{"id":5841,"date":"2014-11-26T17:04:33","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T16:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/?p=5841"},"modified":"2023-09-11T10:32:21","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T08:32:21","slug":"avoid-informal-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoid informal writing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A few informal writing tendencies appear in student papers, and contractions and common informal phrases are\u00a0among the most common.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Contractions<\/h2>\n<p>A <a href=index-3398.html>contraction<\/a> is indicated by an apostrophe that joins two words by replacing some letters in those words. These are very common in conversation and acceptable in informal writing, but are usually too informal for academic writing. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Instead of <em>it\u2019s<\/em>, use <em>it is<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Instead of <em>won\u2019t<\/em>, use <em>will not<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Instead of <em>can\u2019t<\/em>, use <em>cannot<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Informal phrases and slang<\/h2>\n<p>Informal phrases, like contractions, appear in academic writing because they are so common in spoken English. The problem with these phrases is that they tend to be obscure or figurative, and in academic writing we should prefer precise and literal language. Here are few examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Instead of <em>a lot<\/em>, use <em>much<\/em> or <em>many<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Instead of <em>He is chomping at the bit<\/em>, say <em>He is anxious<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Instead of <em>cut down on<\/em>, use <em>reduce<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"other\"><strong>Other interesting articles<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!<\/p>\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-md\" style=\"background-color: #e8f2fc; padding: 1.27rem 1.56rem; line-height: 1.8; border-radius: .5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.5rem;\">\n<p><strong><em class=\"fa fa-exclamation-triangle\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/em>Fallacies<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding: 5px;\">\n<li><a href=index-3388.html>Begging the question fallacy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-3389.html>Hasty generalization fallacy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-3390.html>Equivocation fallacy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-1583.html>False cause fallacy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-1584.html>Sunk cost fallacy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-md\" style=\"background-color: #e8f2fc; padding: 1.27rem 1.56rem; line-height: 1.8; border-radius: .5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.5rem;\">\n<p><strong><em class=\"fa fa-desktop\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/em>\u00a0AI<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding: 5px;\">\n<li><a href=index-1585.html>Deep learning <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-1586.html>Generative AI<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-1587.html>Machine learning<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-1588.html>Reinforcement learning<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-1589.html>Supervised vs. unsupervised learning<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-md\" style=\"background-color: #e8f2fc; padding: 1.27rem 1.56rem; line-height: 1.8; border-radius: .5rem; margin-right: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.5rem;\">\n<p><strong><em class=\"fa fa-cogs\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/em>\u00a0(AI) Tools<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding: 5px;\">\n<li><a href=index-989.html>Grammar Checker<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-988.html>Paraphrasing Tool<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-990.html>Text Summarizer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-1590.html>AI Detector<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-931.html>Plagiarism Checker<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=index-991.html>Citation Generator<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few informal writing tendencies appear in student papers, and contractions and common informal phrases are\u00a0among the most common.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<title>Avoid informal writing<\/title>\n
<!-- Mirrored from www.scribbr.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/5841 by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR/YP'2000] -->
<!-- Added by HTTrack --><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /><!-- /Added by HTTrack -->
<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A few informal writing tendencies appear in student papers, and contractions and common informal phrases are among the most common.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=index-4776.html \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Avoid informal writing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few informal writing tendencies appear in student papers, and contractions and common informal phrases are\u00a0among the most common. Contractions A\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Scribbr\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-26T16:04:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-11T08:32:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/open-graph-scribbrcom.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"627\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shane Bryson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shane Bryson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Shane Bryson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19d2701e30b048a54778383566aa93df\"},\"headline\":\"Avoid informal writing\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-26T16:04:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-11T08:32:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/\"},\"wordCount\":244,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Academic writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/\",\"name\":\"Avoid informal writing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-26T16:04:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-11T08:32:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"A few informal writing tendencies appear in student papers, and contractions and common informal phrases are among the most common.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Avoid informal writing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/\",\"name\":\"Scribbr\",\"description\":\"The checkpoint for your thesis\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Scribbr\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/scribbr-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/scribbr-logo.png\",\"width\":902,\"height\":212,\"caption\":\"Scribbr\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/scribbr_\",\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/scribbr\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/Scribbr-us\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19d2701e30b048a54778383566aa93df\",\"name\":\"Shane Bryson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d83b0e956d5f139c27b01619d8652e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d83b0e956d5f139c27b01619d8652e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shane Bryson\"},\"description\":\"Shane finished his master's degree in English literature in 2013 and has been working as a writing tutor and editor since 2009. He began proofreading and editing essays with Scribbr in early summer, 2014.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/author\/shane\/\"}]}<\/script>","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Avoid informal writing","description":"A few informal writing tendencies appear in student papers, and contractions and common informal phrases are among the most common.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Avoid informal writing","og_description":"A few informal writing tendencies appear in student papers, and contractions and common informal phrases are\u00a0among the most common. Contractions A","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/","og_site_name":"Scribbr","article_published_time":"2014-11-26T16:04:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-11T08:32:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":627,"url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/open-graph-scribbrcom.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Shane Bryson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shane Bryson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/"},"author":{"name":"Shane Bryson","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19d2701e30b048a54778383566aa93df"},"headline":"Avoid informal writing","datePublished":"2014-11-26T16:04:33+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-11T08:32:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/"},"wordCount":244,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Academic writing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/","name":"Avoid informal writing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-11-26T16:04:33+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-11T08:32:21+00:00","description":"A few informal writing tendencies appear in student papers, and contractions and common informal phrases are among the most common.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/academic-writing\/avoid-informal-writing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Avoid informal writing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/","name":"Scribbr","description":"The checkpoint for your thesis","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization","name":"Scribbr","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/scribbr-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/scribbr-logo.png","width":902,"height":212,"caption":"Scribbr"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/scribbr_","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/scribbr","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/Scribbr-us\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19d2701e30b048a54778383566aa93df","name":"Shane Bryson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d83b0e956d5f139c27b01619d8652e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d83b0e956d5f139c27b01619d8652e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shane Bryson"},"description":"Shane finished his master's degree in English literature in 2013 and has been working as a writing tutor and editor since 2009. He began proofreading and editing essays with Scribbr in early summer, 2014.","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/author\/shane\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5841"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5841"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":579765,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5841\/revisions\/579765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}