- Today, I'm going to help you make your writing sound more polished and smarter. Basically, I'm going to break down the difference between formal and informal writing. 

- My mom says I'm really smart and special. 

- OK. This is difficult because it's not natural. And notice I said 'cause and not because. So even I need help. When we write formal academic essays, papers, and emails, we follow completely different rules than conversations. Let's get started. First, whenever you're writing something, ask yourself this. Who is my audience? If you know who's going to be reading your writing, you can figure out the best style and way to communicate with them. 

- I can do that. 

- For example, your writing will be written in a different style if you're writing an essay for English class as opposed to a note to your friend. Your tone also depends on how well you know the person. If you're writing an email to your teacher, you want to be professional, but you can be less formal depending on the nature of your relationship. 

- 'Sup, teach, why my grade low? Peace. 

- You're not getting it. Figure out who your audience is, and then ask yourself, what's the best way and style to communicate with them? Now let's talk about the difference between formal and informal writing. Rather than thinking about it like you have to write informally or formally, think of it like a scale. On the far left, you have formal writing, like writing a college research paper. And on the far right, it's like texting your best friend. 

- Will you be my best friend? 

- This is the best way to think about it because, usually, it's not one or the other. Depending on who you're writing to and your purpose, you can mix them together. Informal writing tends to be simpler and more conversational. Think of it like writing the way you talk. You can add personality and emotions. When you're writing informally, you tend to break grammatical rules and use incomplete sentences. Think about it like you're texting your friend. 

- Sometimes, I text in all emojis. 

MAN: Formal writing tends to be more serious, objective, and complex. It follows lots of rules and used more settings like school and work. Real quick, do me a favor and smash the Like button so this video can spread and help more people. Now I'm going to go through this rapid fire style and just give you all the tips and tricks to write formally. Basically, all the things you need to do and avoid. I will also review the rules you can bend depending on the situation. 

Now here's to making yourself sound just a bit smarter. Do not use contractions. Basically, don't-- I mean, do not use words like can't and shouldn't. Avoid the first person-- I, me, or my. Look at this example I see a lot. I think Batman is the greatest superhero. Get rid of I think. You're probably a great person, but the reader does not want to know your opinion. They want to know your writing is based on facts. And we know it's your opinion because you're writing it. In most papers and essays, you want to avoid personal examples from your life or people around you. I will say there are times when you can do that, but it's really rare. 

- So you're saying there's a chance? 

- Obviously, if the question is asking you to share a personal example, then do it. Avoid addressing the reader directly. Rather than say you may believe, you can say one may believe. Again, there are times when you can break this rule. For example, in the last part of your conclusion of your essay, you want to address the reader directly and tell them why this is important and how it applies to them. Just be thoughtful about it. No colloquialisms. 

- Colloco loco cocomelon? 

- Colo-- OK, you're messing me up as well. A colloquialism is a phrase we use in conversation, like wanna or gotcha. Avoid idioms. They tend to make your writing sound a bit too informal, and they're really hard for some people to understand. 

- My mom says I'm one tough cookie. 

- Yeah, avoid that. Spell out the word completely. Do not use abbreviations. Take a look at these examples. Avoid text talk. There is a certain way you text your friends, and that's great, but avoid using that in your academic writing. I get emails all the time that just look like students are texting their friends. Connected to this is slang. 

Slang is changing all the time, and it's never OK to use informal writing. I'm not even going to give you a totally rad example of slang using this tight and sick video because by the time you watch it, it's totes going to be outdated. Do not use generalizations, like all, every, none, and always. Generalizations are not true and make yourself sound less credible. 

- I never do that as I always follow all the rules every single time. 

- Connected to this is exaggeration. In formal writing, do not exaggerate. Just tell it like it is. Avoid informal and vague language. This is a big one as it makes you sound less intelligent. 

- What if I said this? This is the best and most amazing video about stuff. Is that right? 

- OK, you just exaggerated and were vague. When adding numbers to your writing, do the following. When you write a number one through ten, you need to spell it out. Any number above 10 is generally accepted to just write it as a number. Here's a way you can break this rule. Being consistent is the most important thing. Don't spell out 5 and have 15 and 21 as numbers. Make sure to be consistent, even if you break one of the rules. But if you start a sentence with a number, you need to spell it out. Decimals are always written as a number. If you have two numbers in a row, spell one of them out. Avoid being overly emotional. When you sound too emotional, your reader is less likely to trust what you're saying and you lose credibility. 

- My therapist says I need to tap into my emotional side. 

- I do want to say a couple things about this. There is merit in allowing your personal voice to come through your writing. For example, I have a student that's very sarcastic, so he adds a bit of sarcasm to his writing, which is really difficult to do in the correct way. But when done sparingly and creatively, it can really take your writing to the next level. In argumentative writing, there's a technique called pathos. It's when you appeal to the emotion of the reader and write in a way that arouses pity. Using emotion can be a very powerful technique, but must be done with purpose and focus. 

Avoid phrasal verbs. You're probably wondering, what even is that? But it's when a verb is followed by a preposition. Check out some of these examples. Basically, use a different word or verb to describe the situation. It makes you sound way smarter. Make sure to cite your sources. Whenever you make a claim, you have to have evidence to show us what you mean. And when you do, make sure you cite it and tell us where it came from. Do not be repetitive. When you find yourself using the same word over and over and over and over again, find a different word. 

- Wait, didn't you just repeat yourself? 

- Lastly, use academic vocabulary. This might be the greatest technique to make yourself sound smart. I use these words all the time, but try to drop words like very or really from your vocabulary. Rather than say he's a really good basketball player, you can say he's a talented basketball player. Take a look at these common words and look at the academic language you can use instead. This will take your writing to a whole new level. 

Basically, be thoughtful in your writing. And if you use these tips, you'll sound really smart. No, you'll sound brilliant, astute, and resourceful. Check out one of these two videos, smash the Like button, hit subscribe. Adios.