ELT365 · Day 203 — Personal and Informal Writing: Register Markers

Idea — Informal register in writing shows through contractions, ellipsis, discourse markers (“anyway,” “so”), and first-person directness. Teaching register means comparing formal and informal versions of the same content.

Example — Formal: “I am writing to enquire about the position advertised.” Informal: “Just dropping you a line about that job you mentioned.” Same move, opposite register.

Try — Take a formal sentence from a text. Ask learners to rewrite it informally. Then reverse: informal sentence goes formal. Discuss what changed and why.

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