I thought I’d heard all of the urban legends and other mistaken ideas about English. But I was wrong! Here’s a new one to watch for.

More and more people are insisting that everyday English is imprecise. If you want to be understood, you need to use formal English. Wrong!

There are two problems here. First, English is an amazingly powerful language. You can have razor-sharp precision in a sentence even with simple English:

All three judges voted for Sarah’s essay.
This morning the sun came up at 7:17.
I’m going to vote by mail again this year.

The second problem is that formal English is hard to pin down. Obviously the Gettysburg Address is formal English. But Lincoln didn’t have to use expressions like “four score and seven years ago” to be precisely understood. “Eighty-seven years” isn’t as poetic, but it conveys the same information.

Here’s another example: “In anticipation of heavy turnout, the election committee scheduled three extra days for early voting.” That’s pretty formal writing!

But this version is just as precise: “The election committee expects heavy turnout. They scheduled three extra days for early voting.” It’s not quite as formal, but all the information is the same.

Bottom line: don’t believe everything you’re told about English – and don’t be afraid to write plainly and naturally.