoon. Now compare that to going to a fundraising dinner for a school or a charitable organization with your parents.

In the park, you would most likely feel very relaxed and not worry about what you say and how you say it. Your language would also likely include slang, abbreviations, contractions, and hidden meanings that only the two of you could understand.

At the fundraiser you would probably feel a bit more on edge, especially if there are a lot of people you don’t know very well around you. This would make you more likely to think extra of what you say and do.

As you can see, the language you choose will always be affected by the context and the people around you.

In which situations do you think it would be unfit to use informal language?

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Basic differences between formal
and informal language

English is a bit different when it comes to informal and formal vocabulary and structure, compared to many other languages. In French and Norwegian, for example, it is possible to make the switch to a formal register when speaking by changing from the informal to the formal pronoun for “you”.

This doesn’t work in English because there aren’t different pronouns for “you”. Instead, English speakers have to use certain verbs and change sentence structure to show the change. Also, there are some other aspects that need to be met in formal academic writing.

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Bokstav magneter som staver ordet you
Bokstav magneter som staver ordet you

Modal auxiliary verbs

Modal auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs. They are used to change the meaning of the main verb in a sentence a bit.

The verb that is chosen will be affected by the speaker’s meaning of the situation. Some of the different types of signals modal verbs can show are asking permission, being polite, expressing possibilities/plans, giving advice, and stating a requirement.

You might even know and have used the following helping verbs quite often:

can — could — going to — have to — may — might — must — should — would
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Fokus av hånden til en lærer som skriver opp modal auxiliary verbs eksempler på en whiteboard tavle
Fokus av hånden til en lærer som skriver opp modal auxiliary verbs eksempler på en whiteboard tavle
Modal verbs overview

When used in a sentence, modal auxiliary verbs are placed in front of the main verb in simple present tense. For simple present questions, the modal verb will start the question followed by the subject (noun/pronoun) and the main verb.

If you look at the following examples, you will see that the sentence and question structure for simple present modal verb structure is similar to that used for simple present yes/no questions (helping verbs DO/BE).

MODAL VERB

  • He would like to go to the game.
  • Would he like to go to the game?

SIMPLE PRESENT  – YES/NO

  • She plays volleyball.
  • Does she play volleyball?
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Ordet Sentence Structure stavet ved hjelp av treklosser med bokstaver på
Ordet Sentence Structure stavet ved hjelp av treklosser med bokstaver på

Mechanics

Mechanics is a term that refers to the rules and how we usually write the written language. It covers spelling, capitalization, sentence structure, and more. Two points to watch out for under the category mechanics, especially in formal writing, are contractions and the verb get.

Fokus på hånd som holder en blyant og skriver i en skrivebok
Fokus på hånd som holder en blyant og skriver i en skrivebok

Contractions

It is important that you don’t use contractions in formal writing. A contraction is a shorter form of a group of words such as I’m (I am) and you’re (you are). Not using contractions means fully writing out the words do not instead of don’t, cannot instead of can’t, and so on.

Fokusert, ung kvinne som leser og skriver ved en pult
Fokusert, ung kvinne som leser og skriver ved en pult

Get

Get is a very practical verb in English and can be used instead of many others informally. While get is somewhat accepted in formal speaking contexts, it is not good to use in formal writing.

Therefore, it is always better to use the verb you mean instead of get whenever possible, especially for writing assignments. Some examples of verbs that you can use instead of get or an expression with get are:

arrive — become — bring — catch — have — make — receive — start — understand
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Time to put your skills to the test!

Your communication skills will improve a lot once you have learned to tell apart the proper register for any situation.

The best way to improve your language skills is to put them into practice! Consider your audience and give both formal and informal language a try.

En gruppe studenter som sitter i en trapp inne på skolen og snakker
En gruppe studenter som sitter i en trapp inne på skolen og snakker

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