Read Chapter 4.4 in Business Communication for Success. This reading describes colloquial, casual, informal, and formal writing styles, and discusses when and where each style is most appropriate. Choice of style will depend on your writing purpose, audience, and whether your document is for internal or external communication. Business writing also often involves choosing the appropriate level of formality for particular industries, companies, and situations.
Recommended: Do Chapter Exercises 1-4, which ask you to analyze and/or practice different writing styles, in different formats, for different audiences. In Exercise 4, try describing when a casual or formal tone is more appropriate in a concise paragraph (150-200 words), rather than the 1-2 page essay suggested. After completing the other learning activities in this topic, you are invited to do a modified version of Exercise 5 in the Learning Challenge that follows.
