Fine-Tune Your Tone of Voice

Formal or casual? Serious or amusing? Find the right tone!

A subscriber recently told me that as someone who is newer to Canada, she is often told her writing is “too formal”. I can see that. When you’re learning any new language, and adapting to a new workplace culture, you’re usually careful to adhere to the rules. Quite often, those rules make your writing sound more formal, more official or bureaucratic, than may be needed. (You should see my French, German, or Spanish! Actually, I will spare you…)

So how do you determine the right voice and tone in your writing? This is a challenge for every writer, not just those who are learning English as a second language. How do you determine what is suitable and professional? Especially now, when we have all become so much more informal in our personal and online writing: