Grammatical features of Spoken & Written English; differences

·         Silent pauses. (by now-you-)

·         Repetitions (I, I am Mr…)

·         False starts (I knew he is , but some…)

·         Discourse markers (like, you see, I mean, you know…)

·         Short forms (I’m, I’d, they’ve…)

1)      In speech, tag questions are asked more frequently.

           e.g., She is coming. Isn’t  she?

2)       Ellipses are very common in speech.

   e.g., i)  Where to?

               ii) Hope you are O.K.

                Here, no confusion arrives because of the context.

3)      In English, coordination is very commonly used in speech. In speech we also begin sentences with ‘and’, which is not acceptable in formal writing.

4)      Some kind of infinitives (non-finites) constructions is not common in speech.

e.g., ‘Being a good student, she got good marks.’

                                              

                                               

 Almost never we hear people talk like this. Instead, we hear ‘She is a good student and/so she got good marks.’

5)      In speech we commonly use contractions.

e.g., can’t , won’t, don’t, haven’t, I’ve, He’s , isn’t, weren’t, wasn’t, shouldn’t.

Conclusion;

Thus, there are some differences in the grammar of spoken and written English, though both forms follow the common core of the English grammar and Structure. We find most of the differences are due to the following reasons;

a)      The mostly/predominantly informal nature of speech be.

b)      The element of co-operation in speech.

                                                                                                                                                 

                                                   

                 

              The word ‘alphabet’ comes from alpha and beta, the first two letters in Greek.       

                                                            

Levels of Usage

The two main levels of language usage in English are:

(a)    Formal

(b)   Informal

Some experts talk about a third level also, called ‘popular English. But for some other experts, it is simply an advanced /extreme form of informal English. It has no place in our common writing.

Formal English

Ø  Used mostly in serious writing (exams, all academic writing, reports etc.) and in formal speech.

Ø  Precise, serious, impersonal.

Ø  Contractions and abbreviations etc. are avoided.

Ø  Usually used to show request and/or to make a good impression.

Informal English

Ø  Used in most conversations, informal writings etc.

Ø  The relaxed attitude in these situations is reflected in the use of language also.

Ø  Smaller/incomplete, sentences are used, which are also smaller and familiar words.

Formal	Informal
v  Children v  Enormous v  You are advised to pay taxes in taxes in time. v  Cannot	v  Kids v  Big v  You should pay the taxes in time. v  Can’t

Many ‘mistakes’ of usage arise mainly from an inappropriate use of formal/informal level/style in contexts.

                                                                                                                                                                          -Anjoe-