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Formal & Informal English

by Emma

Formal English: We use it when writing essays for school, cover letters to apply for jobs, or emails and letters at
work.

Informal English: We use it with friends, children, and relatives.

The following list will help you to recognize the informal and formal ways of saying the same thing. The list is
divided into sections of: verbs, transitions, emphasis words, abbreviations, and slang.

Verbs – Informal & Formal

Informal Formal
say sorry apologize, apologise

go up increase

go down decrease

set up establish

look at examine

blow up explode

find out discover

bring about cause

put off postpone, delay

rack up accumulate

make up fabricate

stand for represent

find out discover, ascertain

leave out omit

point out indicate

go against oppose

get in touch with contact

It’s about It concerns, It’s in regards to

need to required

think about consider

get obtain

put up tolerate

deal with handle

seem appear

show demonstrate, illustrate, portray

start commence

keep retain

free release

get on someone’s nerves bother

ring up call
 Informal Formal

show up arrive

let permit

fill in substitute, inform

block undermine

give the go ahead, greenlight authorize, authorise

Transitions – Informal & Formal

Informal Formal
Anyways Nevertheless

Plus/Also Moreover/ Furthermore

But However

So Therefore/Thus

Also In addition, Additionally

ASAP as soon as possible/at your earliest convenience

Okay, OK acceptable

In the meantime In the interim

I think In my opinion,

In the end, Finally

To sum up In conclusion,

In a nutshell/Basically To summarize,

Anyway, Notwithstanding

All right Acceptable

Well,

To top it all off,

On top of it all,

In order to

Emphasis Words – Informal & Formal

Informal Formal
lots of/ a lot of much, many

tons of, heaps of large quantities of, a number of

totally completely, strongly

really, very definitely

Letter Expressions – Informal & Formal

Informal Formal
Hi Robert, Dear Sir or Madam

Just wanted to let you know… I am writing to inform you…

Love, Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully,

Cheers,

Yours Truly, Best regards, kind regards

Hope to hear from you soon I look forward to hearing from you

You can call me if you need anything Please do not hesitate to contact me

Abbreviations – Informal & Formal

Informal Formal
ASAP as soon as possible

T.V. television

photo photograph

cell cell phone

net Internet
 Slang – Informal & Formal
Informal Formal
kids children

bad negative

good positive

really big considerable

right correct

wrong incorrect

smart intelligent

cheap inexpensive

loaded rich

Test your understanding of this English lesson

Test your understanding of the English lesson by answering these questions. You will
get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.

Quiz

Is the following sentence an example of formal or informal writing?

I didn’t need any help.

formal

informal

Next Question

Related

Writing Letters: formal & informal English

more...

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