How to Avoid Colloquial.docx

How to Avoid Colloquial.docx

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HowtoAvoidColloquial

HowtoAvoidColloquial（Informal）Writing

Whileitmaybeacceptableinfriendlye-mailorinchatrooms,excessivecolloquialismcandiminishthequalityofaformalwrittentext.Presentationmaybeimprovedbyapplyingthefollowingtechniques:

1.UnderstandthedifferencebetweenformalandinformalEnglish.InformalEnglishinvolveswritingasifyouwereinconversation,butthismayleadtogrammaticalerror.Speakinginformallymayresultwithalistenerfeelingmorecomfortable,butwritinginformallymayresultwithareaderthinkinglessofyou.FormalandinformalEnglishdifferinwordchoice,wordusage,andgrammaticalstructures.Informalwritingmightutilizethewords“contraption,”“fire,”“kid,”“howcome,”and“quote”asanoun.Aformalwritermightprefer“device,”“dismiss,”“child,”“why,”and“quotation.”

2.UnderstandbasicEnglishpunctuation.Infact,youshouldfollowthisruleinallofyourwriting（althoughitisparticularlyimportantinformalEnglish）.Punctuatingyourwritingasyougoalongcanreduceyourriskofleavingoutpunctuationmarks.InaformalAmericanstyleEnglishletter,youmyuseacolon,notacomma,asin"DearJohn:

"However,dobearinmindthatinBritishstyleEnglishitisnormaltouseacommaandnotacolon.RealizethatsomepunctuationisnotacceptableinextremelyformalEnglish.Thedash,theparentheses,andtheexclamationmarkarenotuniversallyacceptable.InthemostformalEnglish,youshouldusetheexclamationmarkonlywhenacharacterscreams,"Fire!

"or"Help!

"Youshouldavoidtheparenthesesandthedashatalltimesinthisstyleunlessyouquoteanauthorwhousedthemfirst.Youshouldavoidtheparenthesesandthedashindiscoursethatyoutranscribeyourself.Trytoreplaceyourdasheswithcolonsinformalwriting.

3.Avoidusingcommoncolloquialwordsandexpressions,aslistedbelow.Again,thesearewordsthat,whileacceptableinspeech,shouldnotbeusedinformalwriting.Colloquialwordsandphrasesarecalled"colloquialisms."Therearealsosolecisms（,aviolationoftheconventionalusageofalanguage）suchas"ain’t,"whicharegrammaticalerrors.Finally,therearenon-words,combinationoflettersandcharactersthatdonotformrealwords,suchas"alot."whenyoulookup"toputupwith"（use"totolerate"）inthedictionary,youwillseethatitisinformal.Avoiduse-“cute”（use“adorable”）,“yeah,”useyes”and“movie”（use“film”）.Thisincludesslangsuchas“cool,”“dude,”and“humongous”.Twogoodphrasestodeleteare“youknow”and“youmightbethinking.”Youdonothavethepowertoknowyourreaders’thoughtswhiletheyreadyourpaper.Anotheremptysentenceis“Thinkaboutit.”Assumethatyourreadersarealreadythinkingaboutwhattheyarereading.Theadverb“pretty,asinprettyangry,”meaning“relatively,”“fairly,”or“quite,”isunacceptableinformalwritingandisoftenunnecessary.

4."Omitneedlesswords."Someadverbsandphrasessignificantlyreducetheformalityofyourwritingwhileaddinglittletoit.Agoodphrasetodeleteis"youknow."Thisphraseimpliesthatyouknowwhatthereaderknowsoristhinkingwhilereadingyourpaper;youdonothavethispower.Someadverbs,suchas"well"startingasentence,oftenareneedless.Startingasentencewith"well"canbeusefulineverydaywritingasawaytocontrastthesentencewithwhatcamebefore.Manywriters,however,use"well"toooften.

5.Avoidcontractions.Contractionsdramaticallyreducetheformalityofyourcomposition.Dependingonhowformalyouneedtobe,youmaywanttoavoidallcontractionsorusefewercontractionsinyourwritingthanyouwoulduseinyourspeech."Cannot"ispreferableto"can’t"informalcontexts.Somecontractionssuchas"o’clock"（for"oftheclock"）aresocommonplacethattheyarecondemnedinonlythemostformalwriting.

6.Trytoavoidthefirstandsecondperson.Formalwritingoftentriestobeobjective,andthepronouns"I"and"you"tendtoimplysubjectivity.Phrasessuchas"Ithinkthat"canbedeletedfromasentencewhenitisobviousthatthisistheauthor’sopinion.Usingthepronoun"I"isalmostalwaysacceptableinpersonalwriting,andthepronoun"you"isalmostalwaysacceptableinlettersandhow-to’s.Inthemostformalwriting,thepronoun“I”isreplacedbythepronoun“we”;thisisknownastheroyalweortheeditorialwe.Formalwritinggenerallyavoidsthepronoun“you”whenitreferstopeopleingeneral.

oYoushouldsleepeighthourseachnight.（informal）

oOneshouldsleepeighthourseachnight.（formal）

oMostpeopleshouldsleepatleasteighthourseachnight.（formalusageallowingforexceptions）.

7.Donothesitatetosplitaninfinitiveeveninthemostformalwritingwhenitiswarranted..Splitinfinitivesarecommoninlegalwriting,animportanttypeofformalEnglish.Infact,thesplitinfinitiveisencounteredinthemostformalofwriting.Splitinfinitivescanbeusedeveninveryformalwritingthatavoidstheactivevoice.Infinitives,alongwithgerunds,contributetoanactivewritingstyleandshowactionbutarenotactuallyintheactivevoice.Voiceisapropertyofclauses,andinfinitivesandgerundsformphrases.Splitinfinitivesaregrammaticallycorrect.Thesplit-infinitiveruleisbasedonLatin,butsplitinfinitivesactuallymakewritingmorelikeLatin,notlessso.TheRomanstendedtoplaceadverbsrightnexttoverbs,andadverbsusuallyprecededverbs.Informalwriting,adverbsalsotendtoprecedeverbsratherthanfollowthem.InLatin,CaptainKirkwouldhavesaid“audacterire”（translatedas“boldlytogo”or“toboldlygo”）.Oxforddictionarysaysthat“boldlytogo”ismoreformalthan“togoboldly”;thatismostlikelybecauseoftheLatinwordorder.Theeffectivenessofthesplitinfinitivearisesfromthefactthat“to”andtheverbarelikeasingleunit.Afterall,“togo”wouldbetranslatedintoLatinasthesingleword“ire.”Foremphasis,anartistplacesalargepicturebetweentwosmallerpictures;inthesameway,anadverbbecomesemphaticwhenplacedbetween“to”andtheverb.toboldlygowherenomanhasgonebefore.Here,theadverb"boldly"splitsthefullinfinitive"togo."compoundsplitinfinitiveisusedtodescribesituationsinwhichtheinfinitiveissplitbymorethanoneword:

Thepopulationisexpectedtomorethandoubleinthenexttenyears.

8.Donotbeafraidtoseparatetheauxiliary（helping）verbandthemainverb.-itisacceptableinEnglishtousesentencessuchas"Ihavenotseenit"or"hehasoftensaidfalsethings."（Theauxiliaryandmainverbsareshowninboldface.）.Examplesoffiniteverbsincludewrite（noauxiliaryverb）,havewritten（oneauxiliaryverb）,andhavebeenwritten（twoauxiliaryverbs）.InEnglish,andinmanyotherlanguages,therearesomeverbsthatcanacteitherasauxiliaryorasfullverbs,suchasbe（"Iamwritingaletter"vs"Iamapostman"）andhave（"Ihavewrittenaletter"vs"Ihavealetter"）.Inthecaseofbe,itissometimesambiguouswhetheritisauxiliaryornot;forexample,"Theicecreamwasmelted"couldmeaneither"Someone/somethingmeltedtheicecream"（inwhichcasemeltwouldbethemainverb）or"theicecreamwasmostlyliquid"（inwhichcasebewouldbethemainverb）.

9.Knowwhentoendasentencewithapreposition（eveninthemostformalofEnglish）.-Contrarytopopularopinion,norulestatesthatitisincorrecttoendasentencewithapreposition. Aprincipleofstyle,however,declaresthatoneshouldnotendasentencewithaprepositionwhenonehasagracefulalternative.Itiswelltoconsiderthatasentenceendingwithaprepositionissometimesclumsy,oftenweak." Aprepositioncanitselfprovidestrengthattheendofasentence. Thisoccurswhentheprepositioncarriesrealimportandtheverbhasaratherlowcharge;insuchinstancesheavystressfallsonthepreposition,andidiomdeclaresthatitappearattheend."Hedidn'tknowwhathewasgettinginto,""Ifoundthistool,butIdon'tknowwhatitisusedfor,"or"Ididn'tknowwhatitwasallabout"?

 Shakespeare's"Wearesuchstuffasdreamsaremadeon"andsuchexpressionsas:

"Thatissomethingtoguardagainst,""Heissomeoneyoucancounton,"and"Youdon'tknowwhatIhavebeenthrough." Bernsteinwrylysuggeststhatanyonewhocallssuchexpressionswrongwillfindthatheorshe"hasn'talegonwhichtostand."Areyoufrazzledbecauseyou’veheardthatyoumustneverendasentencewithapreposition?

Wrong!

Youmayendasentenceanywayyouchooseto.Ichosetowritetheprevioussentencesoitendedinapreposition.It’scalledaterminalpreposition.Itisperfectlyacceptabletoendasentencewithapreposition,aslongasthatprepositioniscriticaltothemeaningofthesentence.Asacounterexampleitisincorrecttoask"Whereisthelibraryat",because"at"isnotnecessarytothesentence.However,itisokaytoask"Whomareyoumostdisappointedwith?

"Youcouldrearrangethesentencetoread"Withwhomareyoumostdisappointed?

",butthatjustisn'tnatural.Andagain,thereisnorulethatsaysyoucan'tendasentencewithapreposition,sowhycontortyourselfinthisawkwardway?

10.Alwaysincludetherelativepronoun.Inspeechandcasualwriting,youcansay,"ThatwastheboyIsawonthestreet"andmakeyourselfclear.Informalwriting,youshouldsay,"HewastheboywhomIsawonthestreet."Inthisstyle,youshouldbesuretoalwaysinclude"whom"evenwhenitisnotnecessarytoyourmeaning.Alsoconsiderthisexample:

"Therewerefivestudentswhowerecomplainingaboutthehomework."Iftherelativepronounisomitted,"complaining"becomesakindofpostpositiveadjective,andthesentenceiswritte