Page 21 - English Vocabulary In Use upper intermediet and advance

7 Formal and informal words

Formality is all about your relationship with the person you're speaking or writing to. If you
use formal language, it may be because you wish to show respect, politeness, or to put
yourself at a distance (for example, 'official' language). Informal language can show
friendliness, equality or a feeling of closeness and solidarity with someone. You should never
use informal language just to sound fluent or clever.

Scales of formality
Some groups of words can be put on a scale from (very) formal to (very) informal.

I very formal neutral very informal I
offspring children kids
abodelresidence houselflat place
alcoholic beverages drink booze

Short, monosyllabic informal words
Informal versions of words are often short and monosyllabic, as we can see in the right-hand
column in the table in A. They include slang words. (Unit 95 has more examples.)
It cost me ten quid. [pounds]
I'll help you peel the spuds. [potatoes]
My bike's been stolen. [bicycle]
I always go by tube. [word used for the London Underground]
Come and meet my Mum and Dad. [mother and father]
Hi! Can't stop; see you, bye! [hello; goodbye]
The milk's in the fridge. [refrigerator]

Clippings

Shortening a word tends to make it less formal, as in fridge and bye in B.
1'11 meet you in the lab(oratory). What's on telly tonight? [television]
We should put an ad(vertisement) 1 an advert(isement) in the (news)paper. I
Shall I (te1e)phone them?
Her sister's a vet(erinary surgeon).

Formality in notices, instructions, etc.
You will often see rather formal words in notices and suchlike. Make sure you know the
meaning of the words used so that you could tell someone what the notice says using less
formal words.

DO NOT ADDRESS TH
DO NOT ALIGHT WHILE
DRIVER UNLESS THE B
THE BUS IS IN MOTION
IS STATIONARY

BE PAID FOR IN ADVANCE before boarding the train

14 English Vocabulary in Use