Formal & Informal Language 1A Sort Sort these synonym pairs into formal and informal register.

Synonym Pairs Formal Informaltell - informhelp - assistobtain - getlocate - findhurt - injure

require - needrequest - ask cease - stopconflict - warsee - observe

child - kid

B ContractionsReplace the underlined words in the sentences below with their expanded forms.

1. You can always tell when you’ve had a good idea ‘cos it pops up from nowhere.2. Ordinary ideas take a long time as they’re ordinary so your brain can’t get

excited about them.3. It doesn’t take any time with a truly great idea: it’s like your brain is pushed

out of bed.You must not panic when you are in now man’s land.

Replace the underlined words with their contracted forms.

4. I knew it was the greatest idea that I had ever had. I am often thinking of great ideas.

5. There is a plan in my head which we have got to put into action.6. I did not know how much trouble it would cause or who would get involved.

C Informal language structure and vocabularyRead the sentences which are all taken from dialogue in The Boy at the Back of the Class.Discuss and rewrite them in a more formal register.

1. It’s a brilliant plan.2. If that doesn’t work then nothing will.3. This bit’s easy.4. She’s the Queen but what if she’s not there cos she’s busy doing her jobs. 5. If we post the letter today, it’ll get to her house by tomorrow first thing.6. She’ll talk to the special police and the Prime Minister.7. Yeah. It’s going to be cool!8. There’s no way that she won’t help us.9. He mustn’t find out about the plan.10. We’ll keep the whole thing a secret – at least till we know it’s worked.

Challenge Look at a page or two of Alexa’s narration. Look for and discuss examples of her informal register.

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Try changing the vocabulary, the grammar or the

word order.

Unit 3 Day 1

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Formal & Informal Language 2A Match and sort Match the pairs of synonyms. Sort them into formal and informal register.

Formal Informalput

childaskstop

observeconflictinformobtainneedfind

injuredassist

tellhelpget

locatehurt

requirerequestceaseplacewarseekid

B ContractionsReplace the contractions in the sentences below with their expanded forms.The first ones are underlined to help.

1. You can always tell when you’ve had a good idea ‘cos it pops up from nowhere. 2. Ordinary ideas take a long time as they’re ordinary so your brain can’t get

excited about them.3. It doesn’t take any time with a truly great idea: it’s like your brain is pushed

out of bed.

Replace the underlined words with their contracted forms.

4. I knew it was the greatest idea that I had ever had. I am often thinking of great ideas.

5. There was a plan in my head which we would put into action.6. I did not know how much trouble it would cause or who would get involved.

C Informal language structure and vocabularyRead the sentences which are all taken from dialogue in The Boy at the Back of the Class.Rewrite them in formal register.

1. It’s a brilliant plan.2. If that doesn’t work then nothing will.3. This bit’s easy.4. She’s the Queen but what if she’s not there cos she’s busy doing her jobs. 5. If we post the letter today, it’ll get to her house by tomorrow first thing.6. She’ll talk to the special police and the Prime Minister.7. Yeah. It’s going to be cool!8. There’s no way that she won’t help us.9. He mustn’t find out about the plan.10. We’ll keep the whole thing a secret – at least till we know it’s worked.

Challenge

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. difference_F561ST3_resources

Try changing the vocabulary, the grammar or the word order.

Take a piece of Alexa’s narration and try rewriting it using more formal register.

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. difference_F561ST3_resources

Unit 3 Day 1

Formal & Informal Language 1 & 2 ANSWERSA Sort Sort these synonym pairs into formal and informal register.

Synonym Pairs Formal Informaltell - informhelp - assistobtain - getlocate - findhurt - injure

require - needrequest - ask cease - stopconflict - warsee - observe

child - kid

informassistobtainlocateinjure

require request

cease conflict observe

child

tellhelpgetfindhurtneedaskstop warsee kid

B ContractionsReplace the underlined words in the sentences below with their expanded forms.

1. You can always tell when you’ve had a good idea ‘cos it pops up from nowhere. You can always tell when you have had a good idea because it pops up from nowhere.

2. Ordinary ideas take a long time as they’re ordinary so your brain can’t get excited about them.Ordinary ideas take a long time as they are ordinary so your brain cannot get excited about them.

3. It doesn’t take any time with a truly great idea: it’s like your brain is pushed out of bed.It does not take any time with a truly great idea: it is like your brain is pushed out of bed.

Replace the underlined words with their contracted forms.

4. I knew it was the greatest idea that I had ever had. I am often thinking of great ideas.I knew it was the greatest idea that I’d ever had. I’m often thinking of great ideas.

5. There is a plan in my head which we have got to put into action.There’s a plan in my head which we’ve got to put into action.

6. I did not know how much trouble it would cause or who would get involved.I didn’t know how much trouble it would cause or who’d get involved.

C Informal language structure and vocabularyThere are lots of ways to do this with differing degrees of formality adopted and changes made. Some children may have just expanded the contractions or swapped some of the vocabulary. Others may have changed the sentence structure too. These answers are suggestions. If you mark this as a class, it will prompt some interesting discussions.

1. It’s a brilliant plan. It is a good proposal.2. If that doesn’t work then nothing will. It this is not successful then nothing else will

be.3. This bit’s easy. This part is simple.4. She’s the Queen but what if she’s not there cos she’s busy doing her jobs. She is

Queen but what if she is unavailable as she is performing other duties.5. If we post the letter today, it’ll get to the Queen’s house by tomorrow first thing. If

we post the letter today, it should arrive at the palace by early tomorrow morning.

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6. She’ll talk to the special police and the Prime Minister. She will communicate with the police force and the Prime Minister.

7. Yeah. It’s going to be cool! I agree. It will be amazing.8. There’s no way that she won’t help us. There are no circumstances where she

would not assist us.9. He mustn’t find out about the plan. He must not discover the plan.10. We’ll keep the whole thing a secret – at least till we know it’s worked. We

will keep the whole situation concealed until we know it has been successful. Unit 3 Day 1

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The Greatest Idea in the World

Unit 3 Day 2

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Letter

Unit 3 Day 2

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Unit 3 Day 2

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Unit 3 Day 2© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. difference_F561ST3_resources