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ELA 5: What Formal English Looks Like 54 Views


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Description:

Good morrow, good chaps. On this fine day, we shall teach you all about the ins and outs of delightfully formal English. Grab your top hats and a smart overcoat, it's time to take in knowledge.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:14

Old Miss Willers is a bit of a stickler about formal English.

00:17

If you’re ever having a conversation with her, and you end a sentence with a preposition…

00:21

you’re liable to end up with a face full of cane. [Girl is hit with Miss Willers cane]

00:24

So…while there’s a time and a place for informal writing… Miss Willers is not a fan.

00:29

You know how it is. When texting a friend, your writing has a different tone than when [Girl texting a friend]

00:33

you send a note of thanks to your grandma for that… lovely...charming Christmas sweater she got you.

00:38

Informal writing sounds like conversation.

00:41

It’s almost like shorthand. Instead of saying “arrive” you might say [Girl parks car outside a house]

00:44

something casual like “show up.” Instead of “children” you might say “kids.”

00:48

“Find out” instead of “discover”… “go up” instead of “increase…

00:52

“I think” instead of “in my opinion”… “in a nutshell” instead of “to summarize”…

00:57

“plus” instead of “furthermore”… Or, “Yo, bird…I’m just grill-hoppin’

01:01

and takin’ in the sun feathers” instead of… [two birds on a wire as the sun sets]

01:04

…well, huh, we seriously have no idea what that might mean.

01:07

So yeah, the downside is that, most of the time, very few other people know what you're

01:11

talking about… …which can be a problem. [girl given an F grade for a writing test]

01:14

When you write something formal, such as an essay, you should switch to a formal voice,

01:18

so people can grasp what you're saying… …and so Old Miss Willers can keep her cane [Boy writing a paragraph and Miss Willers stood with a cane]

01:21

where it belongs. By using formal English, you can give your

01:24

speaker greater authority… …express complex and technical ideas more [Girl reading a technical journal of English book]

01:28

effectively… …and really take the time to flesh out what

01:31

you’re trying to say, using terms that any reader will understand.

01:35

Okay…almost any reader.

01:37

Okay, so…a few rules…

01:39

When writing formally, contractions are a big no-no. [Coop discussing formal english rules]

01:43

Say “do not” instead of don't and “cannot” instead of can't.

01:46

There’s no slang in formal writing, either…ya dig? [Boy hit in the face with a cane]

01:50

Sorry, Miss Willers. Yeah…formal writing is meant to last…

01:53

a long time. The thing about popular expressions is that

01:57

they come and go. Your grandma and grandpa probably said "groovy."

02:01

We’re not even kidding. They said things like "out of sight" and "far out." [Girl laughing at her grandparents]

02:05

It’s like a whole other language…

02:07

Of course, it goes without saying that formal English requires the use of standard punctuation

02:11

and grammar. You’ll have to dot your i’s, cross your [Girl inputting punctuation to a sentence]

02:14

t’s and please, please, please use the right type of “there.”

02:18

Whenever you read something written in formal English…

02:20

…it should be a signal to you that you’ll be reading about a serious subject.

02:24

That doesn’t mean it has to be about death and destruction… [A boy with an orange arm cast in a doctors room and death appears]

02:26

…but…it’s at least going to be about some important topic or another that calls

02:29

for clean, precise and professional language. Besides, if you don’t want everything to

02:33

be about death and destruction… …we suggest you don’t do anything else

02:36

to anger Miss Willers… [Miss Willers looking for a larger cane]

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