Writing 3 - informal writing - independent lesson

• Engels
• MBO
• Studiejaar 3

Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to this individual lesson. Today you will work on your writing. Just a reminder: do your exercises in your Language Portfolio. This way  I can check it during the week (especially handy now that I'm not here). Now lets get started...

Today's session

Subject: informal writing. 

- Repeat: linking words (conjugations)

- informal writing: register

Goal: use the information you get today to improve your informal writing

Repetition 

Conjunctions

Repetition: conjunctions (linking words)

To make your writing more  natural, use these five words which connect ideas. 

And: uitbreiding, "en"

     - We went to the beach and loved it cause it was so sunny!

But: tegenstelling "maar".

      - We went to the beach, but the water was too cold for swimming

Although tegenstelling "hoewel".

      - Although it was raining, we went to the beach anyway

Because: reden "omdat"

     - We went to the beach because it was a sunny day

So: gevold "dus"

     - It was a sunny day so we went to the beach.

Make 2 sentences each (10 in total) with the conjunctions from the previous page

Informal writing

The last two weeks we looked at formal writing. We talked about greetings and salutations. Remember "Dear" and "kind regards"?

Some things used in formal writing can also be used in informal writing, such as paragraphs ( alinea's), punctuation and spelling. However, some things are different, such as register (informal language) and different greetings. Let's have a look at register...

Register

The register you use can influence how your writing is read. By using more informal language, you sound more natural to friends and family etc. There's multiple ways to do that. Today we look at 4:

1. Idioms. Idioms are combination of words that don't have a literal meaning. Some examples:

"we had a blast" = we had a lot of fun

"it cost me an arm and a leg" = it cost a lot of money

"that was a piece of cake" = that was very easy

Have a look on the internet for some other common idioms. Find three that you like and write them down here + what they mean. You will try to use these idioms later in an informal email that you will write later this lesson.

2. Expressions

Expressions are groups of words that are used to express an idea. These are mostly literal. There is often a formal and informal way of using these. We looked at some two weeks ago for formal writing. Here are some of those with their informal equivalent:

I regret to inform you <-> I hate to have to tell you this but...

I am writing to you regarding <-> Just a quick email to let you know...

If I an be of any further assistance <-> Let me know if you need any help

Also:

I hope you are well <-> how's it going?

Try to think of informal versions of the following formal expressions:
1. I would like to remind you that...
2. We were hoping you could...
3. I'd like to express my apologies for...
4 I regret to inform you that I won't be able to make it.

3. Leave things out

There are different ways to leave things out of sentences/make them shorter:

1. Dropping the word I: "can't believe what just happened" "don't know"

2. Using contractions: you're/you are - couldn't/could not - isn't/is not

3. Abbreviations: 

    - tv vs television

    - see you in the AM <-> see you in the morning

    -  I can do mon/tue/fr <-> I can meet on monday tuesday or friday

4. Emotion

In informal writing you can be more friendly. You can do this by:

1. Expressing emotion, for example "I love that" rather than "I think that's a good idea"

2. Use exclamation marks!!

4. Use interjections such as "ahhww" " no way!"  "oops" and "yikes" "like"

3. Use emojis ;)

Writing 

Click THIS link. Do the assignment. Write the email in your language portfolio. 

Rounding off

Goal: use the information you get today to improve your informal writing

Do you feel like you've achieved the goal for today? Are there any things that you feel like you can still learn when it comes to informal writing?