Formal Writing Tips - An Essay

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 4,5

Part one - An essay

For an Anglia exam you MUST answer a essay question

You need to write 300 words on a given subject in an appropriate style

Two weeks ago we looked at 

The importance of making a plan. 

Planning Is Important

“You can’t cook without a recipe.”

— Jamie Oliver, probably

What are we going to do today?

Informal Language -> formal 

Avoid the word  personal "you" when you mean people in general

• When you get a job , you can learn a lot of skills.
  
• When people are offered a job, they can acquire new skills.
  

Use more academic nouns for concepts that in informal English are expressed in verbs.

• A lot of people have got a car now. 
•  There has been a huge increase in car ownership in recent years.

Formal and Informal English

Formal English: We use it when writing essays for school, cover letters to apply for jobs, or emails and letters at work.

Informal English: We use it with friends, children, and relatives.

Essay

• You need to give your opinion in an interesting way. Essays are often academic in tone, so practice of formal writing will be helpful.
• Don't use contractions in formal  writing tasks (I'd/ I'm /wouldn't/ can't / We've/ Let's)
• Use more formal vocabulary
• Inversions and passive voice constructions

https:

https:

When do we use inversion?

We use inversion in several different situations in English. Inversion just means putting the verb before the subject. We usually do it in question forms:

Normal sentence: You are tired. (The subject is 'you'. It's before the verb 'are'.)

Question form: Are you tired? (The verb 'are' is before the subject 'you'. They have changed places. This is called inversion.)

Sometimes we use inversion in other cases, when we are not making a question.

When we use a negative adverb or adverb phrase at the beginning of the sentence it can sound quite formal: 

Seldom have I seen such beautiful work.

('Seldom' is at the beginning, so we use inversion. This sentence emphasizes what beautiful work it is.)

I have seldom seen such beautiful work.

('Seldom' is in the normal place, so we don't use inversion. This is a normal sentence with no special emphasis.)

Here are some negative adverbs and adverb phrases that we often use with inversion:

Self study

Slide 17: Practice with the formal vocabulary using the link on the next slide: Scroll to the bottom to test yourself

Slide 18: online inversion exercises

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