Article

(David Park designs & teaches IELTS courses for individuals & groups. He was contracted by the British Council to provide this article.)

A student preparing for IELTS (International English Language Testing System) sent me this query: “I don’t know if ‘spark off’ is a formal word or not. How can I tell the difference between formal and informal words?” Here’s what I said to her in my reply:

English has three main styles: formal, informal and popular.

Formal English

Formal English is mainly used in writing. This style is academic in tone and is commonly used in academic textbooks, most university essays, business letters and contracts.

In the case of speaking, formal English is usually only used for official or serious occasions, e.g., to formally welcome guests at a university graduation ceremony.

Formal English uses more complex vocabulary than everyday speech. For example, it uses many “bigger” words that aren’t normally used in conversation. Examples are multi-syllable words like compensate, ascend and interrogate. It also prefers one-part verbs (e.g., establish) instead of simpler, phrasal verbs (e.g., set up). Slang and colloquial vocabulary are avoided.

When formal English is used in writing, sentences tend to be long and complex, and grammar rules are followed strictly. It tends to be impersonal (or neutral), often using impersonal pronouns like it and passive verbs. Contracted and abbreviated forms of words are usually avoided.

Informal & popular English

Informal English is the language spoken by most people every day. It’s also widely used in emails and letters to friends.

Speakers of informal English aren’t very concerned about their vocabulary. For example, informal English uses many short words (e.g., fire, climb and ask), much colloquial vocabulary (e.g., stuff, a lot of, thing and sort of) and multi-part verbs (e.g., set up instead of establish). Informal English is also more relaxed about grammar rules than formal English, using simpler grammatical structures and loosely-connected sentences and phrases.

When used in writing, informal English uses first and second person points-of-view (e.g., I, you and we) to create a more personal style than formal English. Contractions (e.g., it’s instead of it is) are also very common. As well, informal English tends to use shorter sentences than in more formal writing, and the more formal punctuation marks − the semi-colon (;) and colon (:) − are usually avoided.

Popular English is rarely used in writing, being used mostly in spoken English. It includes a good bit of slang. Slang is words or expressions that are very informal and are not considered suitable for polite speech or more formal situations. Slang is often used only by particular social groups or professions.

More on phrasal verbs

When people speak or write informally, they often use phrasal verbs (also called multi-word or multi-part verbs). Here are some examples. The formal, one-word verb with the same meaning is in brackets.

In formal writing, writers often prefer to use single-word verbs, such as examine or devise, rather than phrasal verbs, such as look at or come up with. Compare the pairs of verbs in the next table.

Though there’s a tendency to use fewer phrasal verbs in formal language, it’s not wrong to use them. Nevertheless, if there’s a one-word verb that’s more formal, then use it.

Don’t think that a few phrasal verbs in your IELTS writing will make it too informal. In fact, there are many situations - even in quite formal texts - when a phrasal verb is the most natural-sounding way of expressing an idea. For instance, put on is much more natural than the formal, single-word equivalent don.

Telling the difference

It’s usually easy to decide if a word is informal or formal. Informal words are those common, ordinary and familiar words that people use every day, whereas formal words tend to be the more “serious” and less frequently used words. Often, formal words are longer than informal words. Single-word verbs are also usually more formal than their phrasal verb equivalents.

For instance, saying something is enormous is formal, but saying it’s whopping is informal. Phrases like on the one hand or as indicated above are formal, but phrases like by the way or that reminds me are informal. Note that some informal words are more formal than other informal words. The informal verb understand, for example, is more formal than the informal verb get. However, both are less formal than the formal verb comprehend.

The IELTS website says academic essays may use “a neutral or slightly formal style of writing.”

This means your IELTS academic writing may use slightly less formal vocabulary (e.g., phrasal verbs like spark off instead of cause) as well as words that are more formal. It may also use the complex grammar of formal English, or it may use slightly simpler grammatical structures.

However, the more formal the vocabulary and the more complex the grammar is, the higher the IELTS score. In the case of vocabulary, for instance, the scoring scheme gives higher scores when “less common” or “uncommon lexical items” (words or phrases) are used − which is what formal vocabulary is. Click here to see the scoring scheme.

Here’s my advice for vocabulary for academic essays in the IELTS exam:

• Avoid words or phrases used mainly in normal conversation as they’re usually not suitable for use in academic writing. Dictionaries often identify these words with the label “informal.” In your essay, use a more formal equivalent. Here are some examples:

• Avoid abbreviating words in academic writing. Don’t say yrs, e.g. (which stands for the original Latin exempli gratia and means “for example”) or i.e. (which stands for the original Latin id est and means “that is”). Instead, write the words in full using their English equivalents (years, for example and that is).

Glossary

slang (noun) - informal language that is usually spoken and used especially by certain groups of people

colloquial (adjective) - words or expressions that are informal and more suitable for use in speech

contract (verb) - to shorten something

tendency (noun) - a likelihood to do something

Discussion

What are the three main styles of English? Which style should you use for your IELTS academic writing? Why?

Apart from using many short words in informal English, what other differences can you point out between informal and formal English?

Have you checked the scoring scheme for the writing test? How will you evaulate your own writing in the areas of lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy?

After reading this article, can you compile a list of words or phrases that should not be used when writing your IELTS academic essay?

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Identifying & using formal & informal vocabulary