What’s on the Register poster
A 5-row table: Register · Where · Example.
The classic five levels, from most to least formal.
- Frozen — Ritual, fixed text — Legal oaths, liturgy
- Formal — Speeches, academic writing — 'We hereby request…'
- Consultative — Professional, with strangers — 'Could you help me with…'
- Casual — Friends — 'Give us a hand?'
- Intimate — Close relationships — Private shorthand
Learners are usually taught the consultative register and then sound oddly formal with friends. Both directions of mismatch are noticeable.
Questions about the Register poster
- What’s on the Register poster?
- A 5-row table: Register · Where · Example. The classic five levels, from most to least formal. Frozen — Ritual, fixed text — Legal oaths, liturgy; Formal — Speeches, academic writing — 'We hereby request…'; Consultative — Professional, with strangers — 'Could you help me with…'; Casual — Friends — 'Give us a hand?'; Intimate — Close relationships — Private shorthand. Learners are usually taught the consultative register and then sound oddly formal with friends. Both directions of mismatch are noticeable.
- Who is the Register poster for?
- Register belongs to the Languages section rather than to a school year, because languages is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning how languages work can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Register poster?
- Register is not about correctness. It is about fit, and the wrong fit is what sounds wrong. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Register belongs on the wall where that languages work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Register?
- Bilingualism, Grammatical Case and Code-Switching sit alongside Register in the Languages section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.BilingualismGrammatical CaseCode-Switching
- Is the Register poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Register downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Languages section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Register poster print at?
- Register is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Register loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Register on the same wall.
Browse every Languages poster, or start from the full catalogue.