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Professional English Online Cambridge University Press 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

Professional English Online


www.cambridge.org/elt/pro
Writing
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Formal and informal writing
Level
C1-C2 (Advanced-Profciency). Some of the writing
may be done as homework. The lesson should last
around 70 minutes.
Lead-in (5 minutes)
Discuss the frst question with the whole class. You
may wish to introduce the word register as an
alternative to levels of formality. Then tell students
to discuss the other questions in pairs.
Answer: The two versions contain exactly the same
information. Version 1 is much more formal than
Version 2. For a list of grammar and vocabulary
features, see exercises below.
Matching (10 minutes)
Make sure students understand the exercise (by
focusing on the example). Point out that they should
focus on the words in bold. Students work in pairs
and then feed back to the class.
Answers: 1fC 2dG 3iE 4aD 5bA 6cB 7gH 8hF
9eH
Vocabulary quiz (10 minutes)
Students complete the quiz in pairs, and then feed
back to the class.
Answers
a stop, get, give, tell, ask, try
b We havent met our targets; We have been
restructured (passive meaning); We have
researched this issue; Our negotiations were /
turned out to be successful.
c More, a lot of (uncountable), about, but, a lot of
(countable)
Practice (10 minutes)
Students complete the exercise in pairs, and then
discuss their answers with the class. Offer plenty of
support in this and later exercises.
Suggested answers
1 Lots of customers have complained about faulty
products.
2 Several sales people have resigned, so now we
dont have enough people.
3 We had a water leak, which damaged our
production line.
4 Quite a few people have had accidents because
they didnt follow H&S procedures.
5 We have had technical problems with our computer
system, which means we have paid some suppliers
late.
6 We didnt manage to implement our new QC
system.
Practice (10 minutes)
Students complete the exercise in pairs.
Suggested answers
1 Payment has not yet been received from a number
of important clients.
2 Levels of customer satisfaction have diminished.
3 Our investment in Germany led to signifcant
losses.
4 Our recent price rise has caused widespread
customer dissatisfaction.
5 Our unsuccessful negotiations with our workers
led to industrial action.
6 The explosion of one of our machines resulted
in complaints from members of the public with
regard to the safety of our factory.
Writing (10 minutes)
Exercises 6 and 7 may be done as homework, or
students may work in small groups to complete them
in class.
Suggested answer: We need to take action to make
sure these problems never happen again. Firstly, we
must review our H&S procedures. We must replace
dangerous equipment and set up safer ways of
working. We also need to analyse our QC procedures.
We must fnd out what went wrong recently in our
production department.
Writing (10 minutes)
Suggested answer
It is essential that we establish the reasons for our
low levels of customer satisfaction. A large number
of interviews with customers must be conducted. If
our prices prove to be the cause of current levels of
discontent, a review of our pricing strategy must be
conducted. Furthermore, the recruitment of additional
sales people must be a priority.
Discussion (5 minutes)
Discuss the questions with the whole class.
Professional English Online Cambridge University Press 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE
Professional English Online
www.cambridge.org/elt/pro
Writing
www.cambridge.org/elt/pro
Formal and informal writing
Jeremy Day
Lead-in
Look at these two examples. What differences do you notice in terms of (a) meaning and (b) style?
1 The purpose of this report is to ascertain the causes of the recent decline in our proftability and to establish a
plan of steps that need to be taken in order to facilitate a recovery.
2 In this report, we aim to fnd out why our profts have fallen recently. We will also plan what we need to do to
recover.
Discussion
Think of some situations when you might use the following levels of formality in written or spoken English:
very formal, semi-formal, neutral, semi-informal, very informal.
Think of some examples of grammar and vocabulary features that are typical of the various levels of
formality.
Do you think different cultures/nationalities have different approaches to formality?
When you are speaking or writing in English, should you follow the cultural style of people from English-
speaking countries, or your own culture?
Matching
Look at these fragments from examples 1 and 2 in the Lead-in. Match the formal structures in the frst column
with the informal equivalents in the middle column. Then match the fragments with the rules for changing
formal English into informal English, as in the example. One of the rules is used twice.
Aims
Increase awareness of techniques for changing
levels of formality.
Tasks
Analyse and practise techniques
Write short extracts from an internal company
report.
1 The purpose of this report is to
2 to ascertain
3 the causes of
4 the recent decline in
our proftability
5 proftability
6 proftability and to
7 to establish a plan
8 steps that need to be
taken
9 to facilitate a recovery
a our profts have fallen
recently
b profts
c recently. We will also
d to fnd out
e to recover
f we aim to
g we will also plan
h we need to do
i why our profts have fallen
A Abstract nouns concrete
nouns
B Long sentences short
sentences
C Non-human subject human
subject
D Noun phrase (with adjective)
subject + verb (with adverb)
E Noun phrase question
F Passive voice active voice
G Sophisticated verb simple
verb or phrasal verb
H Verb + noun verb
Vocabulary quiz
Discuss these questions with a partner.
a Think of simple equivalents for these formal verbs:
prevent sb from doing sth, obtain sth from sb,
provide sb with sth, inform sb of sth, request sth
from sb, endeavour to do sth.
b How can you paraphrase these formal verbs in the
simplest possible way?
We have failed to meet our targets.
We have undergone a major restructuring.
We have conducted research into this issue.
Our negotiations proved unsuccessful.
c Think of simple versions of the formal words and
phrases in bold.
Further research is needed.
We have lost a great deal of money.
We held a meeting in connection with our
budget.
It has been a disappointing year; nevertheless,
we remain optimistic.
We have lost a signifcant number of important
clients.
why our profts have fallen
Professional English Online Cambridge University Press 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE
Professional English Online
www.cambridge.org/elt/pro
Writing
www.cambridge.org/elt/pro
Practice
Make these sentences more informal, using the ideas
below.
1 A number of complaints have been made regarding
faulty products.
Lots of customers
2 After a series of resignations from our sales team,
understaffng has become a serious issue.
Several sales people
3 Damage was caused to our production line by a
water leak.
We had a water leak
4 A signifcant number of accidents have occurred
as a result of failure to follow Health and Safety
procedures.
Quite a few people
5 Payments to suppliers have been delayed as a
result of technical problems with our computer
system.
We have had
6 The implementation of our new Quality Control
system was unsuccessful.
We didnt manage to
Practice
Now make these sentences more formal.
1 We havent been paid by one or two important
clients.
Payment has not yet
2 Our customers are less satisfed than before.
Levels of
3 We lost a lot of money when we invested in
Germany.
Our investment
4 Our customers didnt like it when we raised our
prices recently.
Our recent
5 Our workers went on strike because we couldnt
negotiate with them.
Our unsuccessful
6 When one of our machines exploded, members
of the public complained that our factory was
dangerous.
The explosion of
Writing
Rewrite the next part of the report to make it less
formal.
In the light of the above issues, it appears that
a number of steps need to be taken in order to
prevent a recurrence of these problems. Firstly,
a complete review of our Health and Safety
procedures must be conducted. Dangerous
equipment must be replaced, and new, safer
working practices must be established.
Furthermore, there must be an analysis of our
Quality Control procedures. It is essential that we
establish the causes of recent failures within our
production department.
Writing
Rewrite the fnal part of the report to make it more
formal.
We have to fnd out why our customers arent
happy. We need to interview lots of them. If they
dont like our prices, we have to think again about
how much we charge for our products. We also
need to recruit more sales people.
Discussion
Which of the two versions from exercises 6 and 7,
formal or informal, do you prefer?
Which would be more appropriate for an internal
company report?
Which style would be more appropriate for other
types of business communication, such as a
presentation, and email or a meeting?
Formal and informal writing

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