FORMALITY OF WRITINGS

1. - AVOID PHRASAL VERBS (verb+adverb / verb+preposit.) Use the original verb.

e.g.
Do not use give up: “They never gave up” Use surrender /They never surrendered
Do not use find out= Use discover/(find)
Do not use go back= Use return/(retreat)
Exception: functional: turn on-off / get in the car / get out of the car

2. – AVOID THE USE OF etc. (informal)

Use: -within others (things)
-among others (things / people):
Use in this form: Brazil, Chile and Peru among others
Brazil, Chile, Peru, etc. (informal)

3. – AVOID THE USE OF: A lot of / Lots of (informal)

For COUNTABLE NOUNS
Use: -many/several (things)
-many (people)
For UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Use: -much
-a great deal of
-a great amount of
………………………………………………………………..
Number (countable)
-The number of passengers per trip…//A large number of artists/people…//The same number of
male and female students//The number of customers/users grew from…to…
Amount (uncountable)
-The amount of energy consumed by…//-The amount of data…//-The amount of fat we
consume… //-The goals of the treatment are to reduce the amount of copper in the tissues//

4. – AVOID THE USE OF THE VERB ‘GET’ Use the original verb.
e.g.
Do not use:
Get an opportunity: Use have an opportunity
Get knowledge=Use gain/acquire knowledge
Get married/older=Use become married/older
Get a scholarship=Use have/win/obtain/receive/achieve a scholarship

5. - NEVER USE CONTRACTIONS

e.g.
Do not use didn’t-can’t-they’re-it’s... Use did not-cannot- they are-it is…

6. - NEVER SPLIT WORDS IN A PARAGRAPH (for paper format)

e.g.
Some companies ne- Some companies
ver invest… never invest…
INCORRECT CORRECT
7. - USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS:
-Initiating a paragraph
-After full stops
-Pronoun ‘I’
-Names, Months, Days, Countries, Languages and Nationalities

8. - WRITE NUMBERS IN WORDS (from zero to ten): seven people-two children-three countries-
four apartments-11 apartments
(Exceptions: % -ages-money-dates-addresses) 9%-my brother is 7 years old

9. - CONJUNCTIONS (Two or more words that function as a structure)

-From……to……
-Between……and……
(-Since…until… (INCORRECT) Why? Because the word since is ‘tied’ to the present//the word
‘until’ is not tied to the present, it can describe any period, any time, but separated not with ‘since’)
-Either cats or dogs are good pets (tanto esto como lo otro/esto como lo otro)
-Either planes or trains are comfortable means of transport
-Neither elephants nor tigers are good pets (ni esto ni lo otro)

10. - FIXED FORMS (never change)

-Related to
-In relation with
-According to
-In accordance with
-It is focused on / It focuses on
-It depends on
Common error: -Its depend on

11. - INFORMAL WORDS

NEVER USE PREFER

kids children (way) form

you one/a person/someone/we… (kind) type

Somebody/nobody/anybody/everybody… (think) believe

someone/no one/anyone/everyone…

‘So’ therefore/then/(hence/thus) (thing)

(something)
A lot of