--- title: Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher», a lesson of the language course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Everyone has at least two ways of talking: informal (relaxed and chatty, for mates and family) and formal (careful an --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/) / Formal and informal: a mate versus the… # Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher Lesson 16 of the language course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/0/) — Everyone has at least two ways of talking: informal (relaxed and chatty, for mates and family) and formal (careful and polite, for teachers, strangers and official letters); the style you choose is called your register. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/1/) — Picture Ruby: to her mate she texts "omg skool was SO mid today 💀", and ten minutes later she emails the head: "Dear Mrs Patel, I think I left my coat in the hall. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/2/) — Could you let me know if anyone has found it? - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/3/) — Thank you, Ruby." - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/4/) — Formal doesn't mean long fancy words; it means clear, polite and calm, with full words, a greeting like "Dear" or "Hello", and a "thank you". - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/5/) — Rudeness rarely works: "Your park is trash and the swings are broke" gets ignored, but "I am writing about the broken swings in Oak Park; could you please arrange a repair?" gets read. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/6/) — Informal talk is full of local warmth: a Welsh nan wants a cwtch (a hug), a West Country gran calls everyone "my lover", a London lad greets his mate with "Wagwan, fam!"; switching between styles is a skill, not being fake. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/7/) — Informal language is relaxed and chatty; formal language is careful and polite, used for teachers, strangers and official writing. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/8/) — A register is the style of language you choose for a situation. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/9/) — In current slang "mid" means average, not great, and the skull emoji 💀 means "I'm dead", that is, it's so funny or so bad. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/10/) — Formal writing means clear and polite, not complicated; full words, a greeting and "thank you" are usually enough. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/11/) — Wagwan means what's going on, or hello; it came from Jamaican Creole into the speech of young Londoners; "fam" means a close friend. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/12/) — A good complaint letter states the problem, gives the facts and asks politely; people are more likely to help when you are polite. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/13/) — "Residence" is a formal word for home; answering the phone with a polite greeting is safer when the caller might be a stranger. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/14/) — In Welsh English a cwtch is a hug or cuddle (from Welsh), and in South Wales "tamping" means really annoyed. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/15/) — School reports use formal words: "conscientious" means careful and hard-working, and "contributes enthusiastically" means joins in with energy. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/16/) — Whether children should say please to voice assistants like Alexa is argued about; some parents want it for good habits, others say it doesn't matter. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/17/) — Filler words like um, like and you know are fine in casual talk; in formal talk, clear examples sound more confident. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/18/) — In the West Country "my lover" is a friendly greeting to anyone, like "love" or "mate", and "proper job" means well done or great. - ← previous: [The apostrophe war](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/) - next →: [Slang and how it changes with every generation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/17-slang-and-how-it-changes-with-every-generation/) - ↑ back to [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/)