Varieties of English

English is not a single language, it varies according to forms ofcommunication (spoken – written), speech situations (formal – informal), functional styles (language of science – literary language), geographical areas (British English – American English).

In writing we usually have time to plan our message, to think about it carefully and revise it if necessary.

The language of science belongs mostly to formal written communication, it is usually objective, precise and unemotional. Some of the common features of the language of science are passive constructions, sentences beginning with introductory “it” (e.g. It is important to remember).

Formal language is the type of language we use publicly for some serious purpose, for example, in officialreports and business letters. Informal language is the language of private conversation, of popular newspapers, of personal letters. In English there are many differences of vocabulary between formal and informal language. Much of the vocabulary of formal English is of French, Latin and Greek origin. Many phrasal verbs are characteristic of informal style:

to discover to find out

to investigate to look into

to educate to bring up

English is spoken as a native language by nearly three hundred million people. The varieties of English used in Great Britain and the USA are the most important in terms of population and influence.

English presents a great difficulty for a learner because of disagreement between pronunciation and spelling. There are many suggestions to simplify English by changing the spelling system. But people think that there are too many problems connected with the change of the spelling rules.