Informal essay is loaded with enjoyment and creativity. it tends to be more personal than the formal essay. Its not that informal essays cant be informative, persuasive, and only concerned with fun but they have a relaxed tone in them towards opinions, observation, humor or pleasure, and a strong structure. A good informal essay has a laid-back style but preserve a strong constitution, though that constitution may be less strict than in a formal paper. In an informal essay, the writer is speaking directly to the reader in a conversational mode.

The essay, which follows, is an opinion piece that was written for The Globe and Mail. The style is therefore journalistic but aimed at a fairly sophisticated readership. Paragraphs are short, as is normal in a newspaper with its narrow columns, and the tone is more conversational than would be appropriate for a formal essay. Notice the clear statement of the thesis, the concrete illustrations in the body of the essay, and the way the conclusion leads to a more general statement of what is perhaps to come in the future.

It is included here because both it is a good example of the essay form and because it explores the kind of problem you will come up against as you try to punctuate your essays correctly.

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