English and Language Usage Study Guide for the TEAS

Knowledge of Language: Overall Considerations

Beyond the fine points of words and sentences, there are other aspects to consider as you write. These tend to affect the overall effect of your writing and focus on larger segments of the piece.

Writing Purpose and Audience

Writers write with a purpose or goal in mind. They also usually have a specific audience in mind. Knowing why they write and to whom they write helps writers select their topic, their organization, and their diction. Depending on their purpose and audience, writers may use specific styles of organization and patterns of development to effectively communicate with their audience, deliver their message, and achieve their purpose.

Types of Writing

There are many purposes to writing. Writers may write to entertain, to inform, to explain, to persuade, to argue, or simply to express themselves. The four main types of writing are descriptive (often entertaining, this type uses a lot of imagery and descriptive details to help the reader create a mental picture), expository (to inform or explain an idea to the audience), narrative (storytelling), and persuasive (to argue a position and try to convince the audience to consider that position).

About the Author and the Writing

The Author’s Purpose and Audience

Purpose and audience drive style and structure. The most effective writing comes from authors who have a clear sense of why they are writing and have a specific audience in mind with whom they wish to communicate. Understanding why the writing is being done (purpose) and with whom it is trying to communicate (audience) helps the writer determine how to structure their writing and what style is likely to be most effective to achieve their purpose with a particular audience.

Author’s Style

Readers can learn a lot about an author based on the author’s style. Style refers to the way an author writes: how they use words (their diction), structure their sentences, organize their paragraphs, and use language. Different authors have different styles, but they should keep their purpose and audience in mind because style can engage the reader or repel the reader.

The Voice of the Writing

Related to the author’s style is the voice they use when writing. The same sentence may be written in either active or passive voice. Generally, active voice is preferred in writing and it is important to know the difference between the voice types.

Active voice: “The committee placed flowers all around the town.”
Passive voice: “Flowers were placed all around the town by the committee.”

Author’s Tone

Everyone has opinions about things, and authors are no different. Tone refers to the author’s attitude toward a particular subject and how that attitude is reflected in their writing. When identifying tone in a text, multiple single adjectives can be used. A writer may have any number of tones present; the writing may be sarcastic, biting, serious, cautionary, outraged, neutral, informative, etc. Just be careful not to confuse tone with purpose. Purpose is why an author writes about a particular topic; tone is the author’s attitude toward that topic.

Author’s Use of Person

Writing can be categorized by whether it is done in first, second, or third person.

First person: You are telling the story.
Example: “I lived in Virginia all of my life.” (Use I, we, me, and us.)

Second person: You are talking to the reader.
Example: “You should get a dog.” (Use you, your, and yours.)

Third person: You are talking about others.
Example: “The citizens went home.” (Use they, them, it, he, she, her, him, hers, and his.)

Author’s Register (Degree of Formality)

Register refers to the level of formality an author takes in their writing. Depending on the audience and purpose, authors may choose to write in a less formal register. Other topics, purposes, or audiences may require a more formal register to have the ideas taken seriously. Tone and register are closely related and the tone can be affected by the author’s register and syntax, diction, and expressions.

Formal and Informal Language

It is important to consider the circumstances of written communication. We often say things in one manner, but write them in another and we write differently for different audiences. The TEAS 7 will expect you to know the difference between formal and informal language and to use the appropriate version in response to questions. This is the same expectation that will be in place during your nursing studies and future career.

Formal language is the type used in business and academic settings. It may sound sort of stilted if you use it in casual conversation with friends, but it is the correct way to express yourself when in non-casual circumstances. Such occasions include writing a class assignment or addressing a professor or colleague. Your language, then, needs to be of a more formal nature and should not contain jargon or abbreviations.

Informal: My prof hates it when I act all crazy and goof off in class.

Formal: My college professor does not appreciate students who disturb his lectures.

There are also different types and levels of formal language, such as those used when writing academic papers and letters to officials. Be aware of proper language usage for each situation.

Informal language is what you probably use in everyday situations, such as when talking with a friend or chatting around the dinner table at home. While it may be clear and appropriate in those circumstances, it is not the type of language for which you should strive in educational or professional settings—or in the assessment of formal writing, such as that required on the TEAS 7 test.

Informal language may include slang expressions and colloquialisms, such as, “take the high road” and “dude,” which have no place in formal writing. When you are asked to correct a sentence on this test, be alert for these types of expressions.

Important Considerations for Revision

Presenting your best, most appropriate, concise, and clear writing will yield the most effective results when communicating with an audience. Revising a piece of writing gives you a chance to study it in numerous ways. Your general message may be great, but there are other things to consider.

In our current society, knowing what to say and how to say it without creating misunderstanding or resulting in miscommunication can really be challenging. Here are some general considerations to keep in mind that will help “neutralize” writing to avoid divisiveness or offense toward any particular groups of people.

Cultural Diversity Considerations

Society has shifted away from many labels and categories that have previously been used to identify people or groups. Terminology today tends to be more inclusive and generally less stereotypical.

Be sure to consider cultural and social diversity when writing. Rather than binary she/he gender labels, consider pronouns that are more inclusive of all groups (humankind instead of mankind). When referring to specific ethnicities of people, use the more updated preferred titles. Most of these are no longer hyphenated titles and may include newer terms that are more specific than previous general categories. For example, the gender-neutral term Latinx is often used now in place of the more binary labels of Latina/o. The term Native American is losing popularity as Indigenous Americans are looking to specify their tribal ancestry beyond this umbrella term.

Using respectful terms for different groups, classes, and categories of people will help avoid potentially offending members of the audience.

People-First Terms

Appropriately wording descriptions of people with different abilities is also important. Today, it is more appropriate to use terms that are more assets-based. People with disabilities should not be referred to as “disabled”. Instead, use the term “people with a disability”. This way, you are focusing on the person as a person first and not defining them only by their disability. For example, you would use “person with diabetes” instead of “diabetic”.

When others use these types of references, people with diagnosed disabilities shift from having the disability being the determiner to being human beings who live with particular disabilities. Consider the difference in tone between referring to “an adult with a disability” as opposed to a “disabled adult” or explaining where to find “accessible restrooms” rather than where to find the “handicapped restrooms”. The expressions that put the person first increase the sense of human dignity. And rather than “suffer from” a particular disability, one “has” a disability.

The same holds true for mental illness. Rather than referring to “the mentally ill” or a “mentally ill person”, you would refer to “a person with a mental health condition”. Terms like “crazy”, “lunatic”, or “moron” have definite negative connotations, so replacing them with “cognitively challenged” or “person with a mental health condition” minimizes those negative connections and restores a person’s dignity.