Writing Letters: formal & informal English
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Hello, my name is Emma, and in today's lesson we are going to learn about writing. What
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kind of writing? Writing letters. Okay? So this is important for people who work in business.
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It's also important for people who like to write letters to their friends maybe or to
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their grandparents in English. Also, it is very... It is a very useful video for anyone
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who is taking the general IELTS test. So if you're taking not academic, but general, this
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is an important video. And also, if you plan to immigrate to Canada and you want to do
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the Canadian immigration test which is called: "the CELPIP", this video is also... It will
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also be useful and helpful to you. Okay?
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So let's get started. What do I mean by "formal" and "informal"? "Informal" means something
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you would write to your friends, something you would write to your parents, - well, probably
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your parents unless you're afraid of your parents, then you might be more formal -, your
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classmates, your coworkers. Okay? So this is... It means it's not formal; it's for people
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you know well. On the other hand, "formal" English we use with strangers, we use with
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our boss, in the workplace, we use it in these different ways. So it's the English you really
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have to think about, whereas informal is kind of the relaxed English. So relaxed, serious. Okay?
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So, sometimes you will have to write a letter formally, maybe to your boss or your company,
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other times maybe you're on holiday and you want to write a letter to your friend, you'll
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use informal English. So what is the difference? Let's see.
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Informal English uses contractions. What are contractions? "Didn't", "wouldn't", "couldn't",
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"haven't", "hasn't". So if you see a verb with an apostrophe and then a "t", that is
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a contraction. Okay? It's very important to know this because in formal writing, you don't
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use contractions. "Didn't" would be: "Did not". I can write that for you. "Did not".
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Couldn't: could not, haven't: have not, can't: cannot. Okay? So that's one major difference.
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Another major difference between formal and informal writing is the use of idioms; the
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use of certain expressions. If I'm writing to my friend, maybe I'll say: "Oh, you know,
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I've been very under the weather lately." Meaning: I've been very sick. If I'm writing
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to my boss, I won't use idioms. If I'm writing a formal letter, I will not use idioms. Those
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aren't good to use in formal writing.
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Phrasal verbs, this is another thing we find in informal writing. What is a phrasal verb?
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It's a verb that has a preposition. Okay? So, for example: "find out", "find" is a verb,
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"out" is the preposition. "Go" is the verb, "up" is the preposition. So the... The preposition
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adds a different meaning to the verb. Phrasal verbs are very difficult to learn; we have
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so many of them in English. My students have told me phrasal verbs are one of the hardest
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parts of learning English, but it's possible, you can do it.
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So, in informal writing, we use phrasal verbs, whereas in formal writing: what do we use?
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We don't use phrasal verbs. We usually use longer words that mean the same thing. Example:
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"find out": "discover". "Discover" is more formal. "Go up", for example: "Prices have
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gone up.": "Prices have increased." "Increased" is more formal. Okay. For more of these examples,
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there will be a list in the resource section of the engVid website.
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I'll talk more about that later.
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Next: imperatives. Imperatives are sentences that start with a verb. "Don't talk to me
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that way.", "Help your mother more.", "Do your homework." Okay? Parents love to use
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imperatives and so do teachers. So, if you're writing to your friends, you can use imperatives.
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"Send it soon!" Maybe your friend has to mail you a package, you write: "Send it soon! I
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want it, send it soon!" In formal writing, we do not use imperatives; they're too strong.
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We like to use more polite sentences: "You may send it at your earliest convenience."