Your coursework or examination essay can go down a grade or more if your expression is inappropriate.
Colloquial language is spoken language: less formal, with a higher percentage of short words and sentences.
Formal language is written language: less like spoken English, with no slang or near-slang, with a higher percentage of longer words and sentences
The following are examples taken from my students' work, with my suggessted improvement:

The poem says about.........The poem states / suggests that...
He takes the mickey out of.... He satirises...
It kind of drops hints that...There are subtle suggestions that....
Also...Furthermore/Additionally/
It is stupid...This is relatively ineffective
It's about... It concerns / It focuses on / Its subject matter is...
It is in your face that ... It is explicit that ...
The deep meaning is.. The subtle / implicit meaning is...
But... However...
In the poem it tells ... The poem states clearly that...
It makes you think what...It raises in the reader's mind questions as to...
He was stood there... He was standing there...
She was sat there...She was sitting there...
He was a snob and was stuck-up...He was rather aloof and thought himself superior to others
I like it; it is a nice poem......In my considered judgement, this is an effective and thought-provoking poem.

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