Formal Language in Writing

Formal or informal? >> The tone is polite, but impersonal

• formal

• informal

Formal or informal? >> Found most often in personal e-mail and in some business correspondence, nonfiction books of general interest, and mass-circulation magazines

• formal

• informal

Formal or informal? >> The tone is personal

• formal

• informal

Formal or informal? >> Avoids using contractions and slang

• formal

• informal

Formal or informal? >> Freely uses first and second person pronouns (I, me, my, we, you, yours, our, ours, us)

• formal

• informal

Formal or informal? >> Avoids using abbreviations

• formal

• informal

Formal or informal? >> Maintains a serious tone

• formal

• informal

Formal or informal? >> May use humor or more casual tone

• formal

• informal

Formal or informal? >> Avoids using first and second person pronouns (I, me, my, we, us, our, ours, you, yours). Often uses “one” or “the reader” instead.

• formal

• informal

Which sentence is an example of formal writing?

• The cell phone policies that are in place right now clearly are not beneficial for many; now is the time schools made a change and stopped fighting against cell phones and started taking advantage of them.

• The cell phone policies that are in place right now clearly aren't beneficial for many; don't you think it's time schools made a change and stopped fighting against cell phones and started taking advantage of them?