This document discusses different levels of formality in writing, including colloquial, informal, semi-formal, and formal language. It explains that the level of formality used should depend on the audience and purpose. Colloquial language is appropriate for everyday speech but not for academic, business, or legal writing. Informal language uses complete sentences but allows contractions and some sentence fragments. Semi-formal and formal language avoid contractions and first person pronouns. Formal language carefully uses specialized vocabulary and is used for academic, business, and government writing.

1. Levels of Formality in Writing
A PUSH Writing Module
Created by Dr. Thomas Cassidy
In association with Dr. Angela Shaw-Thornburg
And the PUSH Writing faculty and staff.
tcassidy@scsu.edu
@DrTCassidy

2. The goal of this module
Is to help you understand and master the
differences between different levels of formal or
informal diction that are appropriate and
inappropriate for different circumstances.

3. Who is your audience?
What is your purpose?
• Most people don’t speak to their classmates
the way they speak to their grandparents;

4. Who is your audience?
What is your purpose?
• Most people don’t speak to their classmates
the way they speak to their grandparents;
• they don’t speak to our grandparents the way
they write for their teachers;

5. Who is your audience?
What is your purpose?
• Most people don’t speak to their classmates
the way they speak to their grandparents;
• they don’t speak to our grandparents the way
they write for their teachers;
• and they may not write for their teachers the
way they would write a letter applying for a
scholarship.

6. The difference in the way you use language in
each of those scenarios is part of what is meant
by levels of formality.

7. Think and Respond.
• How might you ask the question, “How are
you today?” in the following situations:
– Speaking to a possible employer?
– Writing on a friend’s Facebook page?

8. Think and Respond.
• How might you ask the question, “How are
you today?” in the following situations:
– When a classmate calls you on a cellphone
seven minutes before class?
– Talking to a relative you haven’t seen since
your HS Graduation?

9. Levels of Formality
•For the most part, levels of formality can be
understood through different levels:
– colloquial,
– informal,
– semi-formal, and
– formal.
•Language that would be completely acceptable in
one context can be inappropriate in another.

10. Is it appropriate?
• It is important to understand
 your audience and
 your goals,
and to use language consistent with each.

11. Colloquial Language
Colloquial language is the language of everyday
speech. It changes rapidly, and most people
master several forms of colloquial language for
different situations.
Text messaging, personal emails, and the
language of social networking sites all use various
written forms of colloquial writing.

12. Colloquial Language
And as you already know...

13. ...colloquial language...
• ...is SELDOM appropriate for
– Academic
– Business, or
– Legal writing.

14. ...colloquial language...
• ...is SELDOM appropriate for
– Academic
– Business, or
– Legal writing.
• If you are quoting someone directly, it can be
appropriate, but be thoughtful not to disrupt
your overall tone.

15. Tweeting and Texting...
• ...have created new and interesting forms of
written colloquial language. Consider the
following tweet:

16. Tweeting and Texting...
#YouGetMajorPointsIf U dont tweet how gr8 u are..stay
humble, never 4get ur roots, the people who helped u,
stay loyal and never lie!

17. Tweeting and Texting...
• ...have created new and interesting forms of
written colloquial language. Consider the
following tweet:
#YouGetMajorPointsIf U dont tweet how gr8 u are..stay
humble, never 4get ur roots, the people who helped u,
stay loyal and never lie!
• Ten years ago, this would have been
gibberish!

18. Think and Respond
• Using texting/tweeting shorthand, compose
tweets explaining why college students
should:
#RegisterToVote.
#Recycle.

19. Think and Respond
• Using texting/tweeting shorthand, compose
tweets explaining why college students
should:
#RegisterToVote.
#Recycle.
(If you have a twitter account, go ahead and tweet
these!)

20. Informal Language
• Informal language tries to capture some of the
flow of everyday speech.
• It broadly adheres to the rules of standard
written English, but imprecise word choice
and contractions are acceptable, so long as
the meaning is clear
• It generally uses complete sentences, but
some use of sentence fragments is common.
For emphasis.

21. Informal Language (continued)
• Informal writing is meant for a broad
audience; the purpose is usually to express a
personal idea; most online blogging and
personal essays use informal writing.
• Contractions are acceptable.
• Some use of the first and second person (“I,”
“you”) is acceptable.

22. Semi-Formal Language
• Semi-formal language is the writing of
magazines like The Smithsonian or websites
like The Daily Beast that are aimed at a
general but thoughtful audience.
• Complete sentences are used.

23. Semi-Formal Language
• Semi-formal language is the writing of
magazines like The Smithsonian or websites
like The Daily Beast that are aimed at a
general but thoughtful audience.
• Complete sentences are used.
• Contractions are written out (“can not” “did
not,” etc.”).
• Limited use of first and second person for
specific rhetorical effect is common.

24. Formal Language
• Formal language is used in business,
academic, and government writing.
• It is written for an audience who already
knows something about the topic.
• It makes careful use of a specialized
vocabulary. (This can make formal writing
challenging to write and to read.)

25. Formal Language
• Formal language is used in business,
academic, and government writing.
• It is written for an audience who already
knows something about the topic.
• It makes careful use of a specialized
vocabulary. (This can make formal writing
challenging to write and to read.)
• Contractions are written out.
• First person writing is avoided.

26. Let Us Review!

27. For the following scenarios, indicate
which level of diction –colloquial,
informal, semi-formal, or formal–you
would be likely to use.
Click ahead after you have made your
selection to get feedback.

28. You text a friend to say you’ll be
hanging out at the mall this
afternoon.
Colloquial
Informal
Semi-formal
Formal

29. You text a friend to say you’ll be
hanging out at the mall this
afternoon.
Colloquial
[right]
Informal
[probably not; text messages tend to be very colloquial]
Semi-formal
[probably not; “hanging out” is too informal]
Formal
[“hanging out” is not formal language]

30. You apply for a job at a large bank
where your uncle is a director of
personnel.
Colloquial
Informal
Semi-formal
Formal

31. You apply for a job at a large bank
where your uncle is a director of
personnel.
Colloquial
[absolutely not!]
Informal
[To apply for a job at a bank? Poor idea!]
Semi-formal
[Do not be fooled by the fact that it is your uncle who might be
hiring you, or that you’ll have to write about yourself in the first person;
this would be too informal]
Formal
[Correct. You want to be formal and precise in your application.]

32. You write a personal essay about your decision
to start smoking when you were thirteen and
to stop when you were sixteen.
Colloquial
Informal
Semi-formal
Formal

33. You write a personal essay about your decision
to start smoking when you were thirteen and
to stop when you were sixteen.
Colloquial
[While an essay like this might have colloquial elements, it would
be best to confine them to quotations.]
Informal
[Informal would work; however, for a classroom assignment, too
much informality might not be a good idea.]
Semi-formal
[Semi-formal might work, but in a personal essay, even a semi-
formal tone can sound wooden.]
Formal
[In a personal essay, a formal tone usually sounds wooden or
detached.]

34. For the following 6 slides, Identify the
levels of formality as informal, semi-
formal, or formal
Click ahead after you have made your
selection to get feedback.

35. She was sort of mad because she
couldn't find her car keys and
didn't have a whole lot of time to
get to her class.
Informal
Semi-formal
Formal

36. She was sort of mad because she
couldn't find her car keys and
didn't have a whole lot of time to
get to her class.
Informal
[Correct]
Semi-formal
[Incorrect; notice the contractions, and the vague terms--”sort of,
“whole lot”.]
Formal
[Incorrect.]

37. She was upset because she could
not find her car keys and did not
have the time to look before class.
Informal
Semi-formal
Formal

38. She was upset because she could
not find her car keys and did not
have the time to look before class.
Informal
[Incorrect]
Semi-formal
[Correct.]
Formal
[Incorrect.]

39. Unable to locate her car keys and lacking
sufficient time to both search for them and
to travel to class, she became agitated.
Informal
Semi-formal
Formal

40. Unable to locate her car keys and lacking
sufficient time to both search for them and
to travel to class, she became agitated.
Informal
[Try again]
Semi-formal
[Try again.]
Formal
[Correct; while not all formal writing is like this, the attempt to be
precise about details an informal sentence would leave to the reader is
characteristic of formal writing.]

41. Private sexual morality between
consenting adults is not an issue for legal
intervention, except for rare instances that
entail issues of public health, such as an
epidemic that needs to be contained.
Informal
Semi-formal
Formal

42. Private sexual morality between
consenting adults is not an issue for legal
intervention, except for rare instances that
entail issues of public health, such as an
epidemic that needs to be contained.
Informal
[Incorrect, but you knew that didn't you?]
Semi-formal
[Incorrect; there is nothing “semi” about this formality.]
Formal
[ Correct.]

43. The causes of the civil war depend
in large part upon the point of
view of who is talking.
Informal
Semi-formal
Formal

44. The causes of the civil war depend
in large part upon the point of
view of who is talking.
Informal
[Try again]
Semi-formal
[Correct.]
Formal
[Incorrect.]

45. If you buy that garbage about how
teens don't know the difference
between a text message and a history
paper, you should read more.
Informal
Semi-formal
Formal

46. If you buy that garbage about how
teens don't know the difference
between a text message and a history
paper, you should read more.
Informal
[Correct]
Semi-formal
[Incorrect; notice the contractions, the use of “you,” and the
phrase “buy that garbage about.”]
Formal
[Incorrect.]

47. The following sentence was intended to
be written in a formal level of discourse.
If the underlined passage seems
consistent with this, hit C. If not, indicate
the passage which would best complete
this sentence.
Click ahead after your selection to get
feedback.

48. The continued increase in the
atmospheric concentration of carbon
dioxide due to manmade carbon dioxide
emissions is predicted to lead to
significant changes in climate, and there's
nothing to do about it but stop polluting.
A. which can be alleviated through a long term effort of emission
reduction.
B. and the best approach to solving this problem would be to burn
less stuff.
C. No change.

49. The continued increase in the
atmospheric concentration of carbon
dioxide due to manmade carbon dioxide
emissions is predicted to lead to
significant changes in climate, and there's
nothing to do about it but stop polluting.
A. which can be alleviated through a long term effort of emission
reduction.
[Correct]
B. and the best approach to solving this problem would be to burn
less stuff.
[Too informal!]
C. No change.
[Try again]

50. The following sentence was intended to
be written in a semi-formal level of
discourse. If the underlined passage
seems consistent with this, hit C. If not,
indicate the passage which would best
complete this sentence.
Click ahead after your selection to get
feedback.

51. The guest lecturer offered the class a
lengthy explanation for the recent
changes in the stock market, but it was
sort of clear from the questions
afterwards that most of us just didn't get
it.
A. but it was evident from the interlocution which followed that
comprehension had not been transmitted.
B. but it was clear from the questions afterwards that most of the
class did not understand.
C. No change.

52. The guest lecturer offered the class a
lengthy explanation for the recent
changes in the stock market, but it was
sort of clear from the questions
afterwards that most of us just didn't get
it.
A. but it was evident from the interlocution which followed that
comprehension had not been transmitted.
[Incorrect]
B. but it was clear from the questions afterwards that most of the
class did not understand.
[Correct!]
C. No change.
[Try again]

53. The following sentence was intended to
be written in a formal level of discourse.
If the underlined passage seems
consistent with this, hit C. If not, indicate
the passage which would best complete
this sentence.
Click ahead after you have made your
selection to get feedback.

54. To eliminate sexual harassment in the
work place, companies should develop
defined guidelines that help employees
recognize actions to avoid.
A. help you try to figure out what to do and not do .
B. tell people like me what it is okay to do.
C. No change.

55. To eliminate sexual harassment in the
work place, companies should develop
defined guidelines that help employees
recognize actions to avoid.
A. help you try to figure out what to do and not do .
[Incorrect]
B. tell people like me what it is okay to do.
[Incorrect]
C. No change.
[Correct!] :-)

56. Look Back at Your Tweets…
…about registering to vote and recycling.
Imagine that you are writing essays for the
student newspaper supporting those ideas.
What level of formality would such essays
use?
Go ahead and rewrite each of those tweets
in the level of formality you think is appropriate.

57. Open Discussion
College instructors often exchange tales of
receiving emails from students like the
following:

58. Open Discussion
Dr. C.: This is malik. About my grade. I can't be
getting no c's, d's, or f's. Hope this is cool. M.

59. Open Discussion
Dr. C.: This is malik. About my grade. I can't be getting
no c's, d's, or f's. Hope this is cool. M.
What level of formality is this hypothetical
student using? Is it appropriate? Why or why
not?

60. In Closing…
As you can see, level of formality is not so much
a question of right or wrong, but appropriate
and inappropriate. Even within the four major
categories (colloquial, informal, semi-formal,
formal), there is much room differentiation. In
most college writing situations, you will be
working in the semi-formal to formal range,
depending upon the assignment, the task, and
the instructor.

61. Don’t Forget!
Go to http://bit.ly/QyUNqE to evaluate this
module.