How formal is formal writing?

If you’re taking the IELTS Academic Test, you already know that you have to write in a ‘formal’ ‘academic’ style, which means: 

• avoiding slang and colloquial expressions
• using ‘full’ verbs such as ‘collect‘ rather than phrasal verbs such as ‘pick up‘
• avoiding contractions such as ‘I’d’ ‘We’ll’ ‘It’s’
• using Passive Tense rather than Active tense e.g. ‘It is often said’ rather than ‘people often say’
• avoiding anecdotal (story-like) evidence like ‘My friend had a similar experience’
• using objective facts like ‘Research has shown that a number of people have had a similar experience’
• NOT using your opinion in Task 1 to describe a graph ‘Sales increased in February, probably because of Valentine’s Day‘
• stating your opinion ‘formally’ in Task 2 e.g. ‘This essay argues that…’ ‘In my opinion…’

Reading academic-style texts and model answers will help you develop a formal, academic writing style.

What about formal writing in the General Training Test?

If you’re taking the IELTS General Training Test, the first thing you will see (Task 1) is a letter or email. Some people think this is a really easy task – everyone can write a simple letter of 150 words, can’t they?

So the question is this – if writing a letter is easy, what is the difference between a Band 8 and a Band 5 (or anything in between)?

The difference, my friends, is in the TONE. The TONE is the way you sound to the reader. The impression that you make on the reader. How the reader feels when they read your letter. How the reader responds to your letter. The effect that you have on the reader.

In the Cambridge First Exam, ‘communicative achievement’ is one of the four criteria (it used to be called ‘the effect on the reader’ and you got a grade according to whether it had a positive or negative effect on the reader).

This is what makes General Training Task 1 more difficult than it looks and also what so many people get wrong.

The problem with TONE in Task 1

Many ‘native’ speakers take the General Training Test in the UK in order to emigrate to Australia or Canada. Some of them haven’t done any preparation for the test, so they just write a letter as they would normally and that’s fine.

But some people think that, because it’s a test, they need to write everything very formally. This is so far from the truth. Indeed, when I post examples of informal letters to a friend, people are quite shocked at how informal my models are, and question if this is acceptable in IELTS.

When this happens I always go back to the writing band descriptors. So let’s have a look at them now.

Task Achievement

Band 7 – the tone is consistent and appropriate

Band 6 -there may be inconsistencies in tone

Lexical Resource

Band 7 -ƒ uses less common lexical items with some awareness of style and collocation

Band 6 – attempts to use less common vocabulary but with some inaccuracy

So we can see that apart from answering the question fully (‘covering the requirements of the task’) one major difference in scores is in the TONE and the ability to use ‘less common lexical items‘.

What this means is that you have to show the examiner that you have the ability, skill and awareness to use e.g. ‘pick up‘ rather than ‘collect‘ (and vice versa) in the appropriate places.