F o r m a l S t y l e

l e
- Learned Words
-Archaic Words
-Obsolete Words
-Historisms
-Professional Terminology
-Basic Vocabulary

Main resources : poetry and fiction.
Numerous learned

words are used in scientific prose and can be identified by their dry, matter-of-fact flavour
(e.g. comprise, compile, homogeneous, experimental, heterogeneous, conclusive, etc.).
To this group also belongs so-called “officialese”
(R. канцеляризмы). These are the words of official, bureaucratic language. E. Partridge in his dictionary Usage and Abuse gives a list of officialese which he thinks should be avoided in speech and print. Here are some words from Partridge’s list:
Assist (for help), proceed (for help), endeavour (for try), approximately (for about), sufficient (for enough), inquire (for ask).

which may very well serve as a typical example of

officialese:

“You are authorized to acquire the work in question by purchase through the ordinary trade channels.”

advise you to buy the book
in a shop.”

is
sure to use many learned words not only in

his formal letters and professional
communication but also in his everyday speech.

Should students be taught learned words?

printed page. Many learned words may be used in
conversational situations,

but this can not happen with
archaisms. What is the difference between them?
Archaisms are already partly or fully out of circulation,
rejected by the living language: their last refuge is in
historical novels and poetry.
Thou and thy, aye (“yes”), nay (“no”).

it should be taken into consideration that what
appear to us

today as archaisms in his works, are in fact
examples of everyday language of Shakespeare’s time.
Further examples of archaisms are:
Morn for morning errant for wandering
Moon for month damsel for girl
Eve for evening

gone out of use. The Random House Dictionary defines them

as “no longer in use, especially out of use for at least a century”.
It should be pointed out that the borderline between “obsolete” and “archaic” is vague and uncertain, and in many cases it is difficult to decide to which of the groups this or that word belongs.

It means those words denoting objects and
phenomena which

are things of the past and
no longer exist.

belong to special scientific, professional or trade terminological systems and

are not used or even understood by people outside the particular speciality. Every field of modern activity has its specialized vocabulary, and similar special terminologies for phychology, botany, music, linguistics, teaching methods and many others.
Term is a word or a word-group which is specifically employed by a particular branch of science, technology, trade or the arts to convey a concept peculiar to this particular activity. So, bilingual, palatalization, glottal stop, are terms of phonetics.

are stylistically neutral, and in this respect, opposed to formal

and informal words. Their stylistic neutrality makes it possible to use them in all kinds of situations, both formal and informal, in verbal and written communication. We know that
professional terminology is used mostly by representatives of the professions;
dialects are regional;
slang is favoured mostly by the young and the uneducated.
No so basic vocabulary.
These words are used every day, everywhere by everybody, regardless of profession, occupation, educational level, age group or geographical location.

which no human communication would be possible as they denote

objects and phenomena of everyday importance (e.g. house, bread, summer, child, mother, green, to go, to stand, etc.).
Basic vocabulary is the central group of the vocabulary, its historical foundation and living core. Their meanings are broad, general and directly convey the concept, without supplying any additional information. For instance, the verb to walk means “to move from place to place”, as for verbs to stride (шагать), to stroll (прогуливаться), to trot (идти рысью), to stagger (шататься) some additional information is given – different manners of walking.