FORMAL AND INFORMAL ENGLISH

There are many ways to say the same thing. Now…. when planning how to ask  for something or make a request, we have to consider different factors like who the receiver of our message is, what we really want to get from our message, and many other things….  Check this out:

Gimme the salt!   or     Would you please pass me the salt?

Same idea, same objective, but probably different context and/or different addressee (person recieving the message)

Here you have some links to a few complete and good documents to learn or revise this topic. I hope you find them useful:

– great ppt with a very complete view and examples about formaliy vs. colloquial English

– This is another great ppt, this time focussing on Spoken English, it includes interesting examples – two videos of Obama exemplifying both levels of formality

– Written English  and levels of formality

For advanced learners:

Try these exercises to see how well you can use formal and informal language. Then watch our video on how to create a formal tone in letters.

• Formal and informal expressions
• Phrasal verbs and their equivalents
• Formal grammatical patterns

Try putting your skills to the test with these two quizzes.

• Informal to formal exercise
• Formal to informal exercise

Writing tips

This website will help your writing skills, specially if you are doing a writing test soon.

http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/

THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS is

 

Any suggestions?

Think about it, jot down some ideas to develop later either in writing or speaking with a mate.

Try to use newly learnt vocabulary for practice and elaborate your sentences as much as posible to make grammar alive!

If you’re just not in the mood of brainy impressions…. just take a look at what other people have said about it:  search the net 

 

Literature in English

We are an international group discussing literature in English. Newcomers are welcome.

We meet once a month, usually Thursdays, from 20:00 to 22:00 to discuss short pieces of fiction or non fiction (poems, short stories, essays…) written in English, either original or in translation.
E-mail us at madshortsmadrid@gmail.com

Chat rooms and forums for learning English

Practice English by chatting with a native speaker or with another learner 

My Language Exchange: http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/TextChat.asp

LEO Network’s chat rooms: http://www.learnenglish.de/livechat.html

English Club’s chat rooms: http://www.englishclub.com/esl-chat/index.htm

ESL Chat Central: http://host8.123flashchat.com/eslcafe/

Paltalk Video Chat: http://www.paltalk.com/

The Mixer, language exchanges via Skype: http://www.language-exchanges.org/content/mixxer-free-educational-website-language-exchanges-skype

Virtual chat rooms:

http://www.boombang.tv/chooser.php

http://secondlife.com/

FORUMS: http://www.epals.com/forums/default.aspx?GroupID=52

Vocabulary flashcards and videos

http://www.vocabahead.com/

This site is great for vocabulary learning! It has been particularly designed for American High school students preparing to take the College Board SAT, an aptitude test.  However, it’ll be of great help for those intermediate to advanced students learning English as a second/foreign language.

It is an interactive tool which allows you to interact with the words you want to learn. It offers hundreds of videos and flash cards, which include audio, to help you learn vocabulary using all your senses. Doing so, you’ll quickly realise how easy and fun learning vocabulary can be.

Some practical advice:

> You need to be able to hear the word and how it is pronounced.

> You need to be able to say the word, maybe repeating it or using it in context.

> Seeing the word in its written form is always helpful.

> An activity that encourages you to write would be excellent for both, improving your writing skills and learning and retrieving (remembering) new vocabulary.

Check if the vocabulary you are using in your essay is complex enough

http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/

Self-dictations for independent learners

Good for practicing Listening, Writing, Reading and Speaking (you can also use dictations as listen-and-repeat practice). They are also great for self-correction and language awareness.

It’s worthwhile taking a few minutes once or twice a week to do one of the dictations from this website:

http://www.dictationsonline.com/

Follow their directions and, once you are familiar with them, you can try with other types of audios; those from your text book and check the script afterwards. Try to do the same with some of your favourite songs, interviews or any of the audios from websites for listening practice; check these links out:

http://www.agendaweb.org/listening/advanced.html

https://soniaeoi.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/learning-english-through-audiovisuals/

 https://soniaeoi.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/readers-reading-and-listening/

And remember: have fun as you learn!!

How to write a composition

There are many situations in real life in which you’ll need to exchange information and/or express feelings and opinions in writing.  Bear in mind that when writing, we don’t have our counterpart in front of us; he /she won’t be able to ask you for clarification or repetition, he can’t get any additional information through stress or intonation, facial expression, etc. It’s all about written words. Therefore, we must be clear, organised and as accurate as possible to succeed written communication.  Practice writing compositions and try to read those from your classmates too.  

Here you have some advice about how to deal with writing compositions:

A-Select topic or Study the title /assignment you’ve been given.

B- Brainstorming of ideas: Gather ideas and organize them

C- Express your ideas effectively

D- Proofreading: Revise your composition before handing it in

E- About your teacher’s corrections 

A. 1) Select topic or 2) Study the title /assignment

 1) Select topic

• Choose a subject you know something about. Think about facts and opinions, recall knowledge and personal background experience.
• Distinguish between the following types of subjects:

 Practical: letter, reports, articles, etc. Express yourself with clarity, smoothly, with appropriateness and logic. This type of writings are about facts and everyday situations. Little imagination and creative response is expected from you.

 Imaginative: characters, descriptions, personal, argument, narrative, critical… Creative response is expected: originality, stimulating content or persuasive arguments.

2) Study title /assignment: If you are given a title or theme for your essay studying it will:

•  enable you to think about what you know or don’t know about it. If you can choose between more than one title choose the most appealing to you.  Think carefully; If you are interested in the subject, your essay will be better.
• help you find different ways to tackle it (could this be a description, a narrative, something humorous, ironic, dramatic…?)
• choose the best option for you.

 B. Gather ideas, and organize them

•  The Point: Ask yourself the following questions: what’s the point of the essay? What’s your thesis? Your main idea? What are the secondary ideas developing the main idea?
• Relevance: Write only about the subject, not about whatever.
• Beginnings and Endings : a good beginning will ensure readers go on, it’ll also give the first, and probably most valuable impression. A good ending will also influence your reader’s opinion.
• Shape or structure the contents of the essay.
• Reflect and be original.

 1) Having ideas: Jot down any ideas that come to your mind. Organize them later.

 If ideas are slow to flow…

• Ask yourself a series of questions about the title or the theme to see if anything suggests itself: Where? When? Why? How? Who? What?
• Another means of calling forth ideas, particularly for a descriptive essay, is to take each of the senses in turn and see whether it can be fruitful when applied to the subject. The senses are sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell.
• You can think in categories of knowledge – political, religious, personal, physical, social, historical, geographical, economic, artistic, moral, creative, etc. It is particularly useful for argumentative texts. Choose the most productive for your case.

2) Organising ideas. When organising your ideas, keep this in mind:

•  Clarity: be clear about your intentions, aims and content.
• Relevance: include what’s necessary; facts or interesting description (no beating about the bush!).
• Fluency and Coherence: arrange your content in an easy-to-read way. Avoid gaps and/or repetitions.

 You must have a plan; think about the structure of your text. Your ideas should be arranged in a logical pattern that enables you to see the beginning, the course your essay will take, and how it will end. If some of the ideas don’t fit into the frame­work, discard them.

 C. Express your ideas effectively

 1) Approach (Enfoque).

The approach will help you to write a unified whole! It refers to the place where you’re narrating from; where your vision is. If you stay in that place, your writing will be unified, it won’t be broken up in unconnected pieces.

 Examples of approaches for descriptions

• 24 hours: You could use a time-span as the unifying factor. You could begin your account at dawn, then follow the changing scene throughout the day, ending with nightfall.
•  People: You could concentrate on people, describing each in turn.
•  Activities: Or you could do the same with whatever people are doing.
• Panorama: Imagine you are taking a panorama photograph of the scene. Begin with a general scene and sweep your camera slowly to end with detailed descriptions. 
• Contrast: You could treat the subject focusing in all the contrasts (more impressionistic).

 Approaches for an argumentative essay

• Organize your material under pros and cons, points for and against the argument. A contrast between two different stands can help you write about the subject.
•  However, you could develop your own opinions. You will have to be clear about the point(s) you want to make. Then you’ll have to explain your reasons for stating them (why do you say that?). Try to say things which are relevant (content) and not vague comments and opinions.
• You may order your points under the headings pros & cons. Decide which side of the argument you favour, and how best to counter the points put forward on the other side. 
• What kind of conclusion will you arrive at? You will usually end with your own view, the one you have been leading up to in your presentation of the argument.

 2) Paragraphs

Almost any piece of writing is divided into paragraphs. In the classic paragraph, for example, the topic sentence, a short sentence which tells you what that particular paragraph is about, and the transition to the next idea, another short sentence, fall at the beginning and the end.

Within a paragraph, all the information given should be unified, that is, it should deal with that specific aspect of the subject which has been introduced through the topic sentence. The purpose behind using paragraphs is to help the reader: when she/he comes to the end of one paragraph and begins the next, she knows that she is moving on to another facet of the subject being written about. It also helps the writer to build structure.

 Logical progression

Do you think it is ordered logically? Does it help the reader to follow the argument? If you are aware of its effectiveness you will be able to be critical.

 Beginnings & endings: The two most important aspects of any essay are how to begin and how to finish.

Opening sentence: If you don’t begin in an interesting way, a reader will hardly be encouraged to go on reading. If you end weakly, any power you have achieved or interest you have aroused in the body of your essay will be dissipated. Examples:

 How did that alligator get in the bath?’ demanded my father one morning at breakfast. (The opening of a short story called «My Pet».)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen)

There are two types of selfishness: doing what you want to do, and making others do what you want. (Book review in New Statesman, Michael Holroyd)

When Carmella gave me the present of a hearing trumpet she may have foreseen some of the consequences. (The Hearing Trumpet, Leonora Carrington)

It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. (The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman)

Some guide-lines which emerge from these examples:

•  Try the surprise attack or shock tactics.
• Use a quotation to introduce your argument.
• Try to use words to create an atmosphere.
• Begin with a wittily-phrased summing-up of an idea.
• Begin with a question. 
• Begin pushing the reader to wonder why? or what happens next? or what’s it all about?

 Bad beginnings: To avoid a bad beginning, get to the subject-matter straight away and stick to it till the end, but avoid obvious statements, they are boring for a beginning. Examples of bad beginnings:

Water has many uses. (Title: Water)

As with most questions, there are two sides of the argument. (Title: Capital Punishment)

It was a hot summer’s day (Title: A Hot Summer’s Day)

 Endings: When you have said what you want to say stop, don’t go rambling on repeating yourself.

 If you begin your final paragraph with a sentence like this: Summing up then… In conclusion… So it can be seen that… you are almost certain to be boring and obvious, and you are very likely to be in danger of repeating what you have already said.

 Try to leave the reader with a surprise, a new angle, an original point of view which leaves him / her thinking. It must be relevant to the subject and to what you have already written but should give a new insight into the subject. Above all, end strongly and firmly. Don’t just fade away. What method can you use to make an ending effective – shock?, surprise?, firm conclusion?, inevitability?, fresh angle?, a climax?, an intentional anti-climax?

 D. Proofreading

No matter how many times you re-read your paper, you are likely to miss some of your most frequent errors:

 Read slowly, aloud if you can, thinking you’re the reader. You depend wholly on words and their logical progression to get the meaning and feelings of the writer.

 Read in detail, line by line (sentence structure, punctuation, coherence), word by word (phrases, cohesion), letter by letter (spelling, grammar issues too). You may need to read your paper at least twice—the first time, to check the general coherence, and the second to identify particular errors and mistakes.

 Check usage and sentence structure:

• Subject/Verb Agreement: find the main verb and check it matches its subject in number
• Pronoun Reference Agreement: check if you are using the right pronoun (number, gender) for the phrase you are replacing with a pronoun
• Tenses: check the use of tenses, and how they combine
• Syntax: sentence order
•  Adjectives and adverbials: check their place
•  Connectors: What are you connecting? Use connectors to write a cohesive text, this is, don’t abuse, use them to facilitate reading and connections.

Check spelling and punctuation

• Examine each word in the paper individually
• Use your dictionary at home: check spelling whenever you are not completely sure
• To check punctuation you need to read aloud, because your intonation will help you punctuate. In writing, punctuation replaces stress, rhythm and intonation
• Use full stops. Spanish tends to use subordinate sentences more often than English. Simple brief sentences are alright in English. Of course, it is OK to combine this with clear subordinate and coordinate sentences. What I mean is you can use short sentences
• Check commas and missing commas, connectors and conjunctions. If there is a complete sentence after a comma it might be necessary to use a full stop instead, or to place a comma before the conjunction. Connectors are often followed by commas, conjunctions are sometimes preceded by commas (in long sentences)
• Use long dashes. They serve to extend a previous idea. In Spanish we use colons or brackets for this, at times. You needn’t close the long dash if you reach the end of the sentence.
• Check apostrophes
• Check for left-out words and make sure you haven’t doubled any words by using an extra pronoun.

 E. Your teacher’s corrections

 When the teacher corrects your work, you need to study your corrections, mistakes and errors and do a follow-up. 

Learn how to fix your errors and mistakes. Errors need some study. Mistakes can be solved if you pay attention when you proofread your text. Use an error-correction chart (see an example here: https://soniaeoi.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=17

NOW, GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR WRITING!

HOW TO SUMMARISE

Dear learners,

Writing summaries is a good way of practising what you’re learning in the classroom (texts from your textbook) and/or reading and writing about topics you like. It will definitely help improving your vocabulary but also your linguistic structuring.

Summarising involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). As you can imagine, it’s not enough to merely copy out parts of the original.

Summarising exercises are usually set to test your understanding of the original, and your ability to re-state its main purpose.

Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.

• Read the original quickly and try to understand its main subject or purpose.
• Then you will need to read it again to understand it in more detail. Note down the key points and main ideas (underline or use a highlighter if this helps)
• The starting point of your summary should be “The Sentence” which, in your own words, sums up  the single main idea of the essay.
• Paraphrase (do never just copy out!) important supporting points that come up in the essay.
• Consider any words, phrases, or brief passages that you believe should be quoted directly, but do not use this resource unless the quotation is really relevant.

Cheers,

Sonia

EXAMPLE:

So That Nobody Has To Go To School If They Don’t Want To

by Roger Sipher

A decline in standardized test scores is but the most recent indicator that American education is in trouble.

One reason for the crisis is that present mandatory-attendance laws force many to attend school who have no wish to be there. Such children have little desire to learn and are so antagonistic to school that neither they nor more highly motivated students receive the quality education that is the birthright of every American.

The solution to this problem is simple: Abolish compulsory-attendance laws and allow only those who are committed to getting an education to attend.

This will not end public education. Contrary to conventional belief, legislators enacted compulsory-attendance laws to legalize what already existed. William Landes and Lewis Solomon, economists, found little evidence that mandatory-attendance laws increased the number of children in school. They found, too, that school systems have never effectively enforced such laws, usually because of the expense involved.

There is no contradiction between the assertion that compulsory attendance has had little effect on the number of children attending school and the argument that repeal would be a positive step toward improving education. Most parents want a high school education for their children. Unfortunately, compulsory attendance hampers the ability of public school officials to enforce legitimate educational and disciplinary policies and thereby make the education a good one.

Private schools have no such problem. They can fail or dismiss students, knowing such students can attend public school. Without compulsory attendance, public schools would be freer to oust students whose academic or personal behavior undermines the educational mission of the institution.

Has not the noble experiment of a formal education for everyone failed? While we pay homage to the homily, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink,” we have pretended it is not true in education.

Ask high school teachers if recalcitrant students learn anything of value. Ask teachers if these students do any homework. Quite the contrary, these students know they will be passed from grade to grade until they are old enough to quit or until, as is more likely, they receive a high school diploma. At the point when students could legally quit, most choose to remain since they know they are likely to be allowed to graduate whether they do acceptable work or not.

Abolition of archaic attendance laws would produce enormous dividends.

First, it would alert everyone that school is a serious place where one goes to learn. Schools are neither day-care centers nor indoor street corners. Young people who resist learning should stay away; indeed, an end to compulsory schooling would require them to stay away.

Second, students opposed to learning would not be able to pollute the educational atmosphere for those who want to learn. Teachers could stop policing recalcitrant students and start educating.

Third, grades would show what they are supposed to: how well a student is learning. Parents could again read report cards and know if their children were making progress.

Fourth, public esteem for schools would increase. People would stop regarding them as way stations for adolescents and start thinking of them as institutions for educating America’s youth.

Fifth, elementary schools would change because students would find out early they had better learn something or risk flunking out later. Elementary teachers would no longer have to pass their failures on to junior high and high school.

Sixth, the cost of enforcing compulsory education would be eliminated. Despite enforcement efforts, nearly 15 percent of the school-age children in our largest cities are almost permanently absent from school.

Communities could use these savings to support institutions to deal with young people not in school. If, in the long run, these institutions prove more costly, at least we would not confuse their mission with that of schools.

Schools should be for education. At present, they are only tangentially so. They have attempted to serve an all-encompassing social function, trying to be all things to all people. In the process they have failed miserably at what they were originally formed to accomplish.

Example summary: Roger Sipher makes his case for getting rid of compulsory-attendance laws in primary and secondary schools with six arguments. These fall into three groups—first that education is for those who want to learn and by including those that don’t want to learn, everyone suffers. Second, that grades would be reflective of effort and elementary school teachers wouldn’t feel compelled to pass failing students. Third, that schools would both save money and save face with the elimination of compulsory-attendance laws.

According to Roger Sipher, a solution to the perceived crisis of American education is to “Abolish compulsory-attendance laws and allow only those who are committed to getting an education to attend” (example quotation).

Roger Sipher concludes his essay by insisting that schools have failed to fulfill their primary duty of education because they try to fill multiple social functions (example paraphrase).