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 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