Section-Four-Formal-and-Informal-styles(I)

SectionFourFormalandInformalStyles(I)I.Themeaningofstyle•Alltypesofwriting,likestories,legaldocumentsandpersonalletters,havemuchincommon:theycontainmanyofthecommonwordsusedbypeopleeverywhereandeveryday,observethesamebasicmorphologicalandsyntacticalrules,andfollowthesamecustomofusingpunctuationmarks.Inotherwords,nowriting,orspeech,forthatmatter,canbedonewithoutusingthecommoncoreoftheEnglishlanguage.•However,therearealsodifferencesbetweendifferenttypesofwriting.Inapersonalletter,forinstance,sentencesareusuallyshortandsimple,evenincomplete,andmostwordsarethoseusedindailyconversation,easyandevenslangy.Inalegaldocument,ontheotherhand,mostsentencesarelongandinvolved,andmany,ifnotmost,ofthewordsarepolysyllabic,withspecialtermsdifficultforordinarypeopletounderstand.•Specialfeaturesliketheseinlanguageareamatterofstyle.Thewordstylehasseveralsenses:itmayrefertoawriter’shabitualorpeculiarwayofusinglanguage,ortheprevalentfeaturesofthelanguageofacertainperiod,orthecharacteristicaspectsofthelanguageofacertaintypeofwriting.Itmayalsomeangraceoreleganceinwriting,asin“Hehasnostyle.”II.FormalandinformalstylesInthispartweshallonlydiscussonefundamentalaspectofstyle---differencesbetweenformalandinformal,orliteraryandcolloquial,English.Thepurposeistohelpstudentsacquireanabilitytorecognizeanddistinguishbetweenthesetwostyles,sothattheycanavoidusingformalEnglishwhereinformalEnglishisappropriate,ortheotherwayround.Readthefollowingpassageandtrytofindoutwhatstylisticfeaturesithas.•Futureshock---thediseaseofchange---canbeprevented.Butitwilltakedrasticsocial,evenpoliticalaction.Nomatterhowindividualstrytopacetheirlives,nomatterwhatpsychiccrutchesweofferthem,nomatterhowwealtereducation,thesocietyasawholewillstillbecaughtonarunawaytreadmilluntilwecapturecontroloftheaccelerativethrustitself.•Thehighvelocityofchangecanbetracedtomanyfactors.Populationgrowth,urbanization,theshiftingproportionsofyoungandold---allplaytheirpart.Yettechnologicaladvanceisclearlyacriticalnodeinthenetworkofcauses;indeed,itmaybethenodethatactivatestheentirenet.Onepowerfulstrategyinthebattletopreventmassfutureshock,therefore,involvestheconsciousregulationoftechnologicaladvance.•-----AlvinTofflerYoumayhavenoticedthatinthispassagethereareafewlongsentences,thelongestone(thethirdofthefirstparagraph)havingmorethan40words.Thereareparallelconstructions(threeclausesbeginningwith“nomatter…”,andthreenounphrasesusedasthesubjectsof“playtheirpart”),aparentheticalremark(“thediseaseofchange”),andseveraldependentclauses.Thepassivevoiceisusedinthreeofthesevensentences.Manyofthewordsandphraseshaveabstractmeanings,notoftenusedineverydayconversation,wordslikedrastic,individuals,psychic,alter,accelerative,velocity,urbanization,proportions,technological,activates,etc.comparativelyspeaking,theyare“big”orlearnedwords.Phraselike“pacetheirlives”,“capturecontrolof”,“thenetworkofcauses”,and“consciousregulation”arenotconversationaleither.Metaphorsareused:“psychiccrutches,”“caughtonarunawaytreadmill,”“acriticalnode,”andsoon.Thesefeaturesshowthatthepassageisratherformalinstyle.Suchastylesuits,andisrequired,bythecontent,whichdealswithatheoreticalquestion.Nowreadthenextpassageandseehowitisdifferentfromthepreciousoneinstyle.Itwassixo’clockwhenIlefttheschoolhouse.Ihadsixmilestowalkhome.ItwouldbeaftersevenwhenIgothome.IhadallmyworktodowhenIgothome.IttookPaandmebothtodothework.Sevencowstomilk.Nineteenheadsofcattletofeed,fourmules,twenty-fivehogs,firewoodandstovewoodtocut,andwatertodrawfromthewell.HewouldbedoingitwhenIgothome.Hewouldbemadandwonderingwhatwaskeepingme!Ihurriedhome.Iwouldrununderthedark,leaflesstrees.Iwouldwalkfastuphill.Iwouldrundownthehill.Thegroundwasfreezing.Ihadtohurry.Ihadtorun.Ireachedthelongridgethatledtoourcowpasture.Iranalongthisridge.Thewinddriesthesweatonmyface.Iranacrossthepasturetothehouse.-----JesseStuartThesetwoparagraphsdescribeateenageschoolboyhurryinghomelateintheeveningtohelphisfather,afarmer,todothehousework.Allthesentencesareshortandmostofthemaresimplesentences.Theseareonlyafewdependentclauses,whichareshortandsimple,too.Sentencefragmentsareused(“Sevencowstomilk”and“Nineteenheadsofcattletofeed…”).Allthefiniteverbsareintheactivevoice.Allthewordsarefamiliareverydaywords.Thereareno“big”words,noabstractwords,nodifficultphrases.Andtherearenorhetoricaldeviceslikemetaphorsorsimiles.Inshort,thepassageiswritteninaveryinformalorcolloquialstyle.Thisstyleisappropriatebecausethepassagedescribeshowafarmer’ssonwalkedhomeandwhathethoughtofonhisway.Iflongandinvolvedsentencesand“big”anddifficultwordswereused,thedescriptionwouldbeunnaturalandunrealistic.Thenextpassageisevenmoreinformalthanthesecondone:SquawksMagrewwasmanagin’theboysatthetime,andhewasdarnnearcrazy.Theycalledhim“Squawks”’causewhenthingswasgoin’badhelosthisvoice,orpertynearlostit,andsquealedatyoulikealittlegirlyousteppedonherdollorsomethin’.Heyelledateverybodyandwoudn’tlistentonobody,withoutmaybeitwasme.I’dbeentrainin’theboysfortenyear,andhe’dtakemorelipfrommethanfromanybodyelse.HeknowedIwassmarter’nhim,anyways,likeyou’regoin’t