Dress Up With Words

Formal and Informal Writing

Fiona Jane Ellingsen

Parts of Speech

• Pronouns (pronomen) like I, you, everybody, which• Determiners (bestemmerord) with four main sub-

types: – Articles: the, a – Qualifiers (mengdeord): many, all, every, no– Possessives (eieformer): my, your, his, their, etc..– Interrogatives (spørreord): what, which, whose;

• Auxiliaries (hjelpeverb): be, have, do, can, will etc…• Prepositions: for, of, under, in by, among, etc…• Conjunctions (konjunksjoner): andm but, when,

because, if, so, that, etc…

Vocabulary

Lexical words Function words

• Pronouns• Determiners

– Articles– Qualifiers– Possessives– Interrogatives• Auxiliaries• Prepositions• Conjunctions

• Nouns

• Verbs

• Adjectives

• Adverbs

Why should I write?

• Purpose e.g. to inform, complain, influence and persuade, entertain, ask for information or a combination of these.

• Audience:– age, gender and background

– knowledge of your topic

• Personal / Public

Styles of writing

• Lexical density – This means the number of lexical words (nouns,

verbs, adjectives and adverbs) is relatively high as compared to the number of words in the text. That means it communicate a lot of information

• Evaluative language– This term means that the writer introduces his /

her own opinion into the text

Lexical Density

Identify the noun phrases in this text:

• Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of English schoolboys marooned on a tropical island after their plane is shot down during a war. Though the novel is fictional, it is an exploration of the idea of human evil and is believed to be partly based on Golding’s experience with the real-life violence and brutality.

Identify the noun phrases in this text:

• Lord of the Flies is a story about some schoolboys whose plane was shot down during a war. They were isolated on an island with little hope of rescue. It is about how evil humans can be. It is based on William Golding’s experiences during WWII.

• Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of English schoolboys marooned on a tropical island after their plane is shot down during a war. Though the novel is fictional, it is an exploration of the idea of human evil and is believed to be partly based on Golding’s experience with the real-life violence and brutality of World War II of World War II.

What is missing?

• Lord of the Flies is a story about some schoolboys whose plane was shot down during a war. They were isolated on an island with little hope of rescue. It is about how evil humans can be. It is based on William Golding’s experiences during WWII.

Simple sentences

• A simple sentence is a single clause with a subject (S) and a verb (V) e.g. – William Golding wrote.

– I--------S----------I I---V---I

• Simple sentences can have an object (O)– William Golding wrote a novel.

– I--------S----------I I--V--I I---O---I

– And/ or …

Simple sentences

an adverbial (A) such as– William Golding wrote a novel very quickly.

– I--------S----------I I--V--I I---O---I I---A---I

• Or a prepositional phrase (P)– In 1954, William Golding wrote a novel.

Also simple sentences can have linking verbs (LV) like be or look that describe the subject:– In 1954, William Golding wrote a novel he liked.

Compound Sentences

• A compond sentence has two or more coordinate and independent clauses:– His first and greatest success came with Lord of

the Flies (1954), which ultimately became a bestseller in both Britain and the US.

• A complex sentence has at least one main clause and one subordinate clause:– The novel’s sales enabled Golding to retire from

teaching and devote himself fully to writing.

Coherent and Convincing Writing

• A well written text is more than a sequence of grammatically correct lexically precise sentences.

• A good piece of writing consists of paragraphs, which consist of sentences, which consist of clauses.

• Therefore:

Coherent and convincing writingalways consists of:

Initial part Middle part Final part

Text / essay Introduction Body Conclusion

Paragraph Topic Sentence Discussion Rounding-off statement

Sentence / clause Initial element as a cohesive tie

Core Final elements as new information

Final product

The ten language commandments

1. There is no shame in using a full stop2. If you’ve more than one thing to say,

say one thing at a time.3. Be polite to your readers.4. Don’t get infected with ”noun disease”.5. Be a right handed writer.6. Don’t get word crazy.7. Don’t be afraid of calling a spade a spade.8. Strive to keep it simple (KISS)9. Have personal opinions often.10. Use sound controll

Formal and everyday words

• English words can be traced back to:–Germanic origin

–Romance language (French, Spanish etc…)

– Latin and Greek

Germanic words

• Germanic words go back to the language of the 5th century Anglo-Saxon invaders who pushed the Celtic-speaking population westwards.

Romance and Latin/Greek words

• Most Romance words came into English after the Norman Conquest in 1066

• Both Romance words and Latin/Greek words were mostly used in the high social classes for several centuries and did not come in general use before the late 15th century.

Formal vrs informal

• The difference between formal and informal English has historical origins:

• Words of Romance and Latin/Greek origin are still felt to be formal and learned, often associated with prestige and authority.

• Germanic words are common, everyday words that most users are familiar with.

Examples

• Disperse = spread

• Conceal = hide

• Cancel = call off

• Postpone = put off

• Execute = carry out

• Encounter = run into

Version 1The evidence taken from the observation of the behaviour of apes and children suggests that there are three clearly separate groups of simple causes for the outbreak of fighting and exhibition of aggressiveness by individuals

Version 2If we look at monkeys’ and chidren’s behaviour, we’ll notice three simple reasons why they become aggressive and start to fight.