The scale of formality | Style | Grammar Video Lecture | Complete Course on English Grammar: Upgrade your Speaking & Listening - Personal Skills

hello grammarians hello Rosie hi David
so we're going to be talking about what
we call the spectrum of formality today
in the context of language style so
balancing your style between formal and
informal language when it's appropriate
is just a general life skill but it's
also something that's tested on the SAT
and you can check out Khan Academy org
slash SAT to find out more about that so
when we talk about formal versus
informal language what we're really
talking about is this this thing called
register what is appropriate for the
whether it's like a social occasion or a
style of writing that you're attempting
to do you know what what register should
you speak in so let me give you an
example Gary Evans the esteemed chairman
of the board is blank right we have this
sentence we want to fill in this blank
with something there are a couple of
ways we could do this we could say Gary
Evans the esteemed chairman of the board
is a pretty decent dude now there are a
couple of things that tell me that a
pretty decent dude is not stylistically
appropriate for this sentence and it's
both that we're applying the adjectives
esteemed to Gary and that we're giving
him this highfalutin title chairman of
the board and so probably in this
situation we wouldn't want to say we
wouldn't want to use this kind of slangy
informal language it pretty decent dude
right there's a level of respect that
we're conveying with this esteemed
chairman of the board so instead I don't
know Rosie what what another thing we
could put in there let's say Gary Evans
the esteemed chairman of the board is a
renowned philanthropist woo a renowned
philanthropist so in addition to being
like a large $4 word philanthropist is a
word that just means like someone who
literally loves people and this refer
- you know generosity of this person and
so we can tell by the respect that we
are recording this person by the use of
word esteemed that renowned
philanthropist probably an appropriate
set of words to use described as man but
what we just showed you was an example
of being insufficiently formal here's
what it looks like if you're too formal
please join us for little Phillips first
birthday celebration this festive
occasion will include look London
certain point for the version in which
you can partake so this is a little
boy's birthday party let's you know this
is not a steak dinner may be relit him
you have to tailor the content of what
you're trying to write to its context
right like how how fancy is the first
birthday party of a little boy going to
be receive you've been to a child's
first birthday party
an adult I have it was not this fancy no
but it wasn't you know the prints of the
country or something right like okay
I'll give you a pass if if like little
Philip is the Prince of your nation yes
otherwise like this first sentence is
fine please join us for little Philips
first birthday celebration this
specification will include an abundance
of delightful diversions in which you
can partake may be little much so we
were going to rewrite this I would
probably tone down the language a little
bit and just Ratchet it back I might
even go so far as to say little I like
it maybe throw in an exclamation point
because we're excited this just seems
this language seems a little stuffy even
though we're describing a party it seems
very emotionally removed from part eNOS
so that's much better thank you so
please join us for a little Philips
first birthday party it's going to be
fun we'll have cake and games let us
know if you can make it you know so so
we're taking this this content you
there's abundance of delightful
diversion
which suppose that a first birthday
party would probably again be cake and
games there's not there's not really
that much that a one-year-old can do at
a party can and so we're taking this
this high register this formal register
language and then just kind of dialing
it back a couple of notches so we've got
we've got formal on this on the side
informal over here you're here you want
to be at about here the main thing your
main indicator for whether or not
language is formal or informal is the
kind of vocabulary that you choose to
deploy so the more informal you are the
more likely you are to use silly
vocabulary or made-up words and
contraction contractions so the more of
the more informal contractions slang
profanity I mean look like we here at
Khan Academy we're not advising you to
curse all over the place but if you must
do it in an informal setting right like
formal settings are not suitable for
obscenity that's why it's called
obscenity and then the more the more
formal your language becomes the more
likely your vocabulary is to become more
complex or or specialized like if I were
let's say I were a doctor and I were
addressing a doctor's convention I would
probably use a lot of doctor language
right like specialized vocab the more
formal you are as rosie was saying the
less likely you are to use contractions
so full constructions so an example of
that would be on the informal side of
the scale you might say can't wear the
formal you would say cannot yeah I mean
I think I think the the other side of
the profanity is potentially more
respectful depending on who you're
speaking with so you might address
someone
you know you might address someone sir
formal language generally means a more
respectful form of address so if I were
to say like on the informal side yeah
buddy
extremely informal as opposed to excuse
me sir quite formal so yeah so I guess I
guess the big takeaway here Rosie right
is just consider your context exactly
you know you're you're taking a look at
the situation that you're in and
considering what kind of language is
going to be appropriate in that
situation is it going to be informal
talking to your friend or is it a formal
dinner party where you would use
different vocabulary and more formal
language the way our colleague grant
described it to me is this it's it's
useful to have a tuxedo in your closet
but you wouldn't wear it to a beach
party
exactly you know um so so reserve your
formal and the informal language for
contexts when it is necessary just like
you wouldn't wear formal shoes to the
beach neither would you show up you know
in flip-flops before a joint session of
Congress exactly whether you're writing
or speaking always consider your context
consider your audience and from that
consider the way that you deploy
language you can learn anything David
out Randy out