Informal expressions

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Expressions that are informal or even colloquial may be too informal for formal academic or business writing or speaking contexts. These are not necessarily wrong, but are dispreferred or considered less appropriate for such types of writing or discourse, and more formal expressions are preferred.


1 General characteristics

Informal expressions, compared to their more formal counterparts, may be distinguished by the following characteristics.

Informal expressions Formal expressions Informal cf. formal examples
Words that are more general or less precise in meaning Terms with more specific, precise meaning or scope people vs. Canadians, voters, participants, etc.
Shorter, more common words (often from the Old Germanic or Old French parts of the English lexicon) Longer, multi-syllabic terms from Latin, Greek, modern French, or other languages sick vs. infection
Common, high-frequency words, e.g., high school level vocabulary Less common, low-frequency vocabulary; specialized vocabulary of certain fields; college or post-graduate level vocabulary machine vs. laparoscope, EKG, eye tracker
Words that have an emotional, biased, or negative tone Neutral sounding vocabulary grammar Nazi vs. pedantic, prescriptivist
Words or phrases that are more metaphorical More transparent, neutral and precise terminology don't beat around the bush vs. equivocate, prevaricate
Contractions Full forms can't vs. cannot


Some common examples of informal expressions include the following.

Colloquial and slang vocabulary
  • That's cool. Just chock it up to experience.
  • They're in cahoots with the mafia.
Regional or dialect expressions
  • Tell me it ain't so.
  • We gotta schlep this couch up the stairs. ("schlep" = New York slang)
  • Oy! There's some bloke making off with a TV!


Expletives or taboo expressions
  • Bloody hell, it's bloody cold out there.
  • I don't give a damn anymore. Let's just go to the pub and get pissed.


Sexist, racist, or discriminatory language

It should be pretty obvious that language that even implies negative attitudes toward women, minorities, ethnic groups, members of the LGBT community, etc. are inappropriate.

Gender-biased language

This includes terms that use masculine words for people who could have female members.

  • Postman → letter carrier, postal worker
  • Businessman → business people
  • Policeman → police officer

Likewise for possessive adjectives:

  • Each student must bring his identification. → his/her identification; OR: All students must bring their identification.


2 Sentence types

Some informal types of sentences can be made more formal.

Using question and answer format in an essay
  • This leads to the following questions. Do aliens fly around the Earth? Are they really spying on us? Are they really kidnapping people? The evidence says "no."
  • Can they still be considered to have social value? Yes, they can certainly still be appreciated by society.


Using quotation style and quoted expressions to present and develop points.
  • Some people on the Internet keep asking questions like "Are aliens spying on us?" or "Are they really kidnapping people?" The evidence says "no."


Overuse of quotations

Sometimes quotations are used when they are not really necessary, especially common quotations. To avoid sounding too informal, they can be deleted if they are not really necessary; otherwise, they can be paraphrased without direct quotations.

  • Can they still be considered to have social value? Well, as Shakespeare said, "A rose by any other name is still a rose," so yes, they can still be appreciated by society.


Idioms, clichés (common, overused expressions) and aphorisms (common phrases that convey popular sentiments).
  • He's older than dirt.
  • I wasn’t born yesterday.
  • There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
  • He's driving her up the wall.


3 Nouns and pronouns

In many contexts, these terms might be vague or too non-specific, and would be better if replaced by a more specific noun, which will depend on the context.

colloquial more formal
person, people (often vague) individual, Canadians, researchers, subjects, voters, males, participants ...
man males, (male) participants / subjects, male voters, etc.
part portion, section, sector, segment, aspect
thing object, device, item, situation, circumstance, subject, element ...
way (e.g., a way to do something) manner, method, means, methodology, instrument, aspect
women females, (female) participants, etc.


Likewise, the following indefinite pronouns can be replaced with more specific nouns.

  • someone, anyone → an individual, a Canadian, a researcher, a particular subject, one particular voter, certain participants
  • something, anything → an object, a device, an item, a subject, an element
  • somewhere, anywhere → a certain location, some unknown village, the city of Brighton
  • everywhere → all locations, all counties of Alberta
  • everyone → all the citizens of Liverpool, a majority of residents in Cleveland
  • everything → all atoms in the universe


4 Verbs

Second person

The second person you in writing sounds very informal or personal, and it is generally avoided in all forms of academic writing. Likewise, second-person verb forms are avoided, including commands like Do not do this.

First person

The first person I and we can sound informal, especially the singular I and me. These are generally avoided in formal writing, except when the authors need to comment directly, e.g., when explaining their rationale for doing something. First person is rarely used in science writing, occasionally in social science writing, and somewhat more often in humanities writing, such as in literature studies. If first person is really needed, we is better than I.


Standard contractions

It is preferable to write out full forms instead of contractions

  • don't → do not
  • can't → can not, cannot
  • we've → we have


Colloquial contractions

It is better to avoid colloquial contractions such as these.

  • ain't
  • doncha
  • innit? (UK English)


4.1 Common verbs

Many common verbs that are frequently used in English may have fairly general meanings, or may sound informal. This can include more idiomatic verbal expressions They can be substituted as follows.

Common verb More specific
free release
give the go ahead authorize, permit
let allow, permit, grant
need to require, is required
show demonstrate, illustrate, portray, indicate, exhibit


4.2 Light verbs

These are common, everyday verbs that are rather non-specific in meaning. These are distinguished from other verbs, in that (1) they are the first verbs learned in the language; (2) they have a great variety of meanings, and thus can be less specific semantically; and (3) they are often used in idioms, set expressions, and collocational expressions. In academic writing, many times it is better if these can be replaced with more specific verbs, and the choice will depend on the context. However, in set expressions like 'get married' it may be difficult to replace them.

Light verb More specific
be exist, occur, equal, consist of, comprise (of), typify, appear, seem, tend...
do perform, execute, carry out, implement, manage...
get obtain, acquire, come into possession (of), capture
give provide, yield, produce, lead to, impart...
go, run, come proceed, journey, travel, progress, exceed...
have possess, contain, exhibit ...
In descriptive phrases, have can be replaced with with, e.g. "A patient who had the flu" → "A patient with the flu"
make create, produce, facilitate...
set, put place, position, arrange...


4.3 Phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs

When possible, phrasal verbs should be replaced with more formal verbs (often, verbs of Latin origin) with more specific meanings. For example, many ESL students use find out when a better expression for formal writing would be discover, determine, ascertain. Since phrasal verbs often have many meanings, the choice will depend on the context. The same applies to some VERB + PREPOSITION combinations formed with a fairly common verb.

Phrasal / prep. verb More specific
be about, it's about it concerns; in regard to; this deals with, handles, addresses, explicates
blow up inflate, explode
deal with handle, manage, address
fill in substitute, inform, complete
find out find, discover, ascertain, determine, decide on, assess
get in touch with contact, establish contact with
get over recover
go against contradict, oppose
go around circumvent, circumnavigate, sidestep, ignore, rotate, gyrate, orbit, circumduct, twist, revolve, meander, ramble
go down decrease, diminish, abate
go out exit, diminish, leave, depart, extinguish, cease, die, dim, expire, subside, decline, dwindle, recede, quit, retire, withdraw
go up increase, arise
leave out omit, delete
look at examine, observe
make up fabricate, create; comprise, consist (of)
mix up mix, confuse
point out indicate, index, refer to
put off postpone, delay, procrastinate
put up (with) tolerate, endure
rack up accumulate
ring up call, telephone
set up establish
show up arrive, appear
stand for represent; tolerate
take out excise, remove, clear, exclude, omit, extirpate, destroy
think about consider, deliberate


5 Adjectives, adverbials, & other modifiers

In many contexts, these terms might be vague or too non-specific, and would be better if replaced by a more specific word, which will depend on the context.

colloquial more formal
bad negative, pejorative, poor, ineffective, adverse...
big, huge large, significant, enormous, incredible, gargantuan, gigantic, massive
a bit, a little bit slightly, somewhat
good sufficient, excellent, optimal, ideal, studious, prime, positive, effective, beneficial
kind of, sort of somewhat, slightly
a lot of, lots of many, numerous, a large number / amount of
tiny small, very small, minute


6 Transitional / connector expressions

colloquial more formal
anyway This is used informally for changing topics; in formal writing, simply starting a sentence with a full noun topic, or starting a new paragraph, will often suffice.
besides More formal alternatives are ‘in addition to’ or ‘furthermore’ - e.g., “In addition to these factors, ...”.
first of all first
like (is) similar to; for example, as, such as (As a connector, like can seem slightly colloquial. However, as a conjunction before verb phrases, or as a preposition, like is generally fine in contemporary formal English)
nowadays currently, recently
whether or not whether


Here are some examples of the more informal like, and more formal counterparts. Here, the informal like is used as a conjunction.

  • Don't do like what she did. → Do not do as she has done.
  • Activities like smoking and drinking are not allowed here. → Activities such as smoking and drinking are not allowed here.

Some examples of like that are perfectly fine, particularly when it is used as a preposition.

  • We don't want any characters like him around.
  • She looks just like me.


7 See also

  1. Easily confused verbs such as say, tell, talk