Writing

 Style- The way we express our ideas.

 Substance – The content of a text.

“People think that I can teach them
style. What stuff it all is! Have
something to say, and say it as clearly
as you can. That is the only secret of
style.”
 It will be ‘familiar’ without being coarse and ‘elegant’
without being ostentatious. That is to say, if we may be
so bold as to try to paraphrase Johnson, it will have a
kind of natural simplicity which avoids showiness.
These qualities depend on two things: the appropriate
choice of words and the appropriate arrangement of
words. A twofold discipline is required of the good
stylist, the discipline which forswears laxity and self-
indulgence in the selection of words, and the discipline
which forswears laxity and sloppiness in their
arrangement.
 Standard English is the variety of
English used in public communication,
particularly in writing. It is the form
taught in schools and used by educated
speakers. It is not limited to a particular
region and can be spoken with any
accent.
 Thereare differences in vocabulary and
grammar between sandard English and
other varieties. For example, we were
robbed and look at those trees are
standard English; we was robbed and
look at them trees are non-standard.
 Tocommunicate effectively in a range
of situations – written and oral – it is
necessary to be able to use standard
English, and to recognize when it is
appropriate to use it in preference to
any other variety
 Note that standard British English is not
the only standard variety; other
English-speaking countries, such as the
United States and Australia, have their
own standard forms.
 

 (National Literacy Strategy Glossary –

DfEE)
 Formal language is speech or writing which most
closely adheres to Standard English. It is
 used most often in serious situations, for instance in
job applications or official reports. Its purpose is to
make meaning as clear as possible. Formal language
can be found in things like television news reports,
speeches in debates, legal documents, encyclopedia
entries and application forms.
 aims at an unknown audience
 tries to be clear and explicit
 tends to contain more sentences in the passive
voice
 avoids contractions such as can’t
 makes full use of specialist terms
 avoids colloquialism and slang
 avoids constructions that have been criticized
as poor grammar, such as double negatives,
split infinitives and hanging participles.
 Informal language is usually friendly in tone and
more tolerant of non-standard words or
expressions. There are many levels of informal
language but in general it:
 is personal rather than impersonal.
 is addressed to a known or familiar audience.
 uses contractions such as it’s or can’t.
 uses more comment clauses such as I think or
unfortunately .
 uses active rather than passive verbs.
 often addresses the reader as you.

 makes some use of colloquial language.

Colloquial language is the type used in

conversation. It is informally structured and
often includes slang, dialect terms and
contracted forms of words.
 Standard English is a dialect of English. There are
many others, both within and beyond the British Isles,
such as Yorkshire dialect, Estuary English, American
English and Jamaican English. Peole often confuse
dialect with accent and assume that because someone
is speaking with a regional accent they must be using a
dialect. This is not the case. Dialects have their own
grammatical rules and vocabulary whereas accent is
concerned only with pronunciation. Dialect forms were
seen as sub-standard English in the past but nowadays
the only objection to them is that they might make
communication difficult outside the area in which the
dialect is used.
 In some dictionaries it’s possible to find certain words
marked with specialist subject labels such as medicine or
computers. If these words are used in a medical or
computing context they do not present a problem but if
they are used outside their specialist fields they are
referred to as jargon. Jargon has two uses: It helps people
in the same group or profession to identify each other and
exclude others and it makes the user seem knowledgeable
to outsiders. Jargon is acceptable in informal contexts,
particularly when a known audience is being addressed,
but it is considered impolite and possibly confusing to use it
when addressing an unknown audience. Some groups
make up a jargon deliberately to exclude others, for
instance Cockney rhyming slang was originally a thieves’
jargon designed to confuse the law enforcement agents.
 Think of some words that
are typical of our area and
make a list below.
 Taboo words are frowned upon in formal use.
Most are sexual in nature or to do with the
body or bodily functions. Taboo words are
common in informal speech and can be
extremely versatile in how they are applied.
Words labelled taboo in some dictionaries are
likely to give offence to some readers and are
generally best avoided unless the intention is
to shock or to give a flavour of spoken English.
 One final type of language that is frequently
criticized is the cliché. A dictionary cannot really
help with identifying clichés as they consist of
phrases rather than words. A cliché is an expression
which has been overused to the point that it has
either lost its original meaning or is irritating to large
numbers of people. Clichés become overused
because they express a common situation or
because they are fashionable. ‘All’s fair in love and
war’ is an example of the former type and ‘at the end
of the day’ of the latter.
Don't throw the baby out with the
bathwater!
 Many hands make light work.

 Don't
put off until tomorrow what you
can do today.

 There's no place like home.

 A empresa conta com filiais e distribuidores
em todo o mundo, atuando na área agrícola
não apenas com o salitre, mas também com
outros sais, fertilizantes solúveis e na área
industrial. (Anuário Brasileiro do Fumo de
1999)
 Filial e distribuidor são muito diferentes. Quantos
de cada? 
 “Em todo o mundo” é muito vago. Em quantos e
quais países e/ou continentes, não daria para ser
mais específico?
 O verbo “atuar” é muito vago. “Atuando na área
agrícola” pode significar: plantando,
processando, industrializando implementos,
comercializando produtos agrícolas, prestando
consultoria administrativa a fazenda-empresa.
Qual deles? Não daria para ser mais específico?
 Qual a diferença entre sais e
fertilizantes? A que se destinam os
sais? Não seria um uma sub-categoria
do outro?
 Existe fertilizante não-solúvel?

 “e na área industrial”, o que,

exatamente significa?