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Analyse the formality of the article in SCMP



It is indispensable for us to use an appropriate style when writing. There is no doubt that formal style should be practiced for newspaper as objectivity and impersonality are important. South China Morning Post is one of the most prevalent newspapers in . It is believed that the language style of its article is formal. There is an analysis of the formality of a newspaper article in the SCMP.



High Formality can be revealed when looking at the article’s choice of vocabulary. Instead of using “a lot of” or “lots of”, the writer used “the number of” and “many”. “just” is also replaced by “only”. However, some informal words can also be found in the article. For instance, “job” and “get” are less formal words. In order to be formal, “position” and “acquire” should be used instead”. Somehow it is reasonable to use these less- formal words because these words are used in the conversation. In this article, two-word verbs and words from old English are not used. Therefore, It is clearly that SCMP has high formality.



Complete sentences, complex sentences and passive constructions should be used when writing in a formal English style. In this article, every sentence is written in complete sentences. Take the second paragraph as an example. “ The study results, released by Oxfam yesterday, showed about one in eight workers made less than HK$ month last year.” this sentence is completed. It is also a complicated sentence because it included complementary meaning. Passive construction is used in the paragraph. Hence, high formality of the article can be seen from its sentences and constructions.



The formality can also be shown by the use of transitional words, phrases and the use of punctuation. . Some of the words such as “moreover”, “while”, ‘due to”, “as” are often used in a formal article. However, only “but” can be found in this article. Also, no semicolons are in it. Although there is only a few “formal” words or punctuations used in the article, the “informal” punctuation such as dashes and parentheses are nowhere to be found too. From this point of view, it is believed that it is a semi-formal article.



Abbreviations and short forms are informal. To write a formal article, they should be avoided. Indeed, there are no abbreviations and short forms in this article. Hence, this article should not be treated as low formality. Instead, it should be seem as semi-formal or highly formal.



In conclusion, South China Morning Post is written in a formal style to a large extent. Its high formality can be shown when looking at its choice of vocabulary, sentence, construction, transitional words, phrases and the use of punctuation. Formal style should be used in the newspaper. SCMP does it well in this aspect it is a good newspaper and worth reading.