Register is the level of formality in your writing. A balanced register is clear, polite and neutral: formal enough for a reader such as a principal or committee, and plain enough to be understood at once.
The skill appears in every report, article and email task in reports and extended responses. Markers look for a tone that stays suitable from the first line to the last.
What does a balanced register sound like?
It sits between two extremes.
| Too casual | Balanced | Too stiff |
|---|---|---|
| “The queue is crazy long.” | “The queue is long.” | “The length of the queue is of considerable magnitude.” |
| “Loads of people can’t get lunch.” | “Some students cannot buy lunch.” | “A substantial number of pupils are unable to procure sustenance.” |
| “So yeah, we should fix it.” | “The school could address this.” | “It is hereby recommended that remedial action be undertaken.” |
Balanced writing uses full forms (cannot, do not), everyday formal vocabulary (buy, help, problem) and a polite tone without slang, jokes or exclamations.
How to check your register, step by step
- Name the reader: principal, council, classmates, a club. The more senior or distant the reader, the more formal the tone.
- Read one sentence at a time and ask whether you would say it in a meeting with that reader.
- Mark slang and contractions such as loads of, kids, gonna, can’t.
- Mark inflated words that nobody would use in speech, such as procure or magnitude.
- Replace each marked word with a plain, neutral one.
- Read the whole text again to check that the level is steady.
Worked example
Task: a report to the school principal about the noise in the library.
Draft:
The library is super noisy and it’s really getting on everyone’s nerves. Loads of students can’t concentrate, so they just give up and go home. We reckon the school must do something ASAP.
Step 1, reader: the principal, so moderately formal.
Steps 2 to 4, marked: super noisy, it’s, getting on everyone’s nerves, Loads of, can’t, just give up, We reckon, ASAP.
Step 5, replace:
The library is very noisy, and this makes it difficult for students to concentrate. Some students leave because they cannot work in these conditions. The school could consider ways to reduce the noise as soon as possible.
Step 6, read again: the level is steady and polite. No word needs a dictionary, and none sounds like speech to a friend.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to fix the casual language by jumping to the other extreme.
Mistaken correction: The library exhibits an unacceptably elevated level of auditory disturbance, which necessitates immediate remedial intervention.
The sentence is formal, but it is also heavy and harder to read. A principal would understand “very noisy” faster.
The correction is to choose the simplest neutral word, not the most impressive one. If you would not be able to explain a word in simple terms, leave it out. The summary selection and paraphrase studio can help you practise replacing a heavy phrase with a plain one while keeping the meaning.
Check yourself
1. Rewrite in a balanced register: “The teachers are always moaning about homework not being handed in.”
Show answer
One possible answer: “Teachers have said that some homework is not handed in on time.” The informal moaning becomes a neutral report of what teachers said, and the sentence stays short.
2. Which is better for a report to a committee: “We’d like to propose a change” or “We would like to propose a change”?
Show answer
“We would like to propose a change”. Full forms are the safer choice in formal writing. Contractions are not wrong in every situation, but they make the tone less formal, so check the task and the reader.
3. Why is “It is imperative that the canteen rectify the deficiencies” a poor choice for a school report?
Show answer
It is too stiff and heavy for the reader. A plainer version is “The canteen needs to improve some things”, or better still, name the things: “The canteen needs more seats and a second payment counter.”
Where this leads next
With your register steady, you are ready to test all four skills together. Try the reports and extended responses practice set, then look at checking the actual exam-year task types so that you practise the forms your exam really uses.
Register is easiest to learn from feedback on your own writing. A teacher in online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition can point out the exact word where the tone changes.