English Writing

Formal and informal speech and writing

Formal speech and writing is sometimes different from informal speech and writing. In English there are certain words and structures which are mostly used in formal situations. There are also certain words and structures for informal situations.

Use of Contraction

Contracted auxiliary verbs and negatives are common in informal speech and writing. They are not normally used in formal situations.

• He has gone. (Formal)
• He's gone. (Informal)
• I am ready. (Formal)
• I'm ready. (Informal)

Use of prepositions

Prepositions can come at the end of certain structures in informal language. This is not possible in formal language.

• Which nation does she belong to? (Informal)
• To which nation does she belong? (Formal)

Use of relative pronouns

In informal speech, the relative pronoun can be dropped when it is the object of the clause.

• The woman who you are talking about is my boss. (Formal)
• The woman you are talking about is my boss. (Informal)
• The movie which I saw yesterday was really nice. (Formal)
• The movie I saw yesterday was really nice. (Informal)

You can usually decide whether a relative pronoun is an object because it is normally followed by another subject + verb.

Use of determiners

Some determiners are followed by singular verbs in formal language and plural verbs in informal language.

• Neither of the answers is correct. (Formal)
• Neither of the answers are correct. (Informal)

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