Study materials
These two sentences carry the same information. The second belongs in a business letter, and the reason is not the length of the words.
We've put off the meeting cos the report isn't ready.
The meeting has been postponed because the report is not ready.
Formality rests on grammar, not on vocabulary. Change four grammatical details and the register shifts by itself.
What actually makes a text formal
Not the length of the words but four grammatical features. Each of them can be checked in a finished text.
| Feature | Informal | Formal |
|---|---|---|
| full forms | don't, it's | do not, it is |
| explicit links | And also... | In addition, ... |
| precise verbs | get worse, put off | deteriorate, postpone |
| complete structures | Two problems here. | There are two problems. |
Note that none of these calls for complication. A formal text can be short and direct, and the best formal writing is.
One precise verb instead of two words
Phrasal verbs belong to speech not because they are worse but because they are polysemous. Formal writing prefers a single reading.
put off → postpone, cut down on → reduce
look into → investigate, go up → increase
Not all of them need replacing, though: get, make and take in fixed phrases survive in formal prose. Take into account has no short equivalent.
The link has to be named
In speech the logical link is often left to the listener. Formal writing names it outright, and that is perhaps the main difference between the registers.
The costs rose. We changed supplier.
The costs rose; consequently, we changed supplier.
But excess hurts too: a connector at the start of every sentence makes a text mechanical. One explicit link every two or three sentences is usually enough.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is confusing formality with complication.
We hereby wish to inform you of the fact that the meeting will not take place. → The meeting has been cancelled.
The second is leaving contractions in an official document.
The report isn't ready. → The report is not ready.
The third is opening a sentence with And or But in a document.
But the results were inconclusive. → However, the results were inconclusive.
All three are caught by one question. Has the sentence become more precise, or merely longer?
Try it right now
Take a short message from your messaging app and rewrite it in English as a paragraph of a formal letter.
Change only the grammar: full forms, explicit links, precise verbs. Do not complicate the vocabulary.