REG

When I first saw this abbreviation in one of my pieces of homework, I wasn't sure what it really meant. Later, it became clear that register is not so irrelevant part of linguistics as I may have thought.

A register is one of many varieties of language determined by such factors as social occasion, purpose and audience. Generally, it is used to indicate degrees of formality in language use.What type of register should we use depends mainly on whether we want to use written or spoken language. Informal style is usually part of spoken language, whereas formal style is more likely to be seen in letters, newspaper articles or essays. We can also use informal register, when we are writing something personal to a friend or a family member.

If we use wrong type of register, many people will misunderstand us, especially the native speakers. Even though our knowledge of particular language is on a high level, without using the right register, we may seem quite silly. And of course, nobody wants that.

The purpose of register is to adjust to a particular social setting. It would be ridicuolous to write Hey you to our boss or our teacher, but to a friend it is completely appropriate. This might seem quite logical, but other things have to be learned.

In my previous tasks, I wrote a lot of  or some phrasal verbs, which were not quite suitable for writing a paragraph. Despite the fact that I wasn't aware of this problem until recently, I have decided to read different types of literature in order to improve my usage of the correct register.

Register does not exist to confuse us or to make our life harder. It is there to help us to behave in the right way in certain occasions and to make us better speakers.