Formal and informal grammar choices

## Level and focus

**Level:** B2  
**Category:** Register

Choose grammar that fits formal, neutral or informal communication.

By the end of this lesson, learners should be able to: **Recognise how contractions, passives, indirectness, noun phrases and linkers affect register.**

## Core idea

This lesson adds a recommended grammar point that improves the coverage of the curriculum without changing the overall CEFR progression. Learners should first recognise the pattern, then practise controlled examples, and only later combine it with adjacent grammar.

## Form

- `informal contractions vs formal full forms`

• direct questions vs indirect questions

• active vs passive choices

• simple verb phrases vs nominalised or noun-heavy choices

• formal linkers such as however, therefore, nevertheless

  Meaning and use

  Use this grammar when the speaker needs the meaning described in the lesson goal. The examples should stay close to the level and should not rely on advanced vocabulary or several new grammar points at once.

  Examples

  • I'm writing to ask about the course. / I am writing to enquire about the course.

• Can you send me the details? / Could you send me the details?

• They rejected the proposal. / The proposal was rejected.

• We need to discuss this. / Further discussion is required.

  Common mistakes

  • Using contractions in very formal writing: not I'm writing to complain; use I am writing to complain.

• Making formal writing unnaturally heavy: not The doing of the work was performed; use The work was carried out.

• Confusing politeness with unnecessary passive: not Your email was received by me; use I received your email.

  Teaching sequence

  1. Start with a clear contrast between two forms or meanings.
  2. Give short controlled examples with familiar vocabulary.
  3. Include one item that targets a common mistake.
  4. Add mixed review items that distinguish this point from a neighbouring lesson.
  5. End with simple sentence-level production or recognition.

  Boundary: what not to cover here

  Keep this grammar-focused. Do not make it a vocabulary-only register lesson.

  Suggested practice

  For the current exercise system, use 25 multiple-choice exercises. Include clear distractors that test the target grammar, not obscure vocabulary. Later, this lesson can be expanded with gap-fill, error-correction or transformation tasks.

Quick check

Before you move on, can you explain the rule in one sentence and make one example of your own?