Formal Language in Reports
Aim: This exercise will help you to write reports using formal language.
Language Analysis:
To make words and phrases more formal you can:
- replace phrasal verbs with one-word verbs; e.g. 'take a look at' with 'investigate'
- replace general verbs with specific ones; e.g. 'got' with 'received', although the specific verb should correlate with the noun; e.g. 'draw conclusions' and 'make recommendations' (Click here for more information.)
- replace extreme adjectives with less extreme ones; e.g. 'huge' with 'large'
- replace informal quantifiers with formal ones; e.g. 'masses of ' with 'a large amount of '
- replace words with apostrophes with full forms; e.g. 'don't' with 'do not'
Related Materials: Matching Formal and Informal Phrases
Instructions:
Edit the boxes below by replacing the informal words and phrases with formal ones.
Last updated on: Monday, March 26, 2012