Reading: Styles of Writing and Voice

Writer’s Voice

Writer’s voice refers to a person’s own writing style.

This ‘voice‘ is made up of a specific combination of style, tone and language.

Personal and Impersonal Tone

Personal writing involves a lot of the writer’s opinions and is often written from the point of view of the author.

For example:

‘The man cancelled his event which made me happy‘

= This sentence shows the author’s own emotions.

In personal writing, the active voice is mainly used. This means that the subject of the sentence is the one ‘doing’ the verb. i.e. the ‘man’ is doing the ‘cancelling’.

Impersonal writing does not include opinions from the author.

For example:

“There are some people who were happy that the event was cancelled“

= The author hides his own opinion in this sentence. The personality of the author is not evident in the text.

In impersonal writing, the passive voice is generally used where the subject of the sentence is having the verb ‘done’ to it.

For example:

“The boy was betrayed by his own brother“

= In this sentence, ‘the boy’ is having the verb ‘done’ to him,  i.e., he is the one being ‘betrayed’.

Formal and Informal Style

Some texts can also have a formal or informal style, which are covered more fully in other topics.

Formal writing is typically used in professional situations, or when the writer and reader do not know each other personally.

Informal writing is usually found in more casual situations, and when the writer and reader do know each other personally.

Take some thinking time…

Situation A would be written in an informal style.

Situation B would be written in a formal style.

Did you get that correct?

A)

In this situation, the reader and writer know each other personally, and are discussing a casual matter. The style it is written in therefore, will be informal.

B)

In the second scenario, the writer is communicating to a reader they do not know personally. They are also discussing an important, formal matter, and so will use a formal writing style.

Spotting style is made easier by knowing these handy tips:

Formal Writing 

Uses                –                  Doesn’t Use

Lots of specialist words –  Very casual language and slang

                                            Professional names and titles  –  Nicknames or acronyms (without also including the full name)

Complex and straightforward sentence structure –  Simple sentence structure, or mostly straightforward sentence structure

Informal Writing 

Uses                –                  Doesn’t Use

          Casual language, occasionally slang –  Very formal language and lots of specialist words

Nicknames or acronyms for people or companies – Professional names and titles for people or companies

Simple or mostly straightforward sentence structure  –  Complex and straightforward sentence structure