Register Matters!

Hello students,

Today in the lab session you will learn a little about how register matters in language use, especially in email communication.

But first, how do you normally show emotion in an email or post?

Did you know...?

The emoticons :-) and :-( were first used in 1982 by Scott Fahlman in an email. He suggested them to a friend of his to express emotion and mark jokes.

Activity 1

What emoticons would you normally use after these statements?

1. Have a nice weekend! ______
2. You're great! Thanks so much for helping. What would I do without you? ______
3. Have you heard Paula is cheating on Paul? ______
4. My computer crashed yesterday & I lost my paper. ______
5. Sorry, I can't talk about that! Top secret! ______
6. I passed! ______

Register...  what is it?

The register of an email (how formal or informal it is) depends on the type of message you are writing and who you are writing to. so an email about rescheduling a meeting might be less formal than an enquiry or an apology. Similarly, an email to the CEO of your company would probably be more formal than an email to a colleague.

Activity 2

Look at the paragraphs below. Each paragraph belongs to either a formal or an informal email. Find the two emails and write the letters in your notebook.

	Formal email	Informal email
Salutation
Opening sentence
Body
Friendly ending
Complimentary close

Activity 3

You can tell how formal an email is by its:

• Salutation and close
• Colloquial phrases
• Vocabulary
• Abbreviations
• Emoticons

Do you know any words or phrases for this in English? Take some examples from Activity 2.

Find on the web other two examples of language you would normally use in email and complete the table below in your notebook. 

	More Formal	Less formal (informal)
Salutations
Closes
Phrases and Vocabulary
Abbreviations

Activity 4

Look at the word list below. Are those words normally used in formal or informal writing? Why do you think so?

1.       To answer
2. To ask
3. To get in touch with
4. Help
5. To need
6. OK
7. To put off
8. To be sorry
9. To set up
10. To tell

Using an online thesaurus, find the formal equivalent to the phrases above.

Activity 5

Now complete the emails below with words from above. Be careful of the register!

LabWork

Read the two emails below and find at least five things that make them either formal or informal. Then use the notes to write responses in the right register including the following parts:

• Salutation
• Opening sentence
• Body
• Friendly ending
• Complimentary close 

 

 

 

Hand this in to the teacher by the end of this class.