22|Appropriateness

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When you talk to people face-to-face, you can gauge their reactions to what you say. Often their responses guide your tone and your choice of words. When you write, you can’t see your readers. Instead, you must imagine yourself in their place, focusing on their responses when you revise.

Besides affecting how well you achieve your purpose as a writer, your language can affect how well you’re regarded by others. When you accurately assess the tone, formality, and word choice expected in a situation, you use the power of language to enhance your position. When you misjudge, you risk being misunderstood or judged harshly.

22aChoose a tone appropriate for your topic and audience.

Like a speaker, a writer may come across as friendly or aloof, furious or merely annoyed, playful or grimly serious. This attitude is the writer’s tone, and it strongly influences the audience’s response. For instance, readers might reject as inappropriate a humorous approach to terrorist attacks. To convey your tone, use sentence length, level of language, and vocabulary. The key is to be aware of your readers and their expectations.

22bChoose a level of formality appropriate for your tone.

Considering the tone you want to convey helps you choose words that are neither too formal nor too informal. Formal language is typically impersonal and serious. Usually written, formal language is marked by relatively complex sentences and a large vocabulary. It doesn’t use contractions (such as doesn’t).

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In contrast, informal language more closely resembles ordinary conversation. It uses relatively short sentences and common words. It may include contractions, slang, and references to everyday objects and activities (cheeseburgers, T-shirts, apps). The writer may use I and address the reader as you.

The right language for most college essays lies somewhere between formal and informal. If your topic and tone are serious (say, for a research project on homelessness), then your language may lean toward formality. If your topic is not weighty and your tone is light (say, for a humorous personal essay about giving your dog a bath), then your language may be informal.

22cChoose common words instead of jargon.

Jargon is the term for the specialized vocabulary used by people in a certain field, such as music, carpentry, law, or sports. Nearly every academic, professional, and recreational field has its own jargon. To a specialist addressing other specialists, jargon is convenient and necessary. Without technical terms, after all, two surgeons could hardly discuss a patient’s anatomy. To an outsider, though, such terms may be incomprehensible. To communicate with readers without confusing them, avoid unnecessary jargon.

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Jargon often results in unnecessarily wordy language because the writer is attempting to sound intellectual or to avoid speaking directly about an issue.

Many instances of jargon come from business and technical language. Avoid using technological terms such as interface and input to refer to nontechnical ideas. Also avoid ending words with the suffix -ize (as in privatize) and in the hyphenated term -wise (as in time-wise).

22dUse euphemisms sparingly.

Euphemisms are plain truths dressed attractively, sometimes hard facts stated gently. To say that someone passed away instead of died is a common euphemism—humane, perhaps, in breaking terrible news to an anxious family. In such language, an army that retreats makes a strategic withdrawal, a person who is underweight turns slim, and an acne cream treats not pimples but blemishes.

22eAvoid slang in formal writing.

Slang, when new, can be colorful (“She’s not playing with a full deck”), playful (“He’s wicked cute!”), and apt (ice for diamonds, a stiff for a corpse). Most slang, however, quickly seems as old and wrinkled as the Jazz Age’s twenty-three skidoo! Your best bet is to stick to words that are usual but exact.