Assignment 3: Register

Register

Register? What does it mean? The Longman dictionary says that register is a language style, in other words it is “the words, style, and grammar used by speakers and writers in a particular situation or in a particular type of writing”. We divide register into two parts which are the formal and informal register.

It’s rather difficult to find out in which situation which register is appropriate for. In school I had no idea how to use the right register. To be honest, my teacher didn’t even teach something about register and how to use it. So, I think this is the reason why I feel that is quite difficult to use is correctly.

Here are some examples:

Formal	Informal
offspring	kids
abode/residence	place (house, flat, home)
goodbye	bye, cheerio
go amiss	go wrong, go pear-shaped

So it depends in which context you want to use, you have to take the formal or informal register.
There are some features where you can decide if you use the formal or informal register.

Formal:

-          longer words that come from Latin and Greek

-          formal phrases like in terms of, on account of, in particular

-          formality in notices and instructions

-          letter writing

Informal:

-          monosyllabic words like cops (police), loos (toilets), nick (prison),…

-          clippings like lab (laboratory), fridge (refrigerator),…

-          slang
  --> expressions for money: bread, dosh, readies
  --> expressions for food and drinks: nosh, grub,…

-          writing an E-mail