Register Formality

Respuesta correcta: A) Dear Mr. Rojas, I am writing to ask about the scholarship programme.

• A) Dear Mr. Rojas, I am writing to ask about the scholarship programme.A full greeting, a formal title and a complete sentence produce the respectful tone expected in this relationship.
• B) Hey principal, what's up with the scholarship thing?A casual greeting and 'what's up' place the writer on equal terms with a superior, which the situation does not allow.
• C) Hey Papá, tell me about the scholarship.Calling the principal 'Papá' is a family form of address and is entirely inappropriate in this context.
• D) Yo quiero saber de la beca, por favor.The sentence mixes Spanish syntax and an English grammatical frame, which is neither appropriate nor fully English.

Respuesta correcta: B) to confirm

• A) to fire off'Fire off' means to send something quickly and often with a sense of irritation.
• B) to confirm'Confirm' is a neutral, precise verb that suits a written business communication.
• C) to grab'Grab' is informal and suggests seizing something quickly, which is not the tone of a message to a client.
• D) to check out'Check out' is a casual expression used for things worth trying, which does not apply to a delivery date.

Respuesta correcta: C) The water supply will be interrupted

• A) They're going to shut off your water'They're' and 'your water' are colloquial and personal, which contradicts the neutral purpose of an announcement.
• B) You guys are not going to have water'You guys' is informal and the contraction removes the distance a public notice normally keeps.
• C) The water supply will be interruptedThe passive with a noun subject avoids naming a person and sounds objective, which matches an official notice.
• D) We will be cutting off the water'We' assigns the action to the organisation in a direct, conversational way that does not fit a public notice.

Respuesta correcta: D) I will require your assistance with the report by Thursday.

• A) I need your help, like, by Thursday.'Like' as a filler is conversational and does not belong in a written message to a supervisor.
• B) I gonna need you to help me out, Thursday.'Gonna' is informal for 'going to' and 'help me out' is a casual idiom.
• C) You'd better help me with this thing, Thursday.'You'd better' sounds like a threat or an order, which is an inappropriate register for a request upward.
• D) I will require your assistance with the report by Thursday.'Require' and 'assistance' replace the informal pair 'need' and 'help', raising the level of formality.

Respuesta correcta: A) Visitors are asked to remain on the marked trails.

• A) Visitors are asked to remain on the marked trails.A full passive with 'are asked to' gives an instruction without pointing at the reader directly.
• B) You gotta stay on the marked trails, guys.'Gotta' and 'guys' are spoken register and would be unusual in printed material.
• C) Everybody just stay on the marked trails, okay?'Just' and 'okay' make the sentence conversational rather than instructional.
• D) Visitors asked to remains on the marked trails.The passive lacks an auxiliary and the participle is misspelled, so the sentence is ungrammatical.

Respuesta correcta: B) Could you please tell me when the results will be published?

• A) Tell me when the results come out, ok?'Ok' at the end and 'come out' make the sentence conversational rather than formal.
• B) Could you please tell me when the results will be published?A modal of politeness with 'please' and a full clause gives a courteous request in formal correspondence.
• C) When are the results, huh?'Huh' is a spoken tag question and would be rude in a written email.
• D) Give me the date of the results right now.The imperative plus 'right now' is a command, which disregards the politeness expected of the situation.

Respuesta correcta: A) The report noted a marked decline in literacy among rural teenagers.

• A) The report noted a marked decline in literacy among rural teenagers.'Noted' and 'marked decline' belong to the written register of reports, where facts are stated without comment.
• B) The report went, like, totally downhill for rural teens.'Went downhill' is conversational and 'totally' adds an emphasis that reports avoid.
• C) The report showed kids in the countryside getting bad at reading.'Kids' and 'bad at reading' are informal and imprecise compared with 'illiterate' or 'low reading proficiency'.
• D) The report was off the charts worse in the countryside, yo.'Off the charts' is slang and 'yo' does not appear in formal written English.

Respuesta correcta: C) I apologise for the inconvenience of having sent the document twice.

• A) Oopsie, I sent the file again, sorry sorry.'Oopsie' is an invented informal word and the repetition of 'sorry' weakens the apology.
• B) Me sorry, I send the paper double, my bad.The sentence omits the auxiliary 'I' and misuses the past tense, so it is not standard English.
• C) I apologise for the inconvenience of having sent the document twice.A full apology with a formal noun and a complete clause matches a written message to an institution.
• D) Sorry, my bad, I sent it two times, oops.'My bad' and 'oops' belong to casual speech and would be out of place in an institutional email.

Respuesta correcta: C) An informal register

• A) A technical registerA technical register uses specialist vocabulary from a field, which the context does not mention.
• B) A literary registerA literary register appears in poetry and fiction rather than in everyday classroom conversation.
• C) An informal registerSlang and first names signal closeness and familiarity, which are the features of an informal register.
• D) A formal registerA formal register would use titles, complete forms and an impersonal tone, the opposite of what is described.

Respuesta correcta: B) It uses an informal register with emphasis and a direct recommendation.

• A) It uses a formal register because it addresses the public.Addressing a wide audience does not make a register formal; the tone here is clearly casual.
• B) It uses an informal register with emphasis and a direct recommendation.The capitalised word, the exclamation mark and 'everyone must try it' are all markers of informal enthusiasm.
• C) It uses a formal register with a neutral description.A neutral description would avoid the capital letters and the imperative recommendation.
• D) It uses a technical register with specialist vocabulary.There is no specialist vocabulary from any field in the post.

Respuesta correcta: C) Please submit your curriculum vitae and cover letter

• A) Please drop by your papers when you can'Drop by' is used for visiting a place, not for sending documents by email.
• B) Please attach your things to this here, thanks a lot'Things' and 'this here' are spoken register and carry no professional content.
• C) Please submit your curriculum vitae and cover letter'Submit' plus the full names of the documents is the standard professional request.
• D) Please send over your stuff, like, the CV and whatever'Stuff' and 'whatever' are casual words that would be inappropriate in recruitment correspondence.

Respuesta correcta: D) The regulation imposes new obligations on property owners.

• A) The regulation is kind of a big deal for property owners, honestly.'Kind of a big deal' is an informal assessment and expresses a personal judgement.
• B) The regulation messes with how property owners work, big time.'Messes with' and 'big time' are slang, so the sentence loses the neutrality of a legal text.
• C) Property owners are going to have to deal with the regulation now.The sentence is a plain statement that adds no legal precision and reads as a conversation.
• D) The regulation imposes new obligations on property owners.'Imposes obligations on' is the technical phrase legal English uses for placing duties on a party.

Respuesta correcta: A) We would like to discuss the group project.

• A) We would like to discuss the group project.'Would like to discuss' replaces 'need to talk about' with a formal, less direct construction.
• B) Hey there, we got to talk about that group project.'Hey there' and 'got to' reproduce the informal greeting and idiom of the original.
• C) We need to talk about the group project, like, right now.'Like' as a filler and 'right now' intensify the demand rather than softening it.
• D) You know, we should probably talk about the group project.'You know' is an informal discourse marker with no place in a formal request.

Respuesta correcta: B) repair

• A) fiddle'Fiddle' with a machine means to adjust it without knowing what is happening, which manuals avoid.
• B) repair'Repair' is the neutral technical term used in manuals, procedures and safety notices.
• C) mess'Mess' with something would describe making a mess, not a documented procedure.
• D) hack'Hack' means to modify equipment informally, often without authorisation.

Respuesta correcta: C) explores

• A) digs'Digs' is colloquial and would reduce the seriousness of the study.
• B) pokes at'Pokes at' suggests casual curiosity with no systematic intention behind the research.
• C) explores'Explores' is the neutral academic verb used to describe what a study examines.
• D) checks out'Checks out' is informal and suggests a quick evaluation of something worth trying.

Respuesta correcta: A) The newspaper uses a formal register and the message uses an informal one

• A) The newspaper uses a formal register and the message uses an informal oneRegister reflects the purpose and the relationship of the participants, and the two situations demand different levels of formality.
• B) Both use the formal register because both are writtenBeing written does not determine register; a chat message is informal precisely because it is spontaneous.
• C) The message is formal because it uses punctuationPunctuation can appear in both registers, and its presence does not make a text formal.
• D) The newspaper is informal because it addresses many readersAddressing a wide audience usually requires a more formal register, not a less formal one.

Respuesta correcta: D) Applicants who are enrolled in the final year may submit an essay of no more than five hundred words.

• A) If you're in your last year, just send them an essay, five hundred words max, no problem.Contractions, 'just' and 'no problem' belong to spoken language and remove the neutrality the rules require.
• B) Last-year people, essay of five hundred words, go ahead and send it whenever.The sentence is a list of fragments with no subject-verb structure, which is not how rules are written.
• C) You in your final year? Essay! Five hundred words! Send it when, like, whatever.Questions and exclamation marks in a rule produce a chat tone that would not be accepted in a published competition notice.
• D) Applicants who are enrolled in the final year may submit an essay of no more than five hundred words.The full passive 'are enrolled', the restriction 'who are' and the limit 'no more than' match the precise style of official documents.

Respuesta correcta: D) Dear Ms. Ramirez, we are writing to confirm your appointment.

• A) Hey Rami, just checking your appointment thing, cool?'Hey Rami' and 'your appointment thing' are clearly spoken register and would be inappropriate in a hospital message.
• B) Patient number 8842, appointment confirmed, be there at eight.A bare identification number is how an internal list records an entry, not how a hospital addresses a patient.
• C) You! Your appointment! Eight o'clock! Don't be late!Imperatives and exclamation marks produce a threatening tone that no medical institution would use.
• D) Dear Ms. Ramirez, we are writing to confirm your appointment.A formal salutation with a full title and a passive 'we are writing to confirm' matches institutional correspondence.

Respuesta correcta: D) I am writing to apply for the internship advertised on your website.

• A) I saw your add and I'm down to apply for the thing, no worries.'Ad', 'down to apply' and 'no worries' are conversational and reveal an informal register.
• B) I'm applying, whatever, hope you pick me, that would be sick.'Whatever', 'sick' and 'hope you pick me' appear in casual conversation, not in a written application.
• C) Apply me for the internship that you have on the page, please.The imperative 'Apply me' is ungrammatical, since a person applies for a post rather than being applied.
• D) I am writing to apply for the internship advertised on your website.The passive of purpose 'to apply for' is the standard construction in an application letter.

Respuesta correcta: B) This study examines the relationship between rainfall and crop yield.

• A) This study checks out the rain versus the rice thing, basically.'Checks out' is informal and 'versus' suggests a comparison rather than a relationship being studied.
• B) This study examines the relationship between rainfall and crop yield.'Examines the relationship between' states the object of the study in precise academic language.
• C) This study, uh, looks at like the rain thing and the crops, you know.Filled pauses and 'the rain thing' reduce a research question to an approximation, which is not acceptable in a presentation.
• D) This stuff here is about rain and, like, how much rice you get.'This stuff' and 'how much rice you get' are informal and imprecise about the variable being measured.