Formal and Informal Writing - Noun and Verb Usage

Nouns and Verbs

In the previous post, it has been explained briefly about the formal writing in English. In this post, you will be studying a major difference between formal written English and informal English, and the answer lies on "balance" between the use of nouns and verbs. 

In formal written English, there is usually a need to give special emphasis to facts and ideas and this often calls for the use of many nouns and fewer verbs. In Informal writing, the relationship between the writer and reader is often given as much attention as the information. In this case, it is common for verbs to be used more frequently than nouns.

Have a look an example of these two texts

Text A - "When you select the type of fuel you want for example - three or four star or unleaded petrol - you press a button on the pump. When you remove the nozzle from its holster, it sends an electric signal to the service kiosk". A light will come on in the kiosk which indicates to the operator that he or she should switch on your pump"

In the text A, you could see that, the verbs are:

• select
• want
• press
• remove
• sends
• will come
• indicates
• should switch

Now, have a look for the formal version of the text A

Text B - "Fuel type selection (eg 3 or 4 star or unleaded petrol) is achieved by the application of pressure to a button on the pump. Removal of the nozzle from its holster sends an electric signal to the service kiosk where an indicator lamp shows operator the pump to be switched on"

If you compare the text A and B, the verbs are reduced into

• is achieved
• sends
• shows

The other verbs such as select, it becomes selection. Whilst, for the remove and indicate, respectively they are changed into removal and indicator. From these two examples, it could be concluded that, one method in writing formal English, is by changing the verbs into nouns which also reduce the use of verbs.

The following link provides the PDF material of this subject.