What is the difference between formal and informal language?

Formal and informal language each serve a different purpose. The choice of words, the
tone and the way that each word is strung together will vary depending on the situation
and the level of formality. Formal language is, for all intents and purposes, far less
personal than informal writing.

This is why it is the appropriate choice for use in professional or academic settings.
Formal language does not make use of contractions, colloquialisms, or first person
pronouns Za Xba a. Z X “I” or “we.”

Informal language, on the other hand, is much more spontaneous and casual. This is
the type of language used when communicating with friends or family members
ZbazNxnand can be used when either writing or speaking.

Informal language is used when writing a personal email, sending a text message and
even in some business communications. (However, if you do not know your audience,
always air on the side of caution and take a more formal approach.) The tone used in
informal language is much more relaxed than it is in formal language.

Here is an example of formal language vs informal language.

Formal:

● They have been arguing all day

● She is very busy
● Many different outcomes were planned for the party
● It is felt that the objective is unreasonable
● The famous soccer team we saw at the bus station went to Toronto
● The receptionist who answered the phone was very rude

Informal

● They’ve been arguing all day

● She’s very busy
● I planned many different outcomes for the party
● We felt the objective was unreasonable
● The famous soccer team we saw at the bus station went to Toronto
● The receptionist who answered the phone was very rude

Informal Writing
 ● Colloquial: Informal writing is similar to conversational English. It might include
slang, figures of speech, etc. Informal writing has a more personal tone, similar to
if you were to speak directly to your audience.
● Simple: Informal writing uses shorter sentence, and some of them might be
incomplete.
● Contractions and Abbreviations: Informal writing consists of words that might
be simplified or contracted.
● Empathy: Informal writing allows for the display of emotion or empathy

Formal Writing

● Complex: Formal writing uses longer sentences that are as through as possible.

Each point is clearly introduced and concluded.
● Objective: Formal writing clearly states the primary point and offers supporting
information. It avoids emotions or emotive punctuations like ellipses and
exclamation points, unless being cited from another source.
● Full words: Formal writing requires full, complete sentences. No words should
be simplified or contracted. Abbreviations are spelled out in full when first read.
● Third Person: Formal writing is not personal – meaning the writer is not
connected to the topic and will not use a first or second person point of view.

Formal:

● Cogitate
● Purchase
● Comestibles
● Penurious
● Abominate
● Emoluments
● Beverage

Informal:

● Think
● Buy
● Food
● Poor
● Hate
● Fee
● A Drink
● The guests were stuck without comestibles and beverage for several hours.
● OR
● The guests were stuck without food and water for several hours.
1. Don’t use contractions
Contractions  (e.g. ‘I’m’, ‘I’d’, ‘It’s’ ) make your writing less formal. Use them in
General Training Task 1 Informal Letter ONLY.

Saying ‘cannot’ instead of ‘can’t’ will make you sound more academic.

2. Don’t use slang

The most common slang word I see is ‘kids’ as a synonym for ‘children’. This
is not academic language.
Even phrases like ‘nowadays’ and ‘In this day and age’ are considered to be
too conversational. It’s better to say ‘Today’ and use the tense to show the
time e.g. ‘More and more people are shopping online’.

Get to know the Academic Word List, which will help you build your formal,
academic vocabulary.

3. Don’t use cliches

Cliches like ‘Every coin has two sides’ are not academic. It’s better to
rephrase them and say exactly what you mean e.g.‘There are two sides to
every argument’.

The same goes for proverbs. It will sound better if you rephrase them in your
own words (Quick TIP – if you google the dictionary definitions of
proverbs, you’ll find the real meanings written in a formal, academic
style)

e.g. ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’

= ‘People should not prejudge the worth or value of something by its outward
appearance alone’.

= ‘A person’s value should not be judged by their appearance’.

or ‘Appearances can be deceptive’ [Fixed expression].

4. Don’t ask a question

The examiner is expecting you to ANSWER the question, not ask one. 

It is better to make a statement like ‘It is doubtful whether this strategy will

succeed’ than to ask a question like ‘But will this work?’.  Questions are more
suitable for magazine-style articles.

5. Don’t use emotional language

Academic language should be objective/neutral and scientific. 
Moderate your language to take out any emotion attached to the word. Try to
think of a legal term, which must be unbiased e.g. instead
of ‘murderer’ or ‘hooligan’ you could say ‘violent criminal’.

● Avoid ‘flowery’ language

Informal adjectives can make your language sound too casual. Avoid all
words like:

amazing, fascinating, wondrous, wonderful, glorious, fantastic, fabulous, cool,

magnificent, shocking, unbelievable, incredible

● Avoid words that express ‘value judgements’

Words like ‘good’ ‘bad’ ‘wrong’ ‘terrible’ and ‘ridiculous’ are emotional and
opinionated.

Replace them with more specific words e.g

bad = dangerous, harmful, shortsighted, problematic, inadequate,

questionable, destructive, wasteful, insufficient 

wrong = unethical, unfair, irresponsible, corrupt, unprincipled, fraudulent,

unscrupulous, dishonest, inappropriate, indecent or improper

6. Do not address the reader as ‘you’

The problem with ‘you’ is that it is too conversational. There are many ways to
avoid using ‘you’.

e.g. ‘If you lose your health, you may lose your job’.

is better written as

‘If people lose their health, they may lose their job.’

or (noun forms)
‘Ill health can lead to redundancy/unemployment’.

7. Avoid using pronouns like ‘I’ or ‘we’

Although IELTS essays are not exactly the same as academic research
papers, it will sound more academic if you can avoid pronouns. 

It is ok to say ‘I believe’ ‘I think’ or ‘I would argue’ once or twice however. An

alternative, in the introduction, is to say ‘This essay will argue that…’.

Focus on the topic, not on yourself. Although the question asks for examples
from your personal experience, it is better to keep this more general.

Instead of saying ‘A colleague/friend/brother experienced this’ (anecdotal

evidence) say ‘Many people experience this’.

8. Avoid making generalisations

Generalisations can weaken your argument because they are too broad and
imprecise.

e.g. ‘Everybody loves music’ ‘Boys prefer science subjects’.

Generalisations are hard to prove. Try to replace them with specific

statements, and use the language of ‘hedging’ (see my lesson – How to
hedge) to be cautious in your statements.

e.g. ‘Many people enjoy listening to music’. ‘Traditionally speaking, boys have

tended to lean towards scientific subjects…’

9. Avoid exaggeration
I found a great example on this website.

“Plastic waste is clogging the oceans, choking the life out of sea-creatures
and threatening to end all ocean-life as we know it!”

It is better to maintain a scientific, objective tone like this:

“According to the Plastic Oceans Foundation, humans have dumped more
than 8 million tons of plastic into ocean water each year for several years in a
row. This plastic waste does not degrade, and clumps together, which creates
large blocks in the ocean that hurt ocean-life.”

10. Don’t invent research articles

The example above was taken from a well-researched website, but in the real
test you do not have such access to research articles. So don’t pretend that
you just read one.

And don’t make up facts or statistics in order to prove your point.

Instead, use more general expressions related to research e.g. ‘Research has

shown that…’ ‘Evidence suggests that…’

11. Keep it simple

In an attempt to sound formal, many candidates use overly-formal words and
expressions which can sound unnatural. 

Compare these two sentences from the same blog as above.

Which one is better do you think?

‘The staggering volume of synthetic organic compounds accumulating in large

bodies of saline water has engendered a colossal moral quandary for
behemoth manufacturers’.

‘The large volume of plastic waste that has accumulated in the Earth’s oceans
has created a moral question for companies that produce large amounts of
plastic materials’.

Yes, it’s the second one, which is much simpler and easier to read.

12. Avoid short forms/abbreviations

It’s ok to use well-known short forms like ‘the BBC’ or ‘NATO’ but it’s better to
use full forms with shortened words like ‘satnavs’ (‘satellite navigation
systems’) 

Don’t write ‘e.g.’. Write ‘for instance’ or ‘for example’ or ‘as an illustration’.

Don’t use vague language like ‘etc’ or ‘and so on’ – this is considered lazy.

Just give one or two concrete examples that illustrate your point. 

The same goes for words like ‘thing’ – choose a more precise summarising
noun like ‘factor’ or ‘element’.

13. Avoid INFORMAL phrasal verbs

On the whole, phrasal verbs tend to be used in less formal writing, and when
you have a choice between the two, always use the full verb in formal writing.

However, not all phrasal verbs are informal, and there are many that are used
frequently in academic writing. See this article for more information:

Phrasal Verbs in formal writing

14. Avoid sterotypes and ‘sexist’ language

People unintentionally use what might be perceived as sexist language when
they say ‘he’ or ‘him’ or ‘his’ when referring to nouns meant to include both
sexes.

A simple way around this is to use a plural e.g. ‘people’ or ‘they’.

Instead of writing:

‘A footballer/doctor has worked hard for his high salary’.

write

‘Footballers/doctors have worked hard for their high salaries’.

15. Avoid reference to personal religious beliefs
I recently marked a paper about whether parents should limit screen time. The
paper started:

‘Children are a blessing from God above’.

Apart from the fact that the statement is not relevant to the question, ‘it is not
appropriate to use religious beliefs as justification for a point that requires
LOGICAL REASONING.’ (see this video by David Hennessy)

16. Avoid colloquial idioms

Although I would normally say no to idioms in formal writing e.g ‘It’s a piece of
cake’,  certain idomatic language is acceptable e.g. ‘On the other hand’ is an
idiom that we often use in IELTS Essays.

It is usually possible to rephrase idioms/proverbs/cliches in more formal,

academic ways (see #3)

e.g. ‘The sky’s the limit’

= ‘The possibilities are endless’

= ‘There is no limit to what can be achieved’.

You can find a list of ‘academic idoms’ here (though the authors say these
are mostly used in spoken academic English).

17. Use the Passive

The Passive Voice will always make your writing more formal.
 
e.g. ‘They show too much violence on TV’.
 
= ‘Too much violence is shown on TV’.
 

18. Use nominalisation (noun forms) where possible

Look again at Point #6.

‘If people lose their health, they may lose their job.’

‘Ill health can lead to redundancy/unemployment‘.

Notice the difference between the verb forms ‘lose your

job’ and ‘redundancy/unemployment’.

Nouns and adjectives are more formal than verbs and adverbs.

19. Use the language of HEDGING

This is really important for being cautious with your facts/opinions.

Hedging uses techniques to ‘soften’ your language to make it more factual

and precise, and less general.

e.g.

‘Text messaging ruins children’s education’ [Too strong, too emotional, too

absolute, too general, not true?]

‘There is some evidence to suggest that text messaging can have a negative

effect on a child’s early literacy skills’.

20. Formatting
The main thing to remember here is to use a clear 4 or 5 paragraph structure.

● Don’t use bullet points or numbering.