Friendly or Formal?
One of the key choices you have to make when establishing a tone is whether to sound
friendly and conversational, or formal. This will depend on your audience, the type of text
and what you’re trying to achieve.
Friendly = pleasant, kind, relaxed
Formal = serious, clear and correct

Activity One – Contractions
Contractions are a feature of a friendly voice, not a formal voice.
Turn these contractions into their full, formal forms

Contractions                                              Formal 

Don’t
Won’t
Can’t
Shouldn’t
Could’ve
Might’ve
That’ll

Challenge: What other friendly contractions can you think of?

Activity Two – Punctuation
You can use some forms of punctuation to help change your tone of voice.
Brackets, question marks, semi-colons, dashes and exclamation marks all form part of the voice that
comes across in your writing.
Complete the table to remind yourself of the purposes of each of these types of punctuation

Brackets                                Add additional
                                                information that isn’t
                                                essential to the main
                                                sentence – perhaps
                                                examples or an opinion

Question Mark                    Used to indicate the end
                                                of a question (usually
                                                rhetorical in
                                                transactional writing)

Semi-Colon                          Used to mark a pause
                                                longer than a comma
                                                but shorter than a full
                                                stop. They link together
                                                two sentences that
                                                connect in some way

Em Dash/Long Dash          To create a long break
                                                or dramatic pause in a
                                                sentence

Exclamation Mark              Exclamation marks
                                               show shouting or
                                               excitement in writing 

Activity Three – Friendly Punctuation
You’re more likely to include more rhetorical questions, exclamations and dashes in friendly writing
because it helps you show your opinion. Brackets are often friendly too, if you’re filling them with
jokes, comments or opinions of your own.
Imagine you’re writing an email to a friend. Try to sound friendly in each sentence.

1. Who are you going to write to?                       

Ask a friendly question using a question
mark

Ask your friend for a favour, including
brackets

Explain you know it’s a big thing to ask
for, using a dash

Give an opinion of your own, using an
exclamation mark

Example:
Hi Joe,
How’s it going? I have a bit of a favour to ask you (I know, I know) and I’m hoping you’ll give
me a hand. I need you to help me write a resignation letter to my boss – the raging lunatic. After all,
we both know he’s not going to take it well!
Hope you can help!
Jeff

Activity Four – Making Yourself More Formal
When being formal you need to take away some of the punctuation and personal expression you
would use in a more friendly piece of writing.
Look back at the example. Imagine you’re Jeff and Joe is not your friend, but the head of a
recruitment agency – how would you need to change this email to make it more formal? Annotate
the example.
Rewrite your email here:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   

Activity Five – Should I use first person or third person?
First person can often be less formal and more friendly, but that is not always the case. You need to
use a person appropriate to the context of what you’re writing.
Read each text and decide:
a) first or third person?
b) friendly or formal?
c) what tone of voice you’ll try to create

Task         First or Third Person?       Friendly or Formal?          Tone                                                                                                                              ofVoice?

Write a speech to give in
the Houses of Commons
advising them about the
biggest problems facing
young people today.

Write a newspaper article
for a national newspaper
giving your view on the
cost of living.

Write a newspaper for a
local newspaper
encouraging people to
spend their money with
local businesses rather
than chains.

Write a report for your MP
that explores the mental
health support available
for young people.

Write a review of a local
restaurant for a food
website giving your view
on your experience there

Write an advice column
for young people about
how to deal with exam
preparation and exam
stress

Write the words of an
advice leaflet for local
parents who are trying to
make their family
healthier.