Formal and Informal Voice
Formal and informal are both correct. Could you please help me and can you give me a hand mean the same thing; the skill is matching the voice to your reader.
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The Mayor says it one way and Slang says it another, the same meaning in two registers, and the writer's whole job is picking the one that fits the reader.
The full Writing Company lesson cycle is coming.
Hey, can you give me a hand with this?
Could you please help me with this?
Neither one is wrong. Give me a hand fits a friend; could you please help me fits a stranger or a teacher. Knowing both, and choosing on purpose, is the move.
- Name your reader: a friend, or a principal?
- Decide the register that fits: the hang-out voice or the dress-up voice.
- Choose words that match, then read it back as that reader would hear it.
Play it in the Arcade.
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The same meaning, two correct ways. The Mayor says it formal, Slang says it loose. Match the register and learn to fit your words to the moment.
Play Two Ways to Say It →Dear Principal Diaz, the field trip was totally awesome and the bus was lit.
Dear Principal Diaz, the field trip was wonderful and the bus ride was fun.
Awesome and lit are not wrong words, they just do not fit a note to a principal. The register is off, not the meaning. Save the hang-out voice for a friend.
Gabby Verbose will remind you that piling on more words is not the same as sounding formal; the Mayor keeps it clear.
A real writing skill, Grades 1 through 8.
Formal and Informal Voice is one of the nine Writing Company chapters, where Grammaropolis teaches writing and composition. It maps to a Common Core writing strand; the per-grade, per-framework alignment fills in as the workbook line and the lesson cycle come online.
The Writer's Workshop, where the Mayor reads finished writing himself, returns soon.
Formal and Informal Voice serves CCSS L.x.3.B (register and style) and L.x.6 (vocabulary for purpose).
Other Writing Company chapters.
Back to the Writing Company → The Writing Company workbooks → Try Wonderful Words →
The Writer's Workshop, where the Mayor reads finished writing himself, returns soon.
Ready to write?
Play the live game to practice the move. The Writer's Workshop, where the Mayor reads a finished piece himself and certifies it Gold, Silver, or Bronze, returns soon. The full Writing Company lesson cycle is coming.