Enhancing Formal Writing Skills
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Castiqlianie LuoEnhancing Formal Writing Skills
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Castiqlianie LuoName: _________________ Date: _________________
Formal Writing Style
Use the hints in brackets to help make these sentences more formal. There might
be several possible answers, and you will need to rewrite most of them
completely, not just substitute a few words.
1. It is obvious that you need good teachers to improve. (Change this to the 3rd person;
maybe use a passive; maybe use a noun.)
2. Interest rates have risen. This could be a problem for house buyers. Many people with
savings welcome the increase.
(Join sentences; maybe add some linking words, e.g. to show contrast.)
3. You need to study for at least three years for a degree. (Change this to the 3rd person;
maybe use a noun; maybe use a passive.)
4. Should businesses run schools or should it be the government’s responsibility? (Get rid
of the question)
5. The college is doing well. There had been difficulties at the beginning. It now has over
1000 students. They often continue onto university.
(Join sentences; maybe add some linking words, e.g. to show contrast.)
6. The company started in 1992. It sold office equipment, for example mobile phones,
photocopiers and fax machines. It also sold computers. Computers were just becoming
affordable. They cost around £500. More people started buying them. (Join sentences;
maybe add some linking words.)
7. I would argue that increasing student numbers can cause problems. For example, do we
have the resources to teach them? Do most young people want to study at 16 rather
than work? How do we pay for it? These are all issues that I will discuss in my essay.
(Join sentences; get rid of questions; change to 3rd person, maybe by using passives.)
8. The writer points to the main problem. This is the lack of skilled workers. This has meant
that businesses spend more time and money on recruitment. This has led to higher
costs. These have been passed onto the consumer. Is there a solution? (Join sentences;
get rid of question.)
9. They discovered a link between cancer and certain genes, and this changed medical
care completely. (Use more nouns)
10. She responded to being promoted by thanking all staff by email. (Use more nouns)
Do the same again, but with no hints.
1. We need to change the prospectus.
2. If you pass with good grades, you could apply to any university.
3. Applications have fallen. This is because there is a recession. It could be a problem for
some. It could be an opportunity for others.
4. You must not smoke in public places.
5. They elected a new Chancellor. She had been Head of International before. In that job,
she had recruited foreign students. She intends to target such students. They often pay
higher fees.
6. Are exams easier than 10 years ago, or are students better at passing them?
7. The essay was well written. It had clear structure. It had good content. It had formal
language. She received an excellent mark.
8. I will decide on the choice of career in my final year. This is because I have not done
enough research yet on the job market. This will take at least six months.
9. I would like to point out the advantages of speaking a foreign language. It is useful for
travelling. It helps you understand other cultures. You can find jobs abroad. So why do
so many students drop the subject at 14 and does this damage our economy?
10. She wrote the report in just two days. This meant she had more time to spend on doing
interviews. These were with her co-workers. These were needed to complete the
presentation.
Common questions
Powered by AIRemoving rhetorical questions can improve the formality of a written piece by eliminating informality and direct addresses to the reader, which can be seen as unsophisticated or casual. Transforming questions into statements or assertions enables the text to maintain an objective tone. For instance, instead of asking 'Is there a solution?', a more formal version would be 'Finding a solution remains a priority,' which posits an answer rather than raising an open question.
Increasing student numbers can strain resources, leading to larger class sizes, reduced individual attention, and overburdened facilities, thereby potentially diminishing the quality of education. Ensuring adequate funding, infrastructure, and staffing is crucial to balance this growth. Moreover, curriculum adaptations and innovations in teaching methodologies might be needed to meet diverse needs without compromising education standards.
Passive constructions can lead to ambiguity by obscuring the actor responsible for an action, and they can make sentences unnecessarily complex and verbose. These challenges can be mitigated by ensuring that the use of passive voice actually serves a clear purpose, such as focusing on the action or the result rather than the actor, and by maintaining overall sentence brevity and clarity. For example, instead of saying, 'It is known that students need to study for at least three years for a degree,' it can be rewritten as 'A degree requires at least three years of study,' focusing on the requirement rather than the doer of the action.
Linking words play a critical role in enhancing coherence by connecting ideas, sentences, and paragraphs, thus guiding the reader through the text. They can be effectively used to show contrast, cause and effect, or to add additional information, making the relationships between ideas explicit. For example, phrases like 'in contrast' or 'as a result' can be used to join sentences while adding clarity about the relationship between concepts, such as in the sentence 'Interest rates have risen, which could be a problem for house buyers; in contrast, many people with savings welcome the increase.'
Understanding multiple languages enhances economic exchanges by facilitating communication, reducing misunderstandings, and enabling access to broader markets, thus creating more business opportunities. Culturally, it allows for deeper understanding and appreciation of diverse traditions, which fosters international collaborations and social harmony. Despite these benefits, language skills are often undervalued, leading to educational policy dilemmas, such as students dropping language subjects early, limiting future competitive advantages.
Joining fragmented sentences benefits the formal quality of an argument by enhancing coherence and flow, making the argument more persuasive and easier to follow. It allows for the seamless integration of related ideas, thereby reducing redundancy and fragmentation. For instance, instead of 'The company started in 1992. It sold office equipment. It also sold computers. Computers were becoming affordable.', a cohesive version would be 'Founded in 1992, the company sold both office equipment and increasingly affordable computers.' This version efficiently conveys the progression and significance of events.
High tuition fees might reduce foreign student enrollment by making education less affordable and attractive, potentially discouraging applicants from economically diverse backgrounds. This could limit the cultural diversity and global perspectives that foreign students bring to a university environment. Alternatively, higher fees might be justified by enhanced resources and programs that attract students who are less sensitive to cost, thus maintaining or even increasing enrollment but altering the demographic makeup.
Eliminating personal pronouns and direct address to the reader in formal writing is important because it helps maintain an objective and impersonal tone, which is crucial for conveying authority and neutrality. Such writing avoids suggesting subjectivity or a personal stake in the arguments presented. For example, rewriting 'you need to study for at least three years for a degree' as 'a degree requires at least three years of study' removes direct address, focusing on the general requirement instead.
The discovery of genetic links to diseases can revolutionize healthcare by enabling personalized medicine, where treatments are tailored to individual genetic profiles, improving efficacy and reducing adverse effects. It can facilitate early diagnostics, preventive measures, and the development of targeted therapies, thereby shifting healthcare from reactive to proactive. This transformation requires recalibration of medical training, healthcare policies, and ethical considerations regarding genetic data handling and privacy.
Using passive voice and more nouns in formal writing can improve clarity and precision by shifting the focus from a direct subject to the action or outcome itself. This can emphasize the objective result rather than the entity involved, which is suitable for formal contexts. Moreover, using nouns instead of verbs can help in clearly stating the main idea without the need for additional clauses. For instance, the sentence 'A link between cancer and certain genes was discovered, fundamentally altering medical care' emphasizes the discovery and its impact, rather than the researchers who discovered it.