Name_______________________________ Writing Style (Jan 19)

DO NOW: What kind of clothing style do you like to wear? Do you like to dress formally or informally? Why do you feel comfortable in this kind of style?

WRITING STYLE: Style is the distinctive way in which a work of literature is written. Style refers not to what is said but to how it is said. Diction (word choice), sentence length, tone, imagery, and use of dialogue all contribute to a writer’s style.

One easy way to understand literary style is to think about fashion styles. Clothes can be formal and dressy, informal and casual, preppy, athletic, and so forth. Literary style is like the clothes that a text puts on. By analogy, the information underneath is like the person's body, and the specific words, structures, and arrangements that are used are like the clothes. Just as we can dress one person in several different fashions, we can dress a single message in several different literary styles:

Name_______________________________ Writing Style (Jan 19)

INFORMAL STYLE

FORMAL STYLE

Conversational– Informal writing is similar to a spoken conversation.  Informal writing may include slang, figures of speech, broken syntax, asides and so on.  Informal writing takes a personal tone as if you were speaking directly to your audience (the reader). You can use the first person point of view (I and we), and you are likely to address the reader using second person (you and your).

Third Person – Formal writing is not a personal writing style.  The formal writer is disconnected from the topic and does not use the first person point of view (I or we) or second person (you).

Simple – Short sentences are acceptable and sometimes essential to making a point in informal writing. There may be incomplete sentences or ellipsis (…) to make points.

Complex – Longer sentences are likely to be more prevalent in formal writing. You need to be as thorough as possible with your approach to each topic when you are using a formal style. Each main point needs to be introduced, elaborated and concluded.

Contractions and Abbreviations – Words are likely to be simplified using contractions (for example, I’m, doesn’t, couldn’t, it’s) and abbreviations (e.g. TV, photos) whenever possible.

Full Words – No contractions should be used to simplify words (in other words use "It is" rather than "It's").  Abbreviations must be spelt out in full when first used, the only exceptions being when the acronym is better known than the full name (BBC, ITV or NATO for example).

Emotional – The author can show empathy and emotion towards the reader and/or topic.

Objective –A formal writing style shows a limited range of emotions and avoids emotive punctuation such as exclamation points, ellipsis, etc., unless they are being cited from another source.

When to Use Formal and Informal Writing

A formal writing style is not necessarily “better” than an informal style, rather each style serves a different purpose and care should be taken in choosing which style to use in each case.  

Writing for professional purposes is likely to require the formal style, although individual communications can use the informal style once you are familiar with the recipient.

Note that emails tend to lend themselves to a less formal style than paper-based communications, but you should still avoid the use of "text talk".

Name_______________________________ Writing Style (Jan 19)

If in doubt as to how formal your writing should be, it is usually better to err on the side of caution and be formal rather than informal.

DIRECTIONS: Below this chart are two readings from books by Mark Twain. Reading A is from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Reading B is from Life on the Mississippi. Twain uses different styles in these different books. Fill in the blank chart with QUOTES from the readings that show how informal and formal styles are different.

INFORMAL STYLE

FORMAL STYLE

Conversational– Third Person –

Simple – Complex –

Contractions and Abbreviations – Full Words –

Emotional – Objective –

Reading A: The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnYou don’t know about me…but that ain’t no matter…Tom and me found the money that the robbers hid

in the cave, and it made us rich. We got six thousand dollars apiece—all gold. It was an awful sight of money when it was piled up. Well, Judge Thatcher he took it and put it out at interest, and it fetched us a dollar a day apiece all the year round—more than a body could tell what to do with. The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back.

The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it. She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn’t do nothing but sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up. Well, then, the old thing commenced again. The widow rung a bell for supper, and you had to come to time. When you got to the table you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn’t really anything the matter with them,—that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.

Reading B: Life on the Mississippi The date 1542, standing by itself, means little or nothing; but when one groups a few neighboring

historical dates and facts around it, he adds perspective and color, and then realizes that this is one of the American dates which is quite respectable for age.

For instance, when the Mississippi was first seen by a white man, less than a quarter of a century had elapsed since Francis I.'s defeat at Pavia; the death of Raphael; the death of Bayard, Sans Peur Et Sans Reproche; the driving out of the Knights-Hospitallers from Rhodes by the Turks; and the placarding of the Ninety-Five Propositions,—the act which began the Reformation. When De Soto took his glimpse of the river, Ignatius Loyola was an obscure name; the order of the Jesuits was not yet a year old; Michael Angelo's paint was not yet dry on the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel; Mary Queen of Scots was not yet born, but would

Name_______________________________ Writing Style (Jan 19)

be before the year closed. Catherine de Medici was a child; Elizabeth of England was not yet in her teens; Calvin, Benvenuto Cellini, and the Emperor Charles V. were at the top of their fame, and each was manufacturing history after his own peculiar fashion…

PRACTICE with INFORMAL vs. FORMAL style

Directions: In column A, write a message to a friend using INFORMAL style. In column B, write a message to a teacher, parent, or employer using FORMAL style. You may work with a partner.

COLUMN A: INFORMAL STYLE COLUMN B: FORMAL STYLE

Name_______________________________ Writing Style (Jan 19)