Questions tagged [formality]
is for questions about whether a word or phrase is considered formal or informal. Be sure to include as much context as you can, because sometimes how formal or informal a word or phrase is can be different in different situations.
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'Sick leave' and 'ill versus sick'
We want to use the terms ill and illness in our software instead of sick (see also Is there any difference between being ill and sick?), but I'm having difficulty finding a proper replacement for the ...
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is this something we can write or just say
Is the sentence below run on or is it something we say to each other
Isn't "Have a great morning/night" a run-on sentence? or can I say "you have a great morning/night"? Or is that just a sentence we ...
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Is 'I am glad to hear that' very formal or informal phrase?
I responded this to one professor when she expressed about her current research work. Later, I realized that that phrase could be very informal.
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Can you "carry a child" in your womb?
Can I use "carry a child" to replace "carry a pregnancy"? Are there any single-word verbs I can use in this sense?
Surrogacy is an arrangement or agreement whereby a woman agrees to carry a ...
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How do you say: "I was doing many things at the same time"
I work with people that speaks in English (my native language is Spanish).
Yesterday I gave the wrong information to a coworker, so I wanted to apologize and explain that my mind was doing several ...
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Someone who has passed lots of difficulties in their lives
Please suppose someone who has had lots of difficulties in his life and has passed many problems so far. Someone who had been without money, food and even a home to live in for a long time and as the ...
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Third Conditionals: "If I knew..." instead of "had known..." in casual register
I know that in the following sentences "If I had known" has to be used in the place of "If I knew" to form the grammatically right sentences. What I really want be sure of is that as a native if all ...
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When someone owes money everyone
There is a sentence which says "He owes money left and right." which says has has borrowed money from almost everyone. I would appreciate it if someone could let me know if the following sentence ...
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When you've done an ambulatory surgery
I was wondering if someone could let me know which one of the following self-made sentences sounds more natural in the way that it could be more understood not only by well-educated people of English ...
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"The book tells the story, consisting of X, Y, and Z." or "... the story, which consists of X, Y, and Z"
Which of these is grammatically correct and considered as a formal writing style?
The book tells the story, consisting of X, Y, and Z.
or
The book tells the story, which consists of X, Y, and Z....
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Saying "You'll feel me on this"
So, recently, I saw someone commenting, "You'll feel me on this" on a certain post. Since I'm not really familiar with phrases that are more informal (even regarded as slang) in English, I wanted to ...
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Born with a weight of 5kg
Which of these would it make sense for me to say?
My baby was born with a weight of 5kg
My baby was born at 5kg
My baby was born weighing 5kg
Thank you.
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Appropriate response to: Would it be suitable to meet tomorrow noon at your office?
Can I respond to:
"Would it be suitable to meet tomorrow noon at your office?"
with:
"Sure would!"
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Usage of "on cloud nine"?
I heard "I'm on cloud nine" in a song and realized it was an expression by reading it somewhere else.
I am learning English for years but I never heard of that before. I found informations about the ...
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Should we end the given sentence with TO in the given situation?
He's this person who I owe 40$ (to).
He's this person I owe 40$ to.
He's this person who I owe 40$.
Are all these sentences grammatically correct?
Are the first and second one grammatically ...
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Speak with you later
As far as I know, it is not common. However, I heard saying "speak with you later" instead of "talk to you later or bye" sounds rather formal and suits business conversations? Is it correct?
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A pronoun to disrespect
My mother tongue is Hindi and we have two second Pronouns तू and आप translation in English' You' they both work for second person
For example:
Disrespectful Interrogative clause in Hindi language
...
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"I left my home village yesterday, for which reason my father is sad now". Is this sentence awkward?
I and my friend are doing an English exercise which requires us to make a sentence with the phrase "for which reason(s)"
I have made this sentence:
I left my home village yesterday, for which ...
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Your Grace, Your Majesty, Your Highness... Does it all mean the same?
A lot of ways you can actually address the queen or someone from the royal family. But do these all phrases mean the exact same thing or is there a difference between them?
Maybe it depends whether ...
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Infinitive.. How to form these sentences correctly?
1) I intended to have spent my summer vacation in the country
2) I knew him to be waiting for me that evening -
I would rather say "I knew he was waiting for me that ...
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Acknowledging someone had an impact on your choice of career
In the acknowledgements section of my thesis, I just wrote:
I would like to thank my supervisor X [...]. To a large extent, it is to his credit that I found my way into the field of Y and I am very ...
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At the end of the day
I have read the idiom "at the end of the day" is overused, probably in spoken language, and it may be found sounding irritating by some people. Besides that, I'd like to ask if it would be correct to ...
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When you want to find out the reasons behind someone's reclusion
Imagine two friends who are talking about the reclusion that one of them is dealing with it. The one who is OK, wants to ask the other one what has caused him to live in that way during the couple of ...
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How should I write a sentence that has multiple questions?
I got these words from a speech, so I'm not entirely sure how I would write this...
Is the website easy to navigate? Easy-to-read? Well-structured? Concise?
"Easy-to-read" and the others are ...
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A phrase for witnessing something that happens every day
One wrote:
We can see that many devices are being produced every day.
The aim of this sentence is to address something that regularly happens these days, but I am looking for more formal and ...
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When can't we shorten It is to It's
I have noticed that in some cases people write it is while in others it's. And in some cases you just cannot write it's.
Is that your book over there? Maybe it is.
It's a beautiful flower. Yes, it is,...
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Can I use "the %whatever% one" and particularly "the other one" in IELTS Academic writing?
From some source I have heard that the other one is informal.
I am considering using this word in the IELTS Academic writing, particularly in the following sentence.
Overall, both sites offer ...
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When saying fractions in English, is it necessary to include ‘of’
I am writing an article where I am using fractions for comparison. Should I include the word ‘of’ between the fraction and the things fractioned? To me, both sound correct, but I do not know whether a)...
Canned Man
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"With Mrs Jones going to New York, Mr Smith took up her position."
So a grammar site I look up things regularly states that this is a participle and that this construction is formal and not used often. Why can't it be a gerund? And aren't with + ing constructions ...
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How to ask someone to move from their seat?
For example, if there was a sofa in the room, and there were 3 people sitting on it, and there was a little space between their seat. How do you ask them to "move" or to "come close" to each other so ...
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Is less votes correct?
One article today said that Trump could win even if had less votes.
I search in google and I see that "less votes" is common.
Is it correct?
As vote is countable, it should be fewer votes...
...
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Informal way of saying some time expressions
I was wondering what the informal equivalent for the following expressions are:
A matter of time
It is a matter of time, before somebody find it
As time goes by
As time goes by, he found that ...
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The syntax of metaphors in English
I tried to translate a line of a Persian poem into English, it is almost like:
If you come to visit me, come slowly and softly
Lest the delicate porcelain of my loneliness cracks
Here, the ...
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Is using "general plan of structure" appropriate in biology?
I'm reading now a book (which was written by a non-native English speaker) that states under the title of the topic:
"general plan of structure of the digestive tube"
The chapter there explains ...
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I got it = I have got it?
Someone told me " I got it "equals " I have got it "?
But why in the class I heard my teacher say: "Did you get it?"
"Do you get it?" is fine?
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Can't we use "you and I" here?
It's a line taken from One Direction's song History.
You and me got a whole lot of history
Shouldn't we use "You and I" instead of "You and me" in above sentence.
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How do I say thank for forgiveness for my mistake?
I would like to thank for someone's tolerance because of forgiveness for my mistake. is it possible to say "Thank you for your tolerance"?
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Formality of "Let us"
I wrote:
Before bringing more examples of how the extraction rules are used, let us review the data extraction algorithm.
I know "let's" is not formal, but what about "let us" in written language. ...
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Another adjective rather than good which is used to describe sleeping quality
I am trying to find an adjective to describe sleeping quality other than good, which is used to describe sleeping quality, the word will be used in biology report writing.
so the following words ...
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Put/Place On Anbiotics
I have a question about the difference between verbs "put" and "place" in this context:
The doctor put him on antibiotics.
The doctor placed him on antibiotics.
Any difference ...
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Is a "would" required in this sentence
Being a responsible man, arriving half an hour late would surely surprise his wife. But then he thought that it'd be funnier if he waited a couple of hours.
Vs.
Being a responsible man, he would ...
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Best way to ask if a person lacks a criminal record in a form on a website
I have a website and there's an online form to be filled out by people who visit the site. I want to make sure that a certain person lacks a criminal record (that he hasn't one). So I put this:
Lack ...
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Requesting someone to ask a question of another person
Which one would be correct, please
a) Just ask him if he has received the payment
b) Just ask him has he received the payment
c) Just ask him whether he has received the payment
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Trying to understand both the grammar construction and the author's intent: Although (being) of the opinion that... /Destite the opinion that
At the very beginning of a new book, I stumbled over this:
The context sentence:
The flying lessons were courtesy of her husband, who was the town’s
First Selectman.
The problem sentence:
...
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Writing formal letter (email) to big companies [closed]
I am from a non-English video game site (press) and I want to write a formal email to some of big video gaming companies (developers and publishers) and ask them for cooperation in press coverage.
...
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Expletive it: reference to they/them
Which of these is used correctly?
It were them.
It was them.
It was they.
It were they.
I actually think the "it" is an expletive indicator so noun is whether them or they and since both are plural, ...
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Usage of "after that"
I wrote:
Then, we review the related works and after that we present our algorithm.
Is it a correct usage of "after that"? I don't want to repeat "then". Is "after that" formal? what about saying ...
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How to welcome somebody formally and friendly / informally? [closed]
Let's suppose you're going to welcome somebody; which one of the following sentences sound more natural in AE and what is the natural ones difference from the formality point of view?
It is a ...
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Can you explain my this doubt in the article "Will O’ The Wisp"?
Source
Even the office – because see, hovering over your colleague’s head is a Pikachu or Charmander or Sandshrew or Jigglypuff.
Is the bold part grammatical and informal?
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How do I formally say in an E-mail: "Don't call again"?
I would like to know how can I politely tell someone in an email to not call me again, I noticed that I often come across many salesman trying to sell me a services. But I am unsure on how to reject ...
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