01.06 - Speech Registers

Today we looked at and discussed speech registers. These are different forms of speech that people use in various situations. Different registers of speech (which you can also think of as "styles" or "levels") are used at different times, in different situations, with different purposes.

We started class with a bit of a creative thinking activity looking at a conversation as presented by the musical group "The Books" in the track "PS" from their album The Lemon of Pink.

To see what we did with this and to see the rest of the information associated with speech registers, see the following presentation:

Formal Diction: Speech Registers

The speech register table (for quick reference):

Click Image to Enlarge

Homework:

Write a five sentence review of The Road in a casual register (like you were telling a friend what you thought of the book).

Then, rewrite that review, expressing all of the same ideas in a formal register (like you were writing a New York Times book review).


Class site bonus:
Another track by The Books (this is what their music generally sounds like).