DiscusswhyinmanycasesChinesetextsaremoreformalthanEnglishoneswhensimilarinformationisrepresentedinthetwolanguages.
TheChinesewritingsystemhasamuchlongerhistorythantheEnglishoneandclassicalChineseisquitedifferentandmuchmoreformalthanvernacularChinese.EventhoughclassicalChinesehasbeenreplacedbyvernacularChinese,onecanfinditstracesinmodernChinesewriting,especiallyinthewritingproducedbythewell?educatedandelderlypeople.Incontrast,EnglishmakesuseofanalphabeticwritingsystemrepresentingEnglishsounds.WrittenEnglishisnotdramaticallydifferentfromoralEnglish.Andthe“PlainEnglishMovement”hasfurtherrenderedwrittenEnglishsimilartooralEnglish.ForthesereasonsChinesetextsareoftenmoreformalthantheircorrespondingEnglishtextsinsimilarsituations.
