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I received an E-mail from LSAC (Law School Admission Council).

A University changed the way it issues documentation in English. The new English documents of the Bachelor of Economics that we received from A University is not a complete, literal, word-for-word translation written in the same format as the original document in Chinese. Please request the university to send a letter to LSAC explaining why it has changed the formatting and wording of the English document.

What is the difference between “format” and “formatting”? Why is “format” used in the first case (in the same format)? Why is “formatting” used in the second case (changed the formatting)?

I find https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/198375/usage-clarification-of-nouns-format-and-formatting not particularly useful as I still cannot understand the essential difference between ‘format” and ‘formatting”.

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  • In practice, there's no difference in meaning in your context, so it's just a stylistic choice. Which in the exact context is more likely to be the "gerund" form formatting simply because that matches contextually-associated associated wording. And although the straightforward (plural) base noun words could "validly" be used instead of (singular gerund) wording, that choice is idiomatically unlikely, which has a "knock-on" effect on the format / formatting choice.
    – FumbleFingers
    Sep 18, 2019 at 13:40

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The most simple way to explain the difference in your context is;

Format:

A pattern, plan, or arrangement.

"...written in the same format as the original document in Chinese."

telling us the same pattern as the original document is used. However in second part;

Formatting:

Preparing or putting things in a pattern!

"...explaining why it has changed the formatting and wording of the English document."

asking us why it has been put in such pattern!

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