formal use, because they are not appropriate for formal occasions. It would be absurd if slang terms or vulgarisms were used to address an audience at commencement, or the other way round, if a very formal style, long sentences and complex grammatical structures were used in a friendly letter. Yet if we have some idea of different styles, but don't know when to use which, this knowledge is worse than useless.
3. This is an example of a very formal expression alongside a colloquialism. Bags of fun is a slang term whereas extremely gracious is very formal language.
Here is another example of the same kind to show the inappropriateness of a formal style mixed with colloquialism. In a letter of application, you begin thus:
Dear Sirs,
I am writing to you in the hope that you still have a vacant place in your department. If you hve not yet employed anyone, I should like my application for the position to be considered. ...
And you conclude with:
As to my character and fitness for the job, please rest assured that I am sure smart. In this last sentence, job may be rather too informal; employment or post would be more suitable. Smart is a colloquialism that means “mentally alert, quick?witted, and talented”. Moreover, the sentence I am sure smart is very informal and colloquial, and so it is inappropriate for the letter.
4. Good use of English requires the appropriate choice of words for the expression of thoughts. To be in “good use of English”, therefore, a word must be used appropriately in a specific set of circumstances.
K 2?25. Coy means “shy, diffident, bashful”. What the writer means here is:“Do away with your shyness. Decide what you want to say and say it as directly as possible in plain words. Stop deceiving people and beating about the bush. Call a spade a spade.”
6. Some examples of euphemisms:
1) a mental home (＝ an insane asylum)
slow (＝ dull in mind)
residence (＝ house)
a reconditioned automobile (＝ a used car)
stout (＝fat)
The above words and phrases in italics are supposed to be more pleasant substitutes for those in parentheses.
2) skin tonic (＝cold cream. The term skin tonic may help the manufacturer to sell his products more easily.)
3) Goodness me！ Goodness gracious！ Thank goodness. For goodness' sake！ (It is supposed to be blasphemous to use the word God in one's speech, so goodness is used instead of God.)
4) “Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population.” (This is quoted from George Orwell's “Politics and the English Language”. Euphemism is used here to hide some brutal, harsh, stark political realities.)
7. The writer means that in spite of the fact that he strongly objects to the use of euphemisms, some euphemisms, having considerable vigour and vitality, can still be used as far as he is concerned.
8. It shows that the writer can foresee the inevitable fate of any euphemism, i.e., that any effort to