Formal and informal writing

Are you applying for a summer job? Then you need to know the difference between the personal everyday language that you use with friends and family; informal language. ...and language that you use with people you don’t know well: formal language. It’s a bit less personal and follows certain rules. When you’re writing to a friend, you might use contractions, abbreviations, slang... maybe even swearing, and “emojis”?

But if you’re writing to a company, an authority, or the head of school you must use more proper language. You want to make a good impression, and not seem careless. This means you have to modify your language to suit the receiver. In the message to your friend you might write: Hi! Or Wassup!

And as a goodbye, maybe… hugs and kisses. But if you were to write these to the boss of the restaurant where you want to work... that would not do. It would be too personal, and you might seem childish. Use standard phrases instead, such as: Hello!

and Best regards Don’t use: swear words, slang chat abbreviations, or emojis Formal language follows certain rules. One of them is that the language should be correct. So remember to: Spell correctly Use correct grammar Use correct uppercase and lowercase letters Avoid contractions Like these: Use paragraphs and headings And correct punctuation like full-stops, commas, and colons. Now the language in Tommy’s text is correct. But it’s still not formal enough to use as an application.

We must enhance the sentences. They should show Tommy’s intentions clearly, and why he would be good at the job. Let’s start with being more polite. I’m applying for a job This is too direct, which might be considered impolite. By extending the sentence, you avoid that: I’m contacting you to apply for a job That’s better.

Tommy also claims that he would be awesome, but we need to be clearer about what he would be good at. Awesome This is also a bit informal in this setting. How about… I would do the job very well We could also try to make Tommy sound less boastful. If we use “I believe” Tommy sounds more humble. Now it’s time to explain why Tommy would be good at the job.

Let’s be more detailed. What has Tommy done before that can help him get the job? Well, he’s been there, and he knows how customers and personnel behave; he is well acquainted with the workplace culture. This part can also be made more formal by adding more detail. Tommy has observed the working conditions of the personnel.

Final sentence. How do we enhance this? What looks easy? Well, the job’s tasks. Let’s express that in a different way.

Maybe that the tasks look like things that Tommy could learn to do, and would enjoy doing. Now we’ve turned Tommy’s informal letter to a friend, into a formal job application. How did we do this? We removed swear words, slang, chat abbreviations, contractions, and emojis. We corrected the language so that spelling, grammar, and punctuation were correct.

We removed informal words and expressions, like.. Gonna, awesome We tried to sound more humble by using phrases such as.. I believe and I would And enhanced the sentences by using more detail. - Come into my arms! Can I call you my son? - Uh, Tommy? You haven’t got the job yet.

You also need to mention your interests and whether you’ve held a job before. … and you need to submit your grades. But… it might be nice to just take it easy this summer.