Formal Writing

1. Avoid 1st person or 2nd person personal pronouns

 Subjects such as “I” and “You”

 Objects such as “me” and “you”
 Use “It is…” structure
 Use “one” to replace with “I” and “you”

 You can clearly see the results.

 One can clearly see the results.
 The results can clearly be seen.

 In the following essay, I will briefly look …

 I will  The following essay will …

2. Avoid contractions
 isn’t , don't , can't, won't, would’ve, etc.

 Export figures won’t improve until the economy is stronger.

 Export figures will not improve until the economy is stronger.

3. Avoid informal words

informal Example Alternative

A bit The interviews were a The interviews were (difficult/s___________
bit difficult to schedule difficult) to schedule
A lot of, a A lot of studies (M________/s____________/a g__________
couple of number of/eight) studies
Kind of, sort The findings were kind The findings were (s_____________
of of significant significant/significant to some degree)
Til, till From 2008 till 2012 From 2008 (u__________/t____)  2012

Too simple Example Alternative

Bad A bad result A (p______/n____________) result
Big A big sample A (l__________/s___________) sample
Get This model gets attention This model (r__________) attention
Give This chapter gives an This chapter (p___________/p__________/
overview o__________) an overview
Good A good example A (u_________/p__________) example
Show The below figure shows The below figure (i____________
/d_______________/r_________)
4. Avoid colloquial expressions

Colloquial Expression Formal Alternative

get through it survive, penetrate
part and parcel intrinsic to
easier said than done more difficult in practice
beyond a shadow of doubt definitely
in recent years recently
pay lip service to support through words but not
through actions
got out of hand was no longer under control
explored every avenue investigated alternatives

 People show a lot of interest in how background sounds affect an individual’s ability
to concentrate.
 People show considerable interest in how background sounds affect an individual’s
ability to concentrate.

 Retirement is something most of us must face sooner or later.

 Retirement is inevitable.

5. Avoid direct/rhetorical questions

- What are the causes of stress? This report examines the causes of stress.

- What is a team? A team can be one person but will usually end up including many
more.  A team can include one person but usually involves many more.

- This analysis above concludes the problems of drug abuse. Now, what about the
solutions?  The next section provides solutions to tackle drug abuse.

- Industrial sites cause vast amounts of environmental pollution, so why do we still

use them?  The question surrounding the continued use of industrial sites, given
their vast pollution production, still remains.

- The question is, however, does the "Design School Model" provide a practical
solution to the problem of how to formulate strategy?  It is questionable whether
the "Design School Model" provides a practical solution to the problem of strategy
formulation.

6. Avoid run-on expression

 These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD players and so on / etc.
 These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD players and other electronic
devices.

7. Be objective
 - wrong  inappropriate / questionable
- ridiculous  unreasonable / irrational
- weak  fragile / vulnerable
- error / mistake  room for improvement
- Always  frequently/commonly/ typically
- Perfect  ideal
- Superlatives (i.e. biggest)  one of the biggest
- Obviously, of course  X
- (intensifiers) (i.e. very)  X

8. hedging/ show tentativeness

In formal writing, hedging is commonly used for reducing the level of certainty in return for a
higher level of your readers’ acceptance. A common practice is the use of “modal verbs”
such as “may”, “will” and “had better”. Compare:

 The government induced an improper plan.

 The government might have induced an improper plan.

the writer) - suggest, hint, believe, assume, tend to

Full modal verbs
semi-modal verbs /
multiword compounds
Adverbs (including frequency
adverbs / adverbial phrases)
Adjectives /
prepositional phrases
Quantifiers /
quantifying phrases
- may, might, could, can, etc.
- ought to, have to, dare to
- seem, appear
- be able to, be unable to, be likely to, be unlikely to
- possibly, probably, approximately, presumably
- sometimes, seldom, always, often
- reasonable, possible, probable, likely
- in all likelihood, to some extent / to a certain extent, with
caution
- some, a few, many, the majority of