Language use and mechanics

• Informal Language - used in writing for oneself, or in writing to family, friends and colleagues
• Formal language - used in writing academics, business and official texts
• Proper Language use - allows you to capture the message that you want to convey to your readers
• Problems encountered in proper language use:

  1. Misused words
  2. unwanted connotations
  3. technical or highfalutin words
• Misused words - a writer sometimes use a word incorrectly, and this occurs when the word does not mean what he or she think it does. so it is important to be certain of the definition of a word before using it; often happens when words that sound or look a like
• Unwanted connotations - there are words that take on a meaning specific to a context. some writers might not be aware of these connotations, so they end up using language that is unintentionally confusing, comical or even offensive to readers
• Technical or highfalutin words - Writers want to sound smart by using words that are very technical or have deep meanings. Though some writing genres require the use of such words, writers should still be careful about using them since they make readers work harder to understand texts.
• Mechanics - refers to a set of conventions on how to spell, abbreviate, punctuate and capitalize. mechanics are conventions that have to be considered in writing
• types of mechanics (conventions):

  1. spelling
  2. punctuation
  3. capitalization
• Spelling - always make sure that you are consistently using one standard with regards to the spelling of your words
• punctuation - is the act of using a system of symbols such as the comma, period, quotation marks, question marks etc. that are used to give structure and organize text. guides the reader how the text should be read
• capitalization - is the act of writing the first letter of a word in uppercase