Informal Writing
Choose an informal tone because the audience, channel, and relationship support it, not because correctness stops mattering. Social posts, blogs, newsletters, and familiar correspondence may allow more informality; legal, policy, formal reporting, or high-stakes contexts often require a more standard or formal register.
Informal writing uses a more familiar, conversational relationship with the reader. Depending on context it can use contractions, personal pronouns, everyday vocabulary, and selected idioms or anecdotes—but informality should still be clear, accurate, and appropriate for the audience.
Key details
Important caveats
Boundary
Keep grammar, facts, accessibility, and respect intact. Informality changes register, not the obligation to communicate clearly.
Further guidance
Audience Check
Match tone to the relationship with the reader and the communication channel. Ask whether familiarity will help or undermine trust and clarity.
Language Choices
Contractions and personal pronouns can make writing more conversational. Use idioms, metaphor, humour, and slang cautiously because they may exclude readers or sound inappropriate.
Worked Example
Formal: “Applicants are requested to submit the form by Friday.” More informal: “Please send us the form by Friday.” The second is friendlier without becoming careless.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Voice and tone (opens in a new tab)Australian Government Style Manual · Defines formal, standard and informal tone by reader relationship and describes contractions, pronouns, idioms, metaphors and context-sensitive limits.
- Relate to your readers (opens in a new tab)Australian Government Style Manual · Explains audience-centred choices in tone and familiarity and supports treating informal writing as a register decision rather than unbounded casualness.