Spoken English

In distinguishing between written and spoken English, spoken English attempts to record accurately exactly what people say. In a passage for example, someone could say, ‘defendin’ instead of defending or ‘s’ for it’s. Omissions like this when quoted from the passage are accurate records of what people say. In spoken English people can say, ‘James and me’ instead of ‘James and I’


Other characters of spoken English include a mixture of tenses. For example a mixture of past and present tense in narrating one story. Such a change of tense is not usually in formal written English but tenses change when people are talking.
The story is also sometimes interrupted by exclamations like; Hey you, hey home boy/girl, oh gosh, Ooooops, which contributes nothing to the story itself.
Some of the statements that sound sensible when spoken can be seen as in logical in print or in writing.


The constructed form of spoken English makes it clearly different from written English e.g. you’re, he’s, gays, etc. constructed verbs are very common in spoken English and read in single words.
The other characteristic is the use of statement form for a question. In written English it will usually be, “Have you seen him? Instead of spoken English, it’s you’ve seen him. Want me to take you out? Where the auxiliary verb do and the subject you, have been omitted.


Another characteristic that appears throughout passages is the use of slangy words and colloquialisms such as guy, smash up job for the holiday or the entertainment was so slap. Hook up or hooked up.
Colloquialisms are words used in spoken English while slangy are the expected use of words with a meaning different from their formal dictionary meaning. Slangy in general is regarded has substandard and out of place for written English.


Signal words, may come anywhere in a sentence in spoken English. They often indicate a change of tone for emphasis. They may indicate that the speaker is not certain of what he is explaining or his uncertain that his explaining himself fully or clearly. Eg. As it were, after all, in fact you understand, you get the point. Spoken English is always released and conservational.

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Descriptive Prose

As the name suggests, description has to do with describing, and by doing this, one has to make the best use of Adjectives i.e. words that describe a noun. There are two sorts of descriptive writing; the objective and the impressionistic (subjective). The writer of an objective prose tries to give an account of something. He sees what he is describing as something in its own right. He looks at it from the outside and therefore, his attitude or feeling towards it is not import. The writer is like a camera.
But impressionistic description concentrates on the feelings that the described object arouses in the observer. The writer is more interested in making the reader feel rather than see. To do this, they must be sure of what their own feelings are about the object, so that; they can try to arouse the same feelings in the reader. The impressionistic writer often writes as if they were inside the thing they are writing about.
The two types of description are dependent of each other. The objective writer has feeling which they may come across and the impressionistic writer must also have factual description if what they are describing must seem real to the reader.
Objective description often begins with a short general picture of the entire thing described; then, some details are given. It’s often written impersonally as if the writer was not interested. E.g. you may write about a large house by stating facts about its size, qualities and excellent materials without any emotions.
An impressionistic description may be communicated directly or indirectly. The direct way is easier where the author describes the feelings itself like telling the reader that his amused by something although this does not make the reader amused. The indirect way is not for the writer to describe his feelings but rather, describe the object in such a way that will arouse in a reader feeling similar to his own, like describing what has amused him in such a way that makes the reader smile or laugh. In such a way, he would have communicated his feeling (amusement in this case) to us.
Impressionistic descriptions are not concerned with factually accurate picture like the objective description that minds about objective accuracy. They are concerned with feelings, attitudes and points of view. The writer can exaggerate, omit or even add information if it helps them do what they want to do. His not trying to tell us what something is but instead, what it means to them or how they feels about it.

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Exposition Prose

 As the name suggests, exposition prose is a writing that explain or gives facts about a topic. It’s the commonest kind of prose found in text books, letters, legal documents, Newspapers or in anything where you look for information and explanation.

The straight forward exposition gives the facts without any addition of personal opinion. They are long carefully balanced or intricately constructed sentences but… rather simple and straight sentences.

The construction and vocabulary are simple and straight forward as possible. For example, in making of a meal, facts would be given about amount and the method of preparation.

Slanted prose is also factual and concise, but improved by the addition of colour such that it’s sometimes called, coloured writing. Its intension is to convey the writer’s attitude and pursue the reader to accept the writer’s opinion. The writer does this by specific choice of words especially verbs and nouns that draw the reader’s attention on minor details. The tone of the writer is sometimes meant to pursue the reader. It can be sarcastic or the whole piece can be satirising or mocking to pursue the reader.

The primary purpose of exposition is to explain. However, the explanation can either be straight forward or slanted, and when slanted, it should be persuasive. The words chosen should reflect the opinion of the writer.

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