Formal and Informal English

Contains carefully constructed and complete sentences

Avoids contractions Follows standard English usage and

grammar Uses a serious tone Uses sophisticated vocabulary Is appropriate for school essays, oral or

written reports, interviews and debates.

Contains everyday speech and popular expressions

Uses contractions May include sentence fragments Is appropriate for conversations with

friends, personal letters or notes, and journal entries

FormalYour suggestion is appropriate and timely.

Informal- It works for me.

This is a form of speech made up of invented words or existing words that are given new meaning

Not appropriate for Formal writing Example

Yo, LOL my bff haz just got his lysense. He is so hott! I can’t wait to hang with him.

A word or phrase used in everyday conversation

It is sometimes used in writing which may contribute to vagueness..

Example Sara couldn’t put up with the hassle of

weekday babysitting. Steve seemed really zonked after finals

were over.

1. Guido is really tapped out and running on empty this semester.

2. Molly couldn’t get cranked up to clean her room

3. Recent research suggests that pasta came to Italy from North Africa before the thiteenth century.

4. The laughter in comedy is often based on hostility.

Grammar – the rules and convections for organizing words into meaningful sentences.

Syntax – refers to the order of the words in the sentences, or word order.

When words in a sentence are reorganized according to grammar and syntax the sentence will convey a clearer meaning

Consider how the different word order affects the meaning:The mother pig nursed the nine chubby

piglets.The nine chubby piglets nursed the mother

pig. The use of modifiers is also ruled by

grammar and syntax. In the English language, adjectives usually come before the noun or pronoun they modify:The superficial remarks of the guests filled

the room with meaningless noise.Rusty zinnias and blackened snapdragons

announced the beginning of winter.

Revise the word order in the following sentences so that each makes sense:

1.The cold hose garden from water trickled

2.Angora boy held the rabbit squeaked as the tiny it.

3.The flood muddy engulfed of the waters quickly the town.

4.Air car as would well jams as pools reduce traffic pollution.

Learn some new words kids

EVERY SENTENCE HAS TO HAVE A SUBJECT AND A PREDICATE

SUBJECT – TELLS WHOM OR WHAT THE SENTENCE IS ABOUT

PREDICATE – TELLS INFORMATION ABOUT THE SUBJECT – WHAT THE SUBJECT IS, DOES OR WHAT HAPPENS TO IT

Sentence Fragment = A group of words that does not have both a subject and a predicate. It also does not express a complete thought.

Dr. Vollan (The fragment does not have a predicate. The group of words does not answer the question, What did Dr. Vollan do?

Quizzed the students. (The fragment does not have a subject. The group of words does not answer the question Who quizzed the students?)

On quantum physics (The fragment does not have a subject or predicate. The group of words does not tell what the sentence is about or what the subject does.)

Complete Sentence – Dr. Vollan quizzed the students on quantum physics

1. After intercepting the telegram, Britain discovered Germany’s real intentions.

2. Convoys effectively reduced troopship losses during the war.

3. Returned to London.4. Tories pursue conservative policies.5. An ill-advised strategy to end the war.6. Take this report to the field marshal.7. Boarded the dreadnaught while the

band played.8. Neville addressed the sailors about

Royal tradition

Write a sentence for each subject or predicate listed, adding the missing part and any other details to create a clear complete sentence.

Sipped iced champagne. The door to the drawing room A steep straight staircase Loomed before us forebodingly Pirouetted across the dance floor.

Simple Sentence – consists of one independent clause

Ex. Parliamentary government has its foundations in the thirteenth century.

Aristocrats forced King John to sign the magna carta in 1215.

Consists of two sentences joined by a semicolon or by a coordinating conjunction preceded by a comma.

Each part of a compound sentence has its own subject and verb.

Common coordinating conjunctions are – and, or, nor, for, but, so and yet.

The English Renaissance started during the sixteenth century; it continued into the 1600s with the works of Milton and Newton.

Consists of one independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

Subordinate clauses – has a subject and a verb but doesn’t express a complete thought and can’t stand alone. The subordinate clauses in the examples below are underlined.

If you study the American Revolution, be sure you also read historians who present the British perspective on the war.

If you combine a compound sentence and a complex sentence you form a compound complex sentence.

This sentence must have two or more independent clauses and at least one subordinate clause.

Americans often use the term “tyrant” when they discuss King George III, but he and most British subjects did not believe the colonies were being treated unfairly.

The red velvet material was hard to work with, it pulled, and the style my mother had chosen was not easy wither. She was not really a good sewer. She liked to make things; this is different. Whenever she could she tried to skip basting and pressing and she took no pride in the fine points of tailoring, the finishing of buttonholes and the overcastting of seams as, for instance, my aunt and my grandmother did.

Identifying and etc.

Verbs are expressers of English language.

They tell whether the action is completed, continuing, or will happen in the future. Verbs can be from one to four words long

ExampleField mice seek shelter

indoors in cold weather. Field mice are seeking

shelter indoors in cold weather.

Field mice have been seeking shelter indoors in cold weather.

Field mice might have been seeking shelter indoors in cold weather.

Verbs have tenses which are used to tell the time in which an action takes place.

Simplet tenses of the verb are present, past, and future.

Present tense – tells that an action happens now – in present time

Present tense singular – The cat sits absolutely still.

Present tense plural – The cats sit absolutely still.

Past tenst tells that an action happened in the past – prior to the present time.

The past tense of a regular verb is formed by adding – d or –ed to the present verb form.

Past tense singular – The cat sat absolutely still.

The cats sat absolutely still.

Tells that an action will happen in the future.

The future tense is formed by adding the word will or shall before the present verb form.Future tense singular – A cat will sit

absolutely still.Future Tense plural – Cats will sit absolutely

still.