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Grade 4 English Language Arts — Formal and informal register

Choose formal or informal wording to suit who you are writing to.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Sort each word by how formal it is.

    Groups: More formal · More everyday

    • home
    • commence
    • residence
    • purchase
    • start
    • buy

  2. 2.You are writing to a company about a faulty product. Which opening is right?

    • a) Hey, fix this.
    • b) Your product is useless.
    • c) I am writing to report a fault in a product I purchased from you.
    • d) Hi, your thing broke.

  3. 3.Write a single formal verb that means "find out".

  4. 4.Rewrite "kids" with the more formal word.

  5. 5.Which sentence is the most formal?

    • a) Meeting's off for now.
    • b) The meeting has been postponed.
    • c) The meeting's been put off.
    • d) They put off the meeting.

  6. 6.Which closing suits a formal letter?

    • a) Later
    • b) Bye for now
    • c) Sincerely
    • d) Cheers

  7. 7.Which sentence avoids contractions, as formal writing usually does?

    • a) We won't accept it.
    • b) We cannot accept the request.
    • c) We can't accept the request.
    • d) We're not accepting it.

  8. 8.Match each everyday phrase to its formal equivalent.

    • find out
    • put off
    • ask for
    • get better
    • look into
    • put up with
    • discover
    • improve
    • request
    • tolerate
    • postpone
    • investigate

Answer key — Grade 4 English Language Arts — Formal and informal register

  1. 1. purchase → More formal; buy → More everyday; commence → More formal; start → More everyday; residence → More formal; home → More everyday
  2. 2. c) I am writing to report a fault in a product I purchased from you.
  3. 3.
    • discover
    • ascertain
    • determine
    • establish
  4. 4. children
  5. 5. b) The meeting has been postponed.
  6. 6. c) Sincerely
  7. 7. b) We cannot accept the request.
  8. 8. find out → discover; put off → postpone; ask for → request; get better → improve; look into → investigate; put up with → tolerate