by Greer Phillips
The debate as to whether or not people should write in the style they speak has been going on for many years. While this debate can be argued using formal vs informal language, many people see it as a debate of race and the acceptance of all dialects. While I chose to acknowledge this part of the debate, I will focus more on informal and formal writing and the idea of writing how we speak. Many people believe that formal writing should be the main form of writing taught in schools so that students can learn how to communicate well in higher academic and professional environments. However, many other people also believe that teaching students to adhere to grammar and vocabulary rules takes away the student’s opportunity to put their unique voice into their writing, as they can do when speaking. Members of the writing community, which is everyone who can write, are often pressured to pick the side of the debate they support and to stick with it; however, the solution might just fall in the middle ground.
For me, it wasn’t until college that I was encouraged to write some of my papers in a more informal style. Every English class I have taken up until this point has been strictly grammar and vocabulary focused; instilling in me that writing is supposed to be formal and to be formal it must adhere to standard English rules. Because of this, if you listened to me talk and then read one of my papers, you may not be able to tell that it is the same person. When I write, my vocabulary seems to expand far beyond the vocabulary I have when I speak; even when I try to speak formally, it does not compare to my writing. Since I learned to write, I have been repeatedly told to use bigger vocabulary words, adhere to proper grammar, and follow a specific structure, which has led me to write more formally. When I am speaking, however, no one is constantly telling me to do these things which is why I speak so much differently than I write. By teaching me to write formally, past teachers have taught me to view writing as a skill that takes years of practice to become great.
One reason formal writing is taught in schools is because it helps students to excel in their future academic careers as well as further into their professional careers. Formal writing makes the writer appear to be well educated, organized, and confident in their topic which is why it is most commonly used in academic and professional settings. Academically, students must display knowledge of their topic and typically must also follow grammar rules to get good grades which is why formal writing is beneficial. This helps to provide students with practice writing formally so when it matters, in professional settings, they have the skills to write in this style effectively. Professionally, it is important to write formally to show respect to your superiors and, as discussed before, to appear well educated, organized, and confident in your topic so that it could benefit your professional advancement. Employers often prefer well-spoken and intelligent people in higher-up positions, so writing formally can help you to appeal to the qualities their employer may be looking for. Most successful people, who may be your competition for higher-up positions, are already well equipped with the skills to write formally. Being able to speak to the higher-ups using the language they use can make you a more favorable candidate and allow you more power to pursue and share your ideas. This helps to explain Stanley Fish’s quote “[y]ou’re not going to be able to change the world if you are not equipped with the tools that speak to its present condition.” Being able to speak in a way that matches your surroundings can help your ideas advance over others and give you more success.
So what is formal writing? To me, formal writing can be described as standard English. One important characteristic of formal writing is vocabulary. When writing formally, it is important to refrain from using slang and to use sophisticated vocabulary words. As discussed earlier, this helps to achieve one of the many purposes of formal writing which is to appear intelligent and it also prevents the reader from misunderstanding words that, since they are slang, may not be easily found in a dictionary. Another characteristic my teachers spent a lot of time teaching me was proper grammar and punctuation. By using these two things, the writer is not only making themselves appear more knowledgeable, but they are also making it easier for the reader to understand. Another important thing to do when writing formally is to avoid the use of first and second-person pronouns. In formal writing, it is often important to refrain from talking about yourself by using pronouns such as “I” and “we” so that the piece can remain objective (Love2Edit). It is also important to avoid pronouns that include the reader, such as “we” and “you”, since the statements you are including the reader in may not apply to the them. To look at the overall picture, all formal writing also typically follows a similar structure. Formal writing starts with an introduction and ends with a conclusion and the body paragraphs that fall between are meant to provide information on the topic. Formally written paragraphs tend to have supporting evidence and can often be quite long in length. Formal writing also needs to have a nice flow so there must be transitions between each paragraph and the paragraphs should be arranged in an order so that the information can be easily understood. That means that, for example, if the writer was discussing a series of events, it might be best to arrange the discussion of these events in chronological order. These, while they are only some, are, what I believe, the most important characteristics of formal writing. Having this many rules is what makes writing an art; without practice and knowledge of the rules of formal writing, it can not be done well.
While formal writing is a very important skill to have, informal writing is equally important. As I discussed prior, much of my writing education has focused on formal writing. This has made it challenging for me to adapt to situations where it may be beneficial or even necessary for me to write informally. I often find myself struggling to refrain from using large vocabulary words and writing in long structured sentences. Many teachers start by teaching students to write informally before they write formally. This allows students to grow more confident and to be less intimidated by all the rules formal writing has (“Students May be Intimidated”). Informal writing is overall more casual and has fewer rules. While punctuation and grammar are still important, the vocabulary used is much more relaxed. Many informal writing pieces include slang so that they are popular among specific crowds. Informal writing pieces also possess a much more casual structure which can be seen through the shorter sentences and paragraphs This makes informal writing much easier, for most people, to write as well as to read. While informal writing may not always be acceptable to use in academic or professional settings, there are many settings where informal writing excels over formal writing. Informal writing is often necessary for writing commercial scripts, advertisements, flyers, and many more things. This is because informal writing does not take as long for the reader to understand or read due to its shorter length and more casual vocabulary so it makes things it may be advertising more appealing. While informal writing does not consist of as many rules or is as structured as formal writing, it is still equally important.
Now, onto the debate of writing as we speak. Most people, including myself, often speak informally, so if people were to truly write how they speak, there would be very few works of formal writing. Although people may write informally, which can be similar to how they speak, very rarely do people actually write exactly how they speak. If you were to close your eyes and only listen to a person speak, it would likely be confusing since people often mess up, backtrack, or do not always clearly convey what they mean. This means, if it were written it would be very confusing to readers due to the common mistakes people make when speaking. Two reasons that it’s not confusing when people speak directly to us is because we can ask questions and we are also able to read their facial features and body gestures to get a better understanding as to what the speaker is trying to portray; two things we are not able to do when we read a piece of work (Cline). As I have discussed throughout the entirety of this blog, there are times to write informally and there are times to write formally. To excel academically or professionally, it is necessary for people to be knowledgeable of standard English and to have the ability to write well formally. Being able to portray oneself as being intelligent is very important for advancing one’s ideas in the workplace, but the same intelligence cannot always be portrayed through informal writing. However, as I also discussed previously, there are times where informal writing is beneficial and appeals more to popularity. With informal writing, the author has more freedom to write how they would speak by using slang and other unique stylistic choices. This illustrates that while some people may argue that people should write how they speak, the true answer is that while it is important to be comfortable writing how we speak, informally, we must also have the ability to shift to formal writing when it is called for.
Formal writing is an important skill all students should be taught to help them in their future academic and professional careers; however, it is equally important that students are taught to be comfortable writing informally. Being able to switch between writing as we speak, informally, and writing in a way that appears more well thought out and intelligent, formally, can help people become more successful in every aspect of their lives.
Works Cited
Cline, Casey. “Do You Write the Way You Speak? Here’s Why Most Good Writers Don’t.” Verblio, 17 May 2017, https://www.verblio.com/blog/write-the-way-you-speak. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.
Fish, Stanley. “What Should Colleges Teach Part 3.” New York Times, 7 Sep. 2009, https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/what-should-colleges-teach-part-3/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021
Love2Edit. “The Importance of Formal Writing.” Servicescape, 17 Dec. 2010, https://www.servicescape.com/blog/the-importance-of-formal-writing. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.
“Students May be Intimidated by Writing and Lack Confidence in Their Abilities.” Carnegie Mellon University, Eberly Center, https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/solveproblem/strat-cantwrite/cantwrite-05.html. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.
