While, in most cases, informal English will be more than enough to communicate, at some point, you might need to send an official letter or get in touch with someone who is your superior and with whom you need to be more professional – in those instances, formal language comes into play.
It’s important to know equivalents in both so that you can adapt your vocabulary to the specific situation, so here is a short list of formal words and their informal equivalents.
Glossary of Most Common Informal and Formal Words
When creating this list of words, we tried to pick ones that we think will be more useful in a number of situations. Although there might be some variations in individual spellings depending on the English dialect present where formal language will be used, the words themselves should be more than fine in any English-speaking territory.
| INFORMAL WORDS | FORMAL WORDS |
| start | commence |
| bring up | mention |
| anyways | nevertheless |
| also | furthermore |
| plus | moreover |
| so | therefore / thus/ consequently |
| but | however |
| about | approximately |
| above-mentioned | aforementioned |
| to be away | to be absent |
| to sum up | in conclusion |
| to make up | to fabricate |
| to show | to demonstrate / illustrate/ portray |
| to check | to verify |
| to leave out | to omit |
| to clear out | to vacate |
| to deal with | to handle |
| to buy | to purchase |
| to ask | to enquire |
| to ask for | to request |
| to get | to receive |
| to ask for help | to request assistance |
| to put up with | to tolerate/ bear/ endure |
| to ease | to facilitate |
| to point out | to indicate |
| to go ahead | to proceed |
| to go on | to continue |
| to talk into | to persuade |
| to look into | to investigate |
| to pin down | to determine |
| it’s about | it concerns / it is in regards to |
| cheap | inexpensive |
| right | correct |
| wrong | incorrect |
| I’m sorry | My (sincere) apologies |
| I’m ready to… | I am willing to… |
| I’m angry about… | I am dissatisfied with… |
| I think… | I believe… / In my opinion… |
| I’m writing about | I’m writing regarding |
| If you have any questions… | Should you have any questions… |
| many | numerous/ several |
| get | receive |
| for sure | definitely/ assuredly/ certainly |
| but | whereas/ while |
| Hi (name) | Dear Sir or Madam / To whom it may concern |
| maybe | perhaps |
| better | improved |
| worse | inferior |
| laid back | relaxed |
| really | exceptionally |
| seem | appear |
| chance | opportunity |
| again and again | repeatedly |
| really big | considerable |
| super important | of utmost importance |
| good for | beneficial |
| co-worker | colleague |
The Bottom Line
Of course, this is not a complete comparison of formal vs informal words – there are many more, some of which you might not even have heard of. However, the ones we presented are the most common and the ones you will probably need when having a formal conversation.
Not sure whether the situation requires formal or informal language? In those cases, it’s always better to go with formal – once you get the idea of what is expected of you, it will be easier to move from formal to informal than vice versa.