Formal and Informal English

English changes depending on where you are and who you are talking to.

Formal English is the careful kind. People use it at school, at work, and when they write letters or emails to someone they do not know well. It follows the grammar rules and uses polite, precise words.

Informal English is the relaxed kind. People use it with friends and family, when they chat, text, or play. It uses short, friendly words and phrases.

Neither kind is wrong. They are just right for different times. Writing "Dear Sir or Madam" in a letter to the headteacher shows respect. Saying "Hey, guess what!" to a friend shows you are close.

Good speakers and writers look at the situation first. Then they pick the kind of English that fits.

Here are some words that help us talk about language.

Diction means the words a writer chooses.

Connotation is the feeling a word brings with it. "Slim" and "skinny" can mean nearly the same thing, but they feel different.

A dialect is a kind of English spoken by people from one place or culture, like Scottish English or Australian English.

Formal means following the usual rules and sounding right for school or work.

Informal means relaxed and right for casual times with people you know.

Standard American English is the variety that follows the rules most people agree on, and it is the formal kind used in many books and schools.

When you know these words, you can explain why one sentence sounds polite and another sounds friendly.

"Hello" works almost everywhere, but English has many other ways to greet people, and each fits a different moment.

With friends and family you can be casual. Try "Hi!", "Hey!", "What's up?", or "How's it going?". These sound warm and relaxed.

With teachers, or adults you have just met, more formal greetings fit better. Try "Good morning", "It's nice to meet you", or "How do you do?".

You can greet a whole class with "Hello, everyone", but you might shout "Hey, team!" when you meet your football friends.

The trick is to think about the person and the place first. A greeting that makes a friend smile might sound too casual for the school office. A very polite greeting might sound funny at the park.

When you talk with friends, casual words feel friendly. But school writing usually needs more formal words, and swapping a few words can do the job.

Start with everyday words and find a more grown up choice. Instead of "good", try "excellent" or "helpful". Instead of "a lot of", try "many" or "several". Instead of "kids", try "children".

Next, swap out slang and chatty phrases. "The kids were gonna get stuff" becomes "The children planned to get supplies".

Also skip vague fillers like "stuff", "thing", and "kind of". They leave the reader guessing.

Finally, read your sentence aloud. If it sounds like a text message, make it more formal. If it sounds like something you could say in assembly, it is ready.

Writers pick words on purpose, and the words they pick can change how a sentence feels. This is called diction.

Some words are formal and some are informal. "Request" is formal, while "ask" is informal, and "demand" feels pushy.

Words also carry feelings. "Confident" sounds positive, but "cocky" sounds negative, even though both mean being very sure of yourself.

In this lesson you brainstorm synonyms, sort feeling words onto a chart, and look at sentences from a story to see how the tone shifts. Then you try rewriting your own sentences two ways, once formal and once informal, to feel the difference word choice makes.