Nov. 17, 2025
Communicative registers.
English has three type of register: formal, for people we do not know, or people we need to be polite to (like the boss), neutral/general for people we do not know well, and informal, for friends and family.
This is the text we were given in English class.
I wrote an assignment on this website: I need to write a dialogue using an informal register.
A site member commented on this suggestion: "register" kind-of has the same meaning as "tone", but it's really only in more technical jargon (especially in computer science). "Tone" is used for writing and speaking.
I'm having doubts about the use of the expressions "informal register" and "communicative register."
Please explain the appropriateness and correctness of using these expressions.
Thank you!
Correction Settings
English has three types of register: formal, for people we do not know, or people we need to be polite to (like theyour boss), neutral/general for people we do not know well, and informal, for friends and family.
English has three types of register: formal, for people we do not know, or people we need to be polite to (like your boss), neutral/general for people we do not know well, and informal, for friends and family.
"the boss" is itself pretty casual, it's better to specify who's boss you're talking about (I went with "your boss" since this piece is directed at an unknown reader)
Feedback
"informal register" and "communicative register" are sort of scientific/analytical terms, and not something people use in day to day speech. Part of this is context though - native speakers really only analyze their own language to that depth when looking at it scientifically. I wouldn't say it's wrong to use them when asking language learning questions.
Communicative registers.
English has three type of register: formal, for people we do not know, or people we need to be polite to (like the boss), neutral/general for people we do not know well, and informal, for friends and family.
This is the text we were given in English class.
I wrote an assignment on this website:
I need to write a dialogue using an informal register.
A site member commented on this suggestion: "register" kind-of has the same meaning as "tone", but it's really only in more technical jargon (especially in computer science).
"Tone" is used for writing and speaking.
I'm having doubts about the use of the expressions "informal register" and "communicative register."
Please explain the appropriateness and correctness of using these expressions.
Thank you!
Feedback
I'm going to be honest, I frequently see commenters here give bad advice on English. Sometimes it's flat-out wrong; more often it's just an unnecessary correction.
"Register" is absolutely an appropriate word for what you are discussing. It's slightly formal/academic, but if you're discussing language learning, then it is 100% correct. You can see there's a Wikipedia article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_(sociolinguistics).
In conversation at work, I would be more likely to say, "Please use a more formal tone when you write emails to our customers" rather than "Please use a more formal register..." But here on the website where we are discussing language learning, "register" is a great word, in my opinion!
Nov. 17, 2025
Thank you, it helped a lot!
Nov. 17, 2025
I agree with riddlememiss about "register." In languages like French, Italian, Spanish, and German the registers are easy to identify because there are two words for "you." One word is formal, and the other is informal. Google tells me that Russian also has two words for you. If your English teacher is not a native speaker of English, then you are wise to check with people who are.
Nov. 17, 2025
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Communicative registers. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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English has three type of register: formal, for people we do not know, or people we need to be polite to (like the boss), neutral/general for people we do not know well, and informal, for friends and family. This sentence has been marked as perfect!
English has three types of register: formal, for people we do not know, or people we need to be polite to (like "the boss" is itself pretty casual, it's better to specify who's boss you're talking about (I went with "your boss" since this piece is directed at an unknown reader) |
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This is the text we were given in English class. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
I wrote an assignment on this website: This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
I need to write a dialogue using an informal register. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
A site member commented on this suggestion: "register" kind-of has the same meaning as "tone", but it's really only in more technical jargon (especially in computer science). This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
"Tone" is used for writing and speaking. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
I'm having doubts about the use of the expressions "informal register" and "communicative register." This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Please explain the appropriateness and correctness of using these expressions. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Thank you! This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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