Discussion Question:
Formal writing style is very different from our everyday speech patterns. What differences have you noticed between your daily conversational style and academic writing?
Differences Between Daily Conversational Speech and Academic Writing
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Differences Between Daily Conversational Speech and Academic Writing
English is used differently depending on the environment and the situation people find themselves in. Self-expression in English to a friend, parents, or close relatives differs considerably with the way people write and defend opinions and ideas to academicians or in an academic institution. The difference comes in many forms, such as the choice of words, sentence structures, and tone. This paper will highlight some of the differences that can be noted between daily conversational speech and academic writing.
Academic writing adopts a more formal tone which is less friendly and less personal. It does not use colloquial and personal words such as I or We. Personal references such as my friend, my love, dear, buddy, and so on are avoided. Contractions like can’t, won’t, you’ve are not normally used in academic writing. Unlike daily conversation speech, academic writing mostly used full sentences like cannot, will not, or you have not. Academic writing normally does not address the reader by calling them with their names, title, or relations like sister, mother, and so on. Such addresses and references are however accepted in conversation speech.
Academic writing does not deviate from the course of the topic as daily conversations do. Academic writing normally discusses a given topic strictly without interruptions. Daily conversational speech, on the other hand, uses anecdotes and discusses multiple topics concurrently which may cut the flow of the speech. For instance, one might talk about the sickness of their parents and also discuss whether and school at the same time. Academic writing takes a more serious tone and language than a normal conversation. Normal conversation can incorporate jokes and personal feelings like disgust, happiness, which is not the case with academic writing.
Moreover, academic writing does not use slang language as seen in normal conversational speech. For instance, Americans are using words like bitch, nigger, piss off, cop, and so on in their normal conversation which is not used in academic language. Academic writing makes a complete sentence that has meaning on its own and is self-explanatory as opposed to normal conservation. Short and incomplete sentences like wait, where to, in the house, and such like, can be found in normal conversation.
Normal conversational speech does not have any discernible format. Academic writing, on the other hand, takes writing styles like APA, MLA, Chicago, and so on. Besides, within the body, academic writing follows the order of introduction, body, conclusion, and references. The body is structured into paragraphs and subheadings. Conversational speech is not always structured into paragraphs. Individual sentences can stand on their own. Daily conversational speech is a direct speech hence written as it. Academic writing is normally a reported speech hence uses quotations marks when including a direct speech. Academic writing also includes references and intext citations as opposed to Daily conversational speech that does not include such properties.
In summary, both academic writing and daily conversational speech have distinctive differences. People must understand how and where to apply them in order to use them appropriately. None is more superior to the other because at some point one will have to use conversational language and academic language in another incidence. A better understanding of the difference enables one to shift easily from one to the next. This paper has demonstrated the differences and can then be used by people who want to have an idea about them.