Writing: Formal vs. casual language — Example

- [Instructor] My English instructor teaches Richard Wright's "Black Boy" as a masterful example of how an author writes to reveal the emotions of the story's protagonist. All right, that seems like a reasonable way to write it, but let's look at the other choices. My English instructor talks about "Black Boy" like it's the best book ever, because the author writes to reveal the emotions of the story's protagonist. Well, the tone here just seems too informal. It might be how some folks talk, but it isn't how you would necessarily want to write, especially the rest of the sentence doesn't have that informal tone. You say writes to reveal the emotions of the story's protagonist. This right over here, this part over here isn't an informal tone. So it feels weird that the underlined part would be informal. So I would rule this one out. My English instructor can't get enough of Richard Wright's "Black Boy," because she thinks it's a sweet example of how an author writes to reveal the emotions of the story's protagonist. So this one feels even more informal, so this one's even more informal, more informal. You're saying because she thinks it's a sweet example. She can't get enough of Richard Wright's book. So this one I would definitely rule out. That's going an even more extreme. See, my English instructor revels in the exploration of race relations that Richard Wright employs in "Black Boy," because she luxuriates in an author who writes to reveal the emotions of the story's protagonist. So this choice over here actually just feels too official, too formal. It's going in the complete other direction, and they're unnecessarily using fancy words here. Revels in the exploration of race relations that Richard Wright employs in "Black Boy," because she luxuriates in an author. So that just seems a little bit over the top, a little bit too formal. So I would rule this out. The best tone is actually what they have. My English teacher teaches Richard Wright's "Black Boy" as a masterful example of how an author writes to reveal the emotions of the story's protagonist. And I wanna be clear. Any of these choices, the grammar is not correct. Sorry, the grammar isn't incorrect, but it's more about tone here, that we really just wanna hit the tone, that we're not too informal like these two choices right over here, like these two choices, and not too formal or kind of using too complex language or words or more complex than we need to. So I actually like it the way that it's written.