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Formal words for IELTS writing (20 ways to sound formal)

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  1. Hello – I just saw in this article that you suggest us avoid “flowery” languages and two books came to my mind, they are 1) Martin Cutts’s “Oxford Guide to Plain English”, and 2) Sir Ernest Gowers’s “Plain Words: A Guide to the Use of English”. Have you ever read them? And if yes how do you like them?

    • Hi Adam

      Thanks again for your comment. I haven’t read those books but I often recommend a similar free resource, from the Plain English Campaign called “How to write in plain English”.
      https://www.plainenglish.co.uk/free-guides.html
      I like their “A-Z of alternative words” because it has the formal and informal versions of common expressions.

      Best wishes
      Fiona

  2. Hello Fiona, sometimes I can find English textbooks online like “business grammar” and “business vocabulary in use” but I’ve never used any one of these books; just out of curiosity, is the “business English” very different to other kinds of academic English?

    • Hi Adam. Many thanks for your comment.

      The English that I help students use in their IELTS reports and essays is characterized by its formal and objective tone. It puts emphasis on accuracy, precision, and intellectual arguments, which makes it more complex than Business English.

      Business English uses industry-specific jargon and acronyms, and tends to be more concise and direct, as it is used more for communication between professionals.

      For example in a Business English presentation you might say “We carried out some research and here’s what we found”. (Active tenses).

      Whereas in formal, written academic you would write “Research was conducted into (topic) and the results are as follows”.

      In a Business English coursebook, you’d learn about acronyms and abbreviations like “ROI” (return on investment), “KPI” (key performance indicator), and “MVP” (minimum viable product).

      In an Academic English coursebook, you’d learn how to refer to sources using reporting verbs like ‘claims’ ‘suggests’ ‘argues’ and you’d learn techniques like ‘hedging’ (see my blog: https://ieltsetc.com/2020/12/hedging-in-academic-writing/).

      I hope that helps,
      Best wishes
      Fiona