Rules

There are different modes of English that should reflect in a student’s practice. As a language, it can be used to share, inform, inquire, critique, compliment, motivate, and discourage. It can write an opinion or a dissertation, a graffiti or a business report, a love letter or a death threat. The modes are varied because an English speaker or writer can express their sentiments in whatever manner their goals see fit, and these goals naturally alter the thought process and the presentation of ideas that are dispensed in their names via select wording and phrasing.

Yet for aspiring fiction writers, all modes must be studied. I believe choosing a style and setting it as a stencil through which all of one’s writing should be processed is a disadvantage that hampers exploration. Consider that dialogue can be done both by a scientist and a baker. The former, talking about quantum theory, will mention specialized words that are unfamiliar to everyone not subscribed to physics. The latter, laboring silently with dough and ovens in the back-of-house, only makes small talk with his customers and, thus, is limited to a layman’s vocabulary. A fiction writer dealing in a story with such opposing characters, or some version of them, can benefit from an unrestrained perspective on style.

That said, the aim of the following categories is to capture modes of English that are relevant to my practice.

Informal

As stated, everyday English is conversational, not erudite. Its purpose is to reach as many listeners as possible and to include the biggest audience in the discussion. This makes readability one of its primary strengths.

The informal tone, however, is comfortable with the repetition of already mastered words, which makes a stagnant range of articulation its fatal flaw. Without a conscious strain on recall, the mind misses out on the integration of new words, idioms, constructions, phraseologies, and other categories of speech that will come in handy when describing ideas.

Informal writing will employ contractions, recklessness, and speed. As the de facto mode intended for most publications, no tag will be created for this category.

Formal

Formal writing only sounds like dialogue if it is spoken by an emeritus professor who studied Kantian philosophy and the history of fossils. It is often not meant for everyone, much like the posts I plan to write in this category. They will almost always be a display of self-flattery and ego. Or if I try for them to be something else humble, they will probably still sound pretentious.

With that caveat, formal writing will put the most strain on recall and is perfect for moving a backlog of discovered words and phrases into the long-term memory. The mind, whipped to an effort of laying arguments with utmost brevity and precision (even if such effort exhausts a whole dictionary), will scrabble for indexed bits of English in its mental cabinets and make them proud members of one’s official lexicon.

Formal writing is also more polite than informal writing for having a culture of professionalism and not colloquialism, making it ideal for matters requiring careful treatment.

Publications under the formal category will be earmarked with the formal tag.