Register: finding the right word

This activity is based on the idea of register and how language choices are often linked closely to context.

At its simplest level, this could mean that if you are talking to small children you might adopt a more straightforward register, choosing sentence structures that don't involve too much complicated information delivered in one go.

At a slightly more complicated level, it might involve a copy editor at an advertising agency picking words that are more scientifically impressive when she is putting together the script for a hair care product. Her intended audience might be more impressed by technical sounding ingredients.

Again, another use of register might be to deliberately adopt a particular style of language that helps you blend in with other people around you.

All of these have something to do with register.

In this activity you will be given different settings and tasks that you will need to think about. You'll then be presented with language choices you can make that suit those situations. In most cases you'll be given the choice of a word or phrase from the same word class or type of phrase, so you'll have a set of nouns to choose from, or in another task a set of verb phrases to make your selection from. In some of the more advanced tasks you might also be asked to make slightly more grammatical choices by selecting different structures. Hopefully, all will be clear.

Setting 1

Audience: Primary school children (Ages 6-7)

Task: Explaining issues about the environment

Fill in the missing word that you think is most appropriate in the context.

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Answers

 

Setting 2

Audience: group of friends of similar age to you

Task: arranging to meet later in the day

 

Setting 3

Audience: the headteacher of a school

Task: you need to write a report about an incident that you witnessed outside a local school

Feedback

Some choices are more obviously appropriate than others, but you will probably have noticed that there’s nothing grammatical to stop you from choosing one word or another. If they are in the same word class then the choice you are making is a matter of style rather than grammar.

In fact, some of the stranger choices you could make might be deliberately odd. Some people will deliberately speak or write in a register different from the usual one to create a comic effect or to show off. There’s nothing wrong with having a bit of fun with language and it can be a good way of stretching your vocabulary.

Transformation task

Now you have looked at some language choices connected to different contexts, have a think about how you might rewrite an extract of writing for a different audience. The extract below is taken from a letter sent by a student studying abroad to a friend back home.

Your task is to imagine that the letter needs to be sent to a parent and to rewrite the letter in a more suitable register.