Language Matters - Prestwich Arts College

Language matters
Language Matters
Year 9 Sentence Starters
Icons key:
For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation
Flash activity. These activities are not editable.
Extension activities
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Web addresses
Teacher’s notes included in the Notes Page
Accompanying worksheet
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Contents
Degrees of formality
Formal and informal writing
Formal and informal speech
Active and passive voice
School rules activity
Dialects
Language matters quiz
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Language matters – Degrees of formality
Degrees of formality
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Language matters
All writing has a purpose and is written for a specific
audience.
Or be
informed?
Whatever you’re
writing, you need to
decide how you want
your reader to
respond.
Take you
seriously?
Do you want the
reader to laugh?
It is important to consider these questions before
you begin writing.
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Degrees of formality
Perhaps the most important factor to consider is the degree
of formality with which you write. The degree of formality
must be appropriate to your purpose and audience.
We use formal language when we want to be taken
seriously, if the topic we are discussing is particularly grave,
or if our readers are people in authority.
Formality calls for standard English.
Markers of politeness are used in formal situations, e.g.
please, thank you.
Formal English often uses the passive voice.
Sentences may be longer and more complex.
Never use contractions (e.g. don’t, you’ve) when writing
formally.
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Degrees of formality
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Degrees of formality
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Language matters – Formal and informal writing
Formal and informal writing
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Formal writing
How can you tell that this is a formal letter?
4 Mansion Building
London council
Islington
London N13
Address and date given
13 August 2006
London N1 1RP
Formal greeting (not hi!)
Dear Sir/Madam
Full, unabbreviated sentences
I am writing to complain about the litter in Overdale
Park. Recently I have noticed it has been covered
with sweet wrappers and cigarette butts. I suggest
that you ban smoking and put more bins in the park.
Yours faithfully
Mrs Marian Phillips
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Formal closing (not bye!)
Full/Formal name given
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Informal writing
Now it’s your turn! Annotate this postcard, identifying
the features which show that the style is informal.
Hi Katie,
Hello!! U alrite? I’m fab.
 Weather here is
great!!! Yesterday I
went to a water pk with
some mates I’ve made –
it was SOOO cool! I
wish I didn’t have to
come home  (no
offence). Well I better
go coz I have
sunbathing to do. Luv 2
Felix (meow!) Sian xxx
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Formal writing
Draft a formal response to Mrs Phillips with this outline.
Name and
address
of recipient
Your address
Date
Dear Mrs Phillips
Yours sincerely
Your signature
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Informal writing
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Language matters – Formal and informal speech
Formal and informal speech
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Speech: formal or informal?
Formulate a different version of each of the following
requests to each of the six people listed below.
1. Ask someone to speak up.
2. Ask someone to move out of the way.
3. Ask someone to lend you a pen.
Head teacher
Parent
Close friend
The Queen
Distant relative
Form teacher
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Language and power
Did you notice that the way you phrased your requests on the
previous slide reflected the authority relationship between
you and the other person. Those without authority have to be
polite to those who have it. In addition, people in authority are
able to use direct commands because of their power.
Sit down until the bell
goes!
Put your hand up
before answering!
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Pay attention at the
back!
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Language and power
However, commands are often hidden using polite add-ons
such as please or thank you. This implies equality in the
relationship (whether that equality is real or not) – but it also
implies that the listener will co-operate anyway.
I’d like some quiet now, Lei, if
you don’t mind.
Put the tarantula back in
your bag, please, Megan.
Turn round to face the
front, please, Tom.
Can you think of any other ‘polite’ commands?
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Active and passive voice
Active and passive voice
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Active voice
We usually write and speak in the active voice.
In a sentence in the active voice, the subject is the most
important thing because it performs the verb to the object, e.g.
Lei cooked a chocolate cake today.
1. subject
2. verb
3. object
The active voice is normally used by writers or speakers
because it provides readers or listeners with all the details of
an event, in the order in which it occurred.
Sometimes, however, we don’t need to know who
performed the verb or it is less important than what
happened. In those cases, we use the passive voice.
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Passive voice
The passive voice is used when what has happened and to
whom is more important than the person who did it.
The subject of a sentence in the passive voice is referred to
after the verb, e.g.
A chocolate cake was cooked today by Lei.
1. object
2. verb
3. subject
Or the subject is not mentioned at all, e.g.
A chocolate cake was cooked today.
1. object
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2. verb
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Active/passive voice quiz
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Using the passive voice
The passive voice is a useful way of writing formally when
you wish to depersonalize what you are describing.
It is often used in scientific writing, reports and explanatory
texts because it sounds formal and impersonal, e.g.
The mixture was filtered into a beaker…
An aeroplane blew up last night because a
bomb had been planted on it by a
unidentified man…
Homelessness is caused by many factors:
family disputes, violence, substance abuse…
Write a paragraph in the passive voice describing
an event or process. Try to sound impersonal.
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Language matters – School rules activity
School rules activity
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School rules activity
The following school
rules apply equally to
students and
teachers. This is the
version distributed to
students.
However, there is
also another version
which is distributed
to new teachers.
How do you think this
version might be
worded?
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School Rules
No chewing gum.
No smoking.
Do not drop litter.
You MUST sign out if leaving
the site during school hours.
Have a try at writing the teachers’
version yourself, and explain the
changes you have made!
Remember who your audience are
and what your purpose is.
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Dialects
Dialects
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Dialects
Do you ever find it difficult to understand people who speak in a
different dialect (words and grammar) or accent (pronunciation)
of English to you?
“To get to the toilets take the lift to the
second floor and then turn right.”
“To get to the bathrooms ride the elevator
to the second floor and take a right.”
What words are different in the American English
dialect to the Standard English dialect?
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Standard English
Britain is full of regional dialects and accents which are
important parts of our linguistic heritage.
However, we write and speak in
Standard English at school, on the
news, in newspapers and on the radio.
Standard English is the form of English which
is understood by all speakers of English
because it has evolved as the dialect of
British institutions, e.g. legal, political, medical, monarchy etc.
What would happen if we did not have a form
of English that is understood by everyone?
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Dialects
Look this extract. It is written in a regional British dialect.
Can you work out what the underlined words/phrases mean?
“Well, I have heard once or twice, ‘tis true, that my
family had seen better days afore they came to
Blackmoor. But I took no notice o’t, thinking it to mean
that we had once kept two horses where we now keep
only one. I’ve got a wold silver spoon, and a wold
graven seal at home, too; but, Lord, what’s a spoon and
seal?... And to think that I and these noble d’Urbervilles
were one flesh all the time. ‘Twas said that my
grt-granfer had secrets, and didn’t care to talk of where
he came from… And where do we raise our smoke,
now, parson, if I may make so bold; I mean, where do
we d’Urbervilles live?”
This dialect is from the south west of England.
Do you like it? Is it easy to understand?
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Dialects
Read this opening stanza of a poem. Do you know what the
underlined words/phrases mean?
When chapman billies leave the street,
And drouthy neibors, neibors meet,
As market days are wearing late,
An’ folk begin to tak the gate;
While we sit bousing at the nappy,
And getting fou and unco happy,
We think na on the lang Scots miles,
The mosses, waters, slaps and styles,
That lie between us and our hame,
Where sits our sulky sullen dame.
Gathering her brows like gathering storm.
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.
This dialect is Scots from Scotland.
Do you like it? Is it easy to understand?
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Dialects
Now read this extract. It is written in Standard English.
Well, I must say, Algernon, that I think it is high time
that Mr Bunbury made up his mind whether he was
going to live or die. This shilly-shallying with the
question is absurd. Nor do I in any way approve of
the modern sympathy with invalids. I consider it
morbid. Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to be
encouraged in others. Heath is the primary duty of
life. I am always telling that to your poor uncle, but
he never seems to take much notice…
This dialect comes from the south east of England.
Compare it to the other dialects.
Is it easier to understand? Do you prefer it?
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Standard English
Historically, the majority of British
institutions were all set up and controlled
from the south east. This is why the
London and East Midlands dialect became
the standard form of English and it was
used as the standard when the printing
press was invented.
Standard English is considered more formal than other
dialects which is why it is taught in schools and should be used
in essays, letters, job applications etc. to avoid using regional
vocabulary and grammar which can be confusing to others.
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Language matters quiz
Language matters quiz
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Language matters quiz
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