Informal English is fine to use when talking to your friends, family, or traveling as a tourist, but what about when you really want to make a good impression on someone or when you are using English for business? These are times when you will want to use more formal English, or what I call, “power English.”

Let’s take a look at how you can make your informal English more powerful for use in business and formal interactions. In all of the examples below, you will see that a simple or basic word in English is upgraded to a more formal word to make a more powerful statement. Learning some of these more powerful words will help make your English more formal for times when this is necessary.

 

Informal English transformed to “Power English”:

 

I got your message.  —> I received your message.

I asked for this on Tuesday.   —> I requested this on Tuesday.

I need some help.  —> I require your assistance.

We’ll talk about this later.  —> We will discuss this at another time.

James needs to get in touch with the manager.  —> James needs to contact the manager.

Pam has to put off the meeting another day.   —> Pam needs to postpone the meeting another day.

Please make sure the report is turned in by 5pm.   —>  Please ensure the report is submitted by 5pm.

Can you give me your phone number?   —> Can you provide me with your phone number?

Let me know when you are leaving.  —> Please inform me when you are leaving.

The other team needs to say they are sorry for us to move forward.   —> The other team needs to apologize for us to move forward.

Can you tell me why you made this choice?  —> Can you explain why you made this decision?

Today we are going to talk more about the up coming merger.  —> Today we are going to elaborate on the upcoming merger.

How are we going to fix this problem?  —> How are we going to solve this problem?

The deal has been called off.  —> The deal has been cancelled.

Here is a summary of the transformations that took place in the sentences above. The informal words are listed first and their formal, more powerful, synonyms are next.

get/got = receive/received

ask = request

need = require

put off = postpone

talk about = discuss

get in touch = contact

turn in = submit

give = provide

know = inform

say sorry = apologize

tell why = explains

talk more about = elaborate

fix = solve/resolve

call off = cancel

Can you think of any other simple informal words that have more formal or powerful synonyms, if so add them to the list!