Register — Formal vs. Informal

What you'll learn: how to read a CELPIP task for its expected register, and how to shift your vocabulary — contractions, phrasal verbs, connectors, greetings — to match it.

What "register" means on this test

Register is the level of formality a piece of language carries. It isn't about difficulty — a formal word isn't automatically a better word. It's about fit. CELPIP Writing Task 1 usually asks for an email that could be formal (a complaint to a landlord, a request to a manager) or informal (a note to a friend), and the prompt tells you which. Writing Task 2 (survey response) and most Speaking tasks sit in a semi-formal middle ground: clear and respectful, but not stiff.

Register shows up in vocabulary choice in four main ways:

• Contractions: informal writing/speech uses I'm, don't, it's; formal writing spells them out — I am, do not, it is.
• Phrasal verbs vs. single-word verbs: informal favours find out, put off, look into; formal favours discover, postpone, investigate.
• Greetings and closings: informal — Hi Sam, / Take care,; formal — Dear Mr. Thompson, / Sincerely,.
• Word choice: informal — a lot of, kids, get; formal — numerous, children, obtain or receive.

Worked example: the same idea, two registers

Informal (email to a friend about a cancelled trip): "Hey, so bad news — our trip's off. The airline cancelled the flight and I can't get a refund yet. Kind of annoying, but we'll figure something out."

Formal (email to an airline requesting a refund): "I am writing to request a refund for flight AC1234, which was cancelled by your airline on July 12. Despite several attempts to resolve this matter through your customer service line, I have not yet received confirmation of reimbursement. I would appreciate a prompt response."

Notice the formal version has zero contractions, uses "request" and "reimbursement" instead of "get" and "refund back," and closes on a polite, direct request rather than a casual shrug. Neither version is "better" vocabulary in the abstract — the formal one would sound cold to a friend, and the informal one would sound unprofessional to an airline.

Register word bank

• find out (informal) → discover / determine (formal) — "We need to determine the cause of the delay."
• put off (informal) → postpone / defer (formal) — "The meeting has been postponed until Friday."
• a lot of (informal) → numerous / a considerable number of (formal) — "Numerous residents raised the same concern."
• kids (informal) → children (formal) — "The program is designed for children aged 6 to 12."
• get back to (informal) → respond to / follow up with (formal) — "I will follow up with you by Thursday."

Common mistakes

• Mixing registers in one message — opening with "Dear Sir/Madam" and then writing "yeah, so basically the issue is..." The whole piece should sit at one consistent level.
• Over-formalizing casual tasks — a Speaking Task about your weekend doesn't need "I would like to elaborate upon my recreational activities." Plain, natural language is expected there.
• Treating slang as informal-but-safe — genuine slang ("that's sick," "no cap") is too casual for any CELPIP task, formal or informal; informal register still means standard conversational English, not internet slang.
• Forgetting the greeting/closing register has to match the body — a formal salutation followed by an informal sign-off reads as inconsistent, even if each sentence in between is fine.

Recap

Before you write or speak a single sentence, decide the register the task calls for — formal, informal, or semi-formal — and hold that level from greeting to closing. Register mismatches are easy for raters to spot because they break the illusion of natural, controlled English, so treat this as a five-second check you run at the very start of every response.