Conversational English is usually an informal style of language used to talk about daily situations. English users can either choose informal of formal language when communicating with others, so making the right choice can be confusing for ESL students. If you feel this way, you're not alone! In this post, we will explore when to use informal language and how to change your speech to sound more casual.
The most important point to remember is that it depends on the situation and your relationship with those you are communicating with.
For example, spoken conversational English tends to be more informal than written English. When speaking with friends, we often sound casual by using slang or common expressions, but when writing an email or a letter, we use formal tone and vocabulary. However, in formal settings such as at a court speaking to a judge or a police officer, we use formal language even in spoken form.
Additionally, we tend to use more formal language with strangers rather than friends because formality shows distance between two individuals, which in English can mean "respect." Creating too much distance between friends by being too formal can show "disrespect," so it is necessary to make the correct language choice. That's why you do not need to be formal when you write to your friends on social media apps such as Facebook, WeChat, Instagram, or WhatsApp. Even though you are communicating in writing, your relationship with them is more casual.
So what does conversational English include?
To make your speech casual for conversational English, you must become familiar with some components informal conversational English includes, such as:
-contractions
(Example: "It's...," "I'm...," "I've..." instead of "It is...," "I am...," "I have...")
-slang
(Example: "What's up?" meaning "How are you?" or "cool" meaning "great")
-phrasal verbs
(Example: "hang out" meaning "spend time" or "chill out" meaning "relax/rest")
-idioms
(Example: "It's a piece of cake" meaning "It's easy" or "lose your touch" meaning "losing a skill or talent")
-present tense vs. past tense (sometimes)
(Example #1: "I wonder where the event is." "I was wondering where the event was.")
(Example #2: "Can you open the window?" "Could you open the window?")
-improper grammar (sometimes)
(Example: "Me and my friend went to a party."
Correct Version: "My friend and I went to a party.")
-casual vocabulary
(Example: "place" instead of "house/residence" or "kids" instead of "children" or "yummy" instead of "delicious")
Conversational English can also include obscene language such as "bad" words, which you should know to better understand what people mean when they use them!
Below is an example of a passage about Christmas using conversational English.
"Me and my family celebrate Christmas every year, so we meet up at my place and hang out on December 24th. My cousins come over and also bring their kids, so it gets busy! We take pictures by the tree, drink eggnog, and catch up with one another while having yummy food. Then Santa comes and all the kids scream from happiness! It's also cool to open gifts the next morning and see what everyone brought. I love Christmas because I work all the time, but this is the day I get to be a couch potato and chill!"
Can you make changes to the informal passage above to make it sound more formal? :)
Author: Nairi I., English Coach (English as a Second Language, MA)
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