When you write, it’s usually because you’re trying to convey a message to someone or a group of people. Maybe you’re sharing a story, delivering a business presentation, spreading knowledge, writing a paper for school, or informing others about the benefits of a product. Whatever your reason for writing, knowing what style to use, and how to use it properly will deliver your message more strongly. To help you pick the perfect writing style, we’ve got all you need to understand about formal vs informal writing right here.
Writing is a powerful form of communication, which is a foundation for business, education, networking, and more. But, not all writing styles are as effective for the same audience. To make sure your message is heard loud and clear, it’s essential to understand the difference between the two main writing styles. Knowing the difference between formal vs informal writing can bring you great success and opportunity, so let’s dive into it.
What Is Formal vs Informal Writing?
Formal vs informal writing is the difference between the two main styles of writing. Each style of formal vs informal writing serves its own purpose. While the purposes of these writing styles serve different audiences, the goal of formal vs informal writing styles is writing in the most appealing way. Understanding the difference between formal vs informal writing is important because depending on your audience, one style will be more applicable than the other.
Before we look into knowing when to choose formal vs informal writing, let’s look at the key differences between these two styles.
Formal Writing
Formal writing is the less personal writing style of the two. With formal writing, ideas and concepts are expressed in a complex manner with complete sentences. Sentences in formal writing are longer than those in informal writing because they are meant to fully explain ideas and concepts. While ideas and concepts should be fully explained in longer sentences, it’s still important to remain concise and avoid fluff.
Fully explained ideas and concepts in formal writing are expressed without emotion. For formal writing, think about textbooks or legal literature. These forms of writing seldom express emotion and always display cold, hard facts. When you’re writing in the formal style, it’s best to avoid connecting to feelings of the reader and instead focus on facts.
Another huge component of formal writing is that contractions are avoided. So instead of using words like “can’t” or “won’t,” in the formal writing style you should use “cannot” or “will not.” Abbreviated words are also avoided in formal writing. Instead of using “TV,” the word “television” is used in formal writing. In the formal writing style, colloquial words, such as “kids,” “a lot,” and “guy” are replaced with “children,” “many,” and “man.” With formal writing, words are kept precise and technical.
Since formal writing is less personal, fully explained concepts are usually expressed in a less emotional manner. In this less personal style, the first and second person are
avoided. This means that in formal writing first and second person pronouns (I, you, we, and me) are avoided and can instead be replaced with words like “the reader” or “one”.
These are just some main components of formal writing, and now that you understand what makes writing formal, let’s look at the informal side.
Informal Writing
Unlike formal writing, informal writing can get a little more personal. This form of writing is the style that comes most naturally to people. Ideas and concepts can be expressed with some emotion and written in short and less precise sentences than with formal writing.
While formal writing usually presents facts without emotion, informal writing may show empathy and other emotions regarding concepts that are presented. For example, with formal writing, if a difficult fact is presented, there usually isn’t a focus on the difficulty. With informal writing, if a difficult concept is presented, the writer can empathize with the reader and acknowledge that the concept is difficult.
Since informal writing is the more personal style, it has more similarities to everyday language. With more of a similarity to everyday language, informal writing allows for the use of contractions, abbreviations, and colloquial terms. Being the more personal style of writing, informal writing allows for the use of the first and second person pronouns. In informal writing, these pronouns are used to create a deeper connection, while formal writing stays professional with the third person perspective.
The Big Differences
To summarize, the major differences between formal vs informal writing involve:
- Contractions
- Colloquialism
- Abbreviations
- Sentence structure
- Tone
- Complexity
- Emotional expressions
Now that you know the basics of each writing style and have a grasp on formal vs informal writing, it’s essential to understand when to use each style. Making the right style choice with formal vs informal writing can make all the difference in getting your point across.
When Is Each Style Appropriate?
Before you can use formal or informal writing, you have to figure out when to use which style. To decide between using formal vs informal writing, you need to determine your audience. In fact, in writing anything, the first thing you should always do is determine your audience.
Determining Your Audience
Knowing your audience means knowing who will read what you write before you write it. Understanding who your audience will be allows you to write in a style that your audience will more easily connect to and understand. In all forms of writing, ask yourself who you are writing for before you start.
With writing emails, messages, or letters, you usually have the audience laid out before you. But when it comes to other forms of writing such as blog posts, research papers, advertisements, work strategies, marketing content, or reviews, determining the audience takes a little more work.
Is your audience a peer group, professional group, the general public, business prospects? There are so many audiences, and once you figure out the one you are trying to appeal to, you can figure out if you should use formal vs informal.
Figuring out when to use formal and when to use informal writing isn’t as complicated as it might sound. In fact, you probably decide between using formal and informal styles every day, but instead of writing, you decide while speaking. Think about the difference in tone and language you use when you’re talking to your boss compared to a friend. While these differences might be second nature in speaking, we’ve got more information to help you make the choice in writing.
When to Use Formal Writing
Just because formal writing is usually more precise and serious doesn’t make it the better writing style, but it is the better writing style for certain situations and audiences.
For the most part, the formal writing style is the best to use when your audience is professional, technical, academic, or business related. Here are some examples of when to use formal writing:
- Academic research papers
- Scientific research papers
- Technical reports
- Legal documents
- Professional briefs
- Professional Presentations
When to Use Informal Writing
Being the more personal style of writing, informal is the style of writing most commonly used when you’re writing for friends, casual business relations, a more relaxed audience, or an audience where there is already a level of familiarity between the writer and the reader. Some examples of when to use informal writing are:
- Emails
- Letters
- Blog Posts
- Magazines
Tips on Formal Writing
When it comes to formal vs informal writing, for most people informal writing is usually the easier style to grasp. This is because informal writing is the style closest to everyday speaking. Most people don’t need too many tips on writing informally because it’s usually just writing as you speak. But, when it comes to writing formally, many people struggle with getting it right.
While it may be easier, informal writing isn’t the best option in many situations. Being able to properly write in the formal style can make a huge difference in your life. The proper formal writing skills can help you advance in your career, get your ideas across to your boss, grow your own business, and so much more. To help you get a grasp on formal writing and reap all the benefits that come with it, we’ve got some great formal writing tips for you.
- Use the active voice
- Use clear and direct language
- Be detailed, yet concise
- Avoid exclamation marks
- Avoid contractions, abbreviations, and slang
- Write with less emotion
- Avoid clichés
- Eliminate fluff
Conclusion
Proper writing skills are an extremely valuable skill to have. Being able to properly communicate through writing can open doors and allow you to present a great first impression. A huge part of having good writing skills is understanding formal vs informal writing. Understanding and knowing when to use formal vs informal writing is the key to appealing to your audience, and getting your point across strongly. Now you’ve got the information you need to understand when to use formal vs informal writing, and how to do it well.