Social Communication (Pragmatics)

What is social communication (pragmatics)?

Social communication or pragmatics refers to the way in which children use language within social situations.

It has three components including:

1. The ability to use language for different purposes (e.g. to greet, inform people about things, demand, command, request).
2. The ability to adapt language to meet the needs of the listener or situation (e.g. talking differently to a baby versus an adult, talking louder
when there is lots of noise, being aware of the listener’s knowledge and giving more information or less when needed).
3. Following the often “unspoken” rules of conversation and storytelling (e.g. taking turns in conversations, looking at the speaker, standing
at an appropriate distance from the speaker, using facial expressions and gestures). The rules of conversation are often different across
cultures, within cultures and within different families. It is therefore important for a person to quickly understand the rules of the person
with whom they are communicating.

Children with a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD, including Asperger’s Syndrome) and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (Not

Otherwise Specified) have difficulties with social communication (pragmatic skills).

Why is social communication (pragmatics) important?

Social communication (pragmatics) is important in order to be able to build social relationships with other people. It is also important

academically, as many curriculum based activities rely on working in groups and communication between peers.

What are the building blocks necessary to develop social communication (pragmatics)?
 Receptive (understanding) language: Comprehension of language.
 Expressive (using) language:The use of language through speech, sign or alternative forms of communication to communicate wants,
needs, thoughts and ideas.
 Pre-language skills: The ways in which we communicate without using words and include things such as gestures, facial expressions,
imitation, joint attention and eye-contact.
 Executive functioning: Higher order reasoning and thinking skills.
 Self regulation: The ability to obtain, maintain and change one’s emotion, behaviour, attention and activity level appropriate for a task or
situation in a socially acceptable manner.
The stages of development of social communication (pragmatics) are as follows:

AGE SOCIAL COMMUNICATION SKILL

 Brings objects to an adult to show them.

 Tries to gain attention by using sounds, gestures, grabbing them by the hand.
 Waves to say hello or goodbye or says the word “bye”.
 Requests things using gestures, sounds or words (e.g. reaches for the biscuits in the cupboard).
 Protests by shaking head, vocalising or pushing an object away.
0-18  Comments on an object or action by getting the adult’s attention, pointing, vocalising or saying a word (e.g. pointing to
months the dog and saying “woof woof” with the intention of showing the dog to the adult).
 Looks at the speaker or responds with facial expression, vocalisation or word/s when someone speaks.

 Uses words or short phrases for various language functions (e.g. greeting: “hello”, “bye bye”; protesting: “no”, “mine”;
making a statement: “ball blue”; giving a direction: saying “ball” while pointing for you to get the ball).
18 months  Uses phrases like “What’s that?” to get attention.
– 2 years  Names things in front of other people.
 Engages in verbal turn taking.

 Can take on the role of another person within play.

 Engages in a greater number of turns within interactions with others.
 Begins to recognise the needs of other people and will speak differently to a baby versus an adult.
 Acknowledges their communication partner’s messages by saying things like “yeah”, “ok”, “mm”.
 Begins using language for fantasies and make believe.
2 – 3.5  Requests permission to do things (e.g. “Mummy, can I please go outside?”).
years  Begins to correct others.
 Is able to engage in simple story telling and is beginning to make guesses at what might happen in a story (inferencing).

 Can use terms correctly, such as ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘here’ and ‘there’.
 Uses language to discuss emotions and feelings more regularly.
 Uses indirect requests (e.g. “I’m hungry” to request food).
4 – 5 years  Telling stories is developing and the child can describe a sequence of events (e.g. “The man is on the horse and he is
going to jump over the fence and then he is going to go home”).

 The ability to tell stories develops and the child is now able to tell a story with a central character and a logical
sequence of events, but still may have difficulties with the ending (e.g. “Once upon a time there was a little boy called
Joe who has a sister and a brother and likes to go fishing. One day …….”).
 Beginning to make threats and can give insults.
5 – 6 years  May praise others (“Well done, you did it”).
 Beginning to be able to make promises (e.g. “I promise I will do it tomorrow”).
How can you tell if my child has problems with social communication (pragmatic skills)?

If a child has difficulties with social communication they might:

 Have difficulty remaining on topic in conversation.

 Not try to gain the attention of adults because they do not know how to or does so inappropriately.
 Tend to stand too close to the speaker and is unaware of personal space.
 Tell stories in a disorganised way.
 Have difficulty looking at the speaker or may look too intensely at the speaker.
 Dominate conversations and does not listen.
 Does not ask for clarification when they haven’t understood.
 Be unable to interpret the tone of voice in others (e.g. does not recognise an angry versus a happy voice).
 Use language in a limited way (e.g. only gives directions or makes statements but doesn’t greet or ask questions).
 Have difficulty understanding another person’s point of view.
 Have difficulty making friends.

* It is not unusual for children to have pragmatic or social communication difficulties in a few situations. However, if they occur often or seem

inappropriate for their age there may be reason for concern.

What other problems can occur when a child has social communication (pragmatics) difficulites?

When a child has social communication difficulties, they might also have difficulties with:

 Behaviour: The child’s action, usually in relation to their environment (e.g. a child may engage in behaviour, such as refusing to go to
social events including birthday parties or engage in inappropriate behaviour, such as tugging on a peer’s hair or yelling at someone to get
their attention).
 Sensory processing: Accurate registration, interpretation and response to sensory stimulation in the environment and one’s own body.
 Completing academic work (e.g. the child may misinterpret verbal or written instructions for tasks and/or struggle with imaginative
writing).
 Planning and sequencing: The sequential multi-step task or activity performance to achieve a well-defined result.
 Working memory: The ability to temporarily retain and manipulate information involved in language comprehension, reasoning, and
learning new information; and to update this information as change occurs.
 Receptive (understanding) language: Comprehension of language.
 Expressive (using) language: The use of language through speech, sign or alternative forms of communication to communicate wants,
needs, thoughts and ideas.
 Articulation: Clarity of speech sounds and spoken language.
 Fluency: The smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllables, words and phrases are produced when talking.
 Play skills: Voluntary engagement in self motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment where the
activities may be, but are not necessarily, goal oriented.
What can be done to improve social communication (pragmatics)?
 Working collaboratively with preschool or school staff to set up joint communication goals and develop strategies to help support the
child within the classroom setting.
 Play dates: Setting up play dates with peers from school, preschool, child care and extra curricula groups to expose the child to appropriate
ways to interact with their peers.
 Social skill groups: These are groups are that run with the express purpose of teaching social interaction skills.

What activities can help improve social communication (pragmatics)?

 Role play: Engage in role play activities with adults and other children to simulate social situations (e.g. going shopping, going to the park,
visiting grandparents).
 Turn-taking games: Engage in turn taking games, such as board games to teach the child that it is ‘okay to lose’.
 Facial expressions: Look at facial expressions and discuss the feelings associated with the facial expressions.
 Miming: Practice through miming making faces that show different feelings.
 Describing activities: Look at pictures together to encourage descriptive language about a topic or thing, with the adult prompting to keep
the child on topic.
 Puppets: Take part in role play or puppet shows after watching a modeled situation.
 Comic strips: Use appropriate comic strips that illustrate social situations (do’s or don’ts) and talk explicitly about what is happening.
 Social skills groups: Work with the school to set up small structured groups where social skills can be practiced (e.g. turn taking, waiting,
responding, staying on topic, questioning).
 Social stories: Develop social stories that depict how to behave and respond in certain social situations.
 Greetings: Encourage your child to say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ in social interactions.

Why should I seek therapy if I notice difficulties with social communication (pragmatics)?

Therapeutic intervention to help a child with social communication skills is important to help the child:

 Learn how to engage appropriately with others during play, conversation and in interactions.
 Learn how to make friends at school and when accessing out of school activities (e.g. playing a sport, attending a group such as Scouts).
 Mmaintain friendships with peers.
 Learn how to respond appropriately during interactions with familiar people (e.g. parents, siblings, teachers, family friends) and unfamiliar
individuals (e.g. adults and children they may need to engage with during excursions or when visiting places such as the park or swimming
pool).
 Develop an understanding and awareness about social norms and to master specific social skills (e.g. taking turns in a conversation, using
appropriate eye contact, verbal reasoning, understanding figurative language).
 Some children who have pragmatic skill difficulties require explicit teaching about how to interact and communicate with others as these
skills do not come naturally to them.
If left untreated what can difficulties with social communication (pragmatics) lead to?

When children have difficulties with social communication, they might also have difficulties with:

 Making new friends.

 Maintaining friendships with peers.
 Engaging appropriately with unfamiliar individuals (e.g. shop owner) and with professionals you need to see for appointments (e.g. doctor,
dentist).
 Being perceived as ‘rude’ by others.
 Interacting with colleagues in the work environment.
What type of therapy is recommended for social communication (pragmatics) difficulties?

If your child has difficulties with social communication, it is recommended they consult a Speech Therapist.

If there are multiple areas of concern (i.e. beyond just social communication) both Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy may well be

recommended to address the functional areas of concern. This is the benefit of choosing Kid Sense which provides both Occupational Therapy and

Speech Therapy.

Other useful resources

 Play and Social Skills Development Checklist
 Play and Social Development Charts
 Receptive Language (understanding words and language)
 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
 Aspergers Syndrome
 Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD- NOS)
 Developmental Delay
 Learning Difficulties
 Language Delay
 Language Disorder

Pragmatic Language Tips

Parents, cargivers, families, and teachers can help individuals use language appropriately in social situations
(pragmatics). Some general suggestions to help develop skills in three major pragmatic areas are listed below.

Using Language for Different Purposes

Ask questions or make suggestions to use language for different purposes:
Desired Language Function Suggested Question or Comment

Comment "What did you do?"

"Tell me about..."

Request "Tell your friend..."

"What do you want?"

Question "Ask me"

Respond to the intended message rather than correcting the pronunciation or grammar. Be sure to provide an
appropriate model in your own speech. For example, if an individual says, "That's how it doesn't go," respond,
"You're right. That's not how it goes."

Take advantage of naturally occurring situations. For example, practice greetings at the beginning of a day, or
have the individual ask peers what they want to eat for dinner or request necessary materials to complete a project.

Changing Language for Different Listeners or Situations

Role-play conversations. Pretend to talk to different people in different situations. For example, set up a situation
(or use one that occurs during the course of a day) in which the individual has to explain the same thing to different
people, such as teaching the rules of a game, or how to make a cake. Model how the person should talk to a child
versus an adult, or a family member versus a friend of the family.
Encourage the use of persuasion. For example, ask the person what he or she would say to convince family
members or loved ones to let him or her do something. Discuss different ways to present a message:

 Polite ("Please may I go to the party?") versus impolite ("You better let me go")
 Indirect ("That music is loud") versus direct ("Turn off the radio")
 Discuss why some requests would be more persuasive than others

Conversation and Storytelling Skills

Comment on the topic of conversation before introducing a new topic. Add related information to encourage
talking more about a particular topic.
Provide visual cues such as pictures, objects, or a story outline to help tell a story in sequence.
Encourage rephrasing or revising an unclear word or sentence. Provide an appropriate revision by asking, "Did
you mean...?"
Show how nonverbal signals are important to communication. For example, talk about what happens when a
facial expression does not match the emotion expressed in a verbal message (e.g., using angry words while
smiling).

The Importance of Developing Pragmatic

Competence in the EFL Classroom
Posted by C O RK E N GL I S H C O L L EG E on J U N E 1 5 , 2 0 1 5
What is pragmatic competence and why is it important?
Pragmatic competence is ‘the ability to use language appropriately in a social context’ (Taguchi,
2009). It is the key to effective communication in a second language. While communicative
competence and grammatical competence are explicitly taught and developed in the EFL classroom,
developing pragmatic competence is often overlooked. However, it is actually the skill which native
speakers subconsciously use to define a non-native speaker as a successful communicator…and,
hence, as someone they would like to talk to, help, be friends with and even hire.
It is important to note the distinction between language transfer and pragmatic transfer. Common
examples of language transfer include:
  ‘I have 20 years’ (J’ai 20 ans). In French, ‘avoir’ (to have) is used to express age as oppose to
the verb ‘to be’ in English.
 ‘I have house’ (‘U menia est’ dom). There are no articles in Russian and many other Slavic
languages as well as Japanese and Korean, to name but a few.
 Not using intonation in interrogative sentences. For example, intonation is not used in questions
in Spanish.

On the other hand, there are two types of pragmatic transfer. Firstly, pragmalinguistic transferoccurs
when L2 learners use the strategies of their L1 to perform a linguistic function which is performed
(often significantly) differently in the L2. In the EFL classroom, this is often dealt with purely as an
issue of register. However, the root cause of a student producing inappropriate register is often
pragmatic transfer. Common examples of pragmatic transfer include:

 ‘Open the window!’ The imperative is the most appropriate request-making strategy in lots of
languages (for example, Slavic languages)
 ‘I apologise’ or ‘Forgive me’ instead of ‘I’m sorry’ when expressing an apology. In this case, the
performative is directly transferred from the L1.

The second type of pragmatic transfer is sociopragmatic transfer which occurs from applying the
sociocultural norms of the L1 to the L2. Examples include:

 Referring to the teacher by using a title such as ‘Miss’ or ‘Sir’. The use of titles is more
commonplace in non-English speaking cultures. This could also occur because English does
not have a T/V distinction (like the tu/vous distinction in French, for example). As such, English
is a very informal language with relatively low social distance between all interlocutors,
regardless of one’s position, power or ranking within the culture.
 Asking someone you have just met for the first time: ‘How much money do you earn?’ While this
situation would be perceived as somewhat offensive to a native English speaker, it would not be
considered inappropriate in some other languages and cultures.

Stages of L2 Language Competence

All second language speakers even at pure beginner level possess communicative
competence. Take the request example of asking for someone’s pen. The most basic linguistic
request form would simply be ‘Pen!’ (while pointing at the pen).
Once some grammatical competence begins to develop and some more vocabulary is acquired, then
the utterance would most likely progress to something like ‘Give me your pen, please!’ While this
sentence is grammatically correct and the second language speaker has communicated effectively
what he wants, the problem is that the imperative is generally perceived as being even more impolite
than swearing in English (Wierzbicka, 2003). However, the learner is not being rude; he is merely
pragmatically incompetent. It is the role of the EFL teacher to guide the student to use the most
conventionalised strategy for making the request in English – ‘Could I have your pen, please?’ This is
one example of what is involved in developing the student’s overall pragmatic competence.
Some instances of pragmatic awareness are covered in the CEC core material textbooks at every
level. This stresses the importance of developing pragmatic competence from pure beginner level
right through to advanced levels. See Resources for Developing Pragmatic Competence in CEC Core
Material below.

Figure 1. Pragmatic competence in a second language comprises not only communicative and
grammatical competence but also considers the appropriateness of language, taking
sociocultural variables into account.

The Role of the EFL Teacher in developing Pragmatic Competence

As EFL teachers, we need to be aware of the different ways in which pragmatic transfer manifests
itself as it can have a profound impact on our students, their experiences within English speaking
environments and on their interlanguage progress. Using English in a socioculturally appropriate way
is vital for effective communication and for immersion into an English speaking society and
culture. This is why the role of EFL teacher and his understanding and awareness of L2 pragmatic
competence and development are paramount.
The EFL teacher has a responsibility to intervene in the devastating process that pragmatic failure (i.e.
not using language appropriately in context) can trigger for a second language learner. ‘A stitch in
time…’ comes to mind.
Figure 2. The devastating process that pragmatic failure can trigger for a second language
learner.
A teaching approach which encompasses pragmatic competence is necessary to complement our
approach to developing communicative and grammatical competence. Instead of the ‘Presentation-
Practice-Production’ approach for grammatical and communicative competence, ‘Illustration-
Interaction-Induction’ has been suggested by McCarthy (1998) as an effective approach in developing
pragmatic competence. It simply consists of using examples from real spoken language, interacting
with them and analysing them before finally drawing general conclusions from the examples as to how
language is used in context. This ties in nicely with the Input-Interaction-Output hypothesis of SLA
(Gass, 1997) which emphasizes the role of interaction in SLA. As learners interact with the language,
they begin to test hypotheses about it, notice their errors and self-correct which results in much more
consolidated learning. By interacting with the language, learners can better analyse and understand
the use of language in context and develop their pragmatic competence.
As English continues to dominate as the lingua franca, we have a duty to our students to ensure, at
the very least, that they have an awareness of sociopragmatically appropriate language (pragmatic
competence) as a complement to the foundations of communicative and grammatical
competence. This leads to improved English language skills and an enjoyable experience in an
English speaking environment for our students as well as enhanced intercultural communication
overall.

Resources for Developing Pragmatic Competence in CEC Core Material

Language to Go (Elementary)

 Lesson 15 – In a café
 Lesson 31 – Culture Shock
 Lesson 37 – Excuses, excuses

New Headway (Pre-Intermediate) “Everyday English” sections

 45 – Expressing doubt and uncertainty

 61 – Continuing a conversation
 101 – Saying thank you and goodbye

New Inside Out (Intermediate) “Useful Phrases” sections

 46 – At a restaurant
 66 – Expressing interest and sympathy
 74 – Asking for directions

Cutting Edge (Upper Intermediate) “Real life” sections

 38 – Dealing with unexpected problems

 81 – Awkward social situations
 114 – Dealing with problems on the telephone

Cutting Edge (Advanced)

 49 – Question tags/intonation to express interest, surprise, anger, or concern

 CF all of the above with p. 68 – Rudeness. This lesson focuses on discussing (mostly!) non-
linguistic (behavioural) rudeness as oppose to linguistic utterances which could be perceived as
impolite/inappropriate.
Useful links

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKbp4hEHV-s

This YouTube clip gives a (very!) brief introduction to Pragmatics from a leading expert in the field,
Stephen Pinker, and gives examples of pragmatics in action.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mje8uSl2hS4

This YouTube clip shows examples of pragmatic failure in English (by native English speakers!). It
demonstrates…

 The failure to disambiguate locution (what is said) and illocution (what is meant)
 The phenomenon of the re-offer
 The problem with giving/accepting a compliment
 “How are you?” as a conversation starter, not an actual query!

Further Reading

 Blum-Kulka, S., & Olshtain, E. (1984). Requests and Apologies: A Cross-Cultural Study of
Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP).Applied Linguistics, 5(3), 196-213.

http://socling.genlingnw.ru/files/smrp/CSARP%20Blum-Kulka.pdf

 Jianda, L. (2006). Assessing EFL learners’ interlanguage pragmatic knowledge: Implications for
testers and teachers.Reflections on English language teaching, 5(1), 1-22.

http://nus.edu/celc/publications/LiuVol5.pdf

 McCarthy, M. (2014). From ‘Your Mother is Calling You’ to ‘Ugomonites! (Settle Down!): A
Pragmatic Analysis of Requests in Hiberno-English and Russian in Conversational and
Institutional Settings. M.A. thesis. University College Cork.

http://www.academia.edu/9917684/Masters_Thesis_Politeness_in_Russian_and_English_Requests

 McCarthy, M. (2014). A discussion of the role of input and output in second language
acquisition. SLA, MAAPL.
UCC. http://www.academia.edu/7153973/The_Role_of_Input_and_Output_in_Second_Languag
e_Acquisition

 Thomas, J. (1983). Cross-cultural pragmatic failure, Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 91-112

http://rodas.us.es/file/a26cd06f-d80f-47b8-a5f0-
fb23430aa5fc/1/thomas_failure_wimba_SCORM.zip/files/thomas_pragmatic_failure.pdf

References

 Gass, S., (1997). Input, Interaction and the Second Language Learner. Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates Inc., Mahwah, New Jersey
 McCarthy, M. (1998).Spoken Language and Applied Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
 Taguchi, N. (2009). Pragmatic competence in Japanese as a second language: An introduction.
In N. Taguchi (Ed.), Pragmatic competence, 1-18. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Wierzbicka, A. (2003). Cross-cultural pragmatics. The semantics of human interaction. Second

edition. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Social Language Use (Pragmatics)

You have invited your friend over for dinner. Your child sees your friend reach for some cookies and says, "Better
not take those, or you'll get even bigger." You're embarrassed that your child could speak so rudely. However, you
should consider that your child may not know how to use language appropriately in social situations and did not
mean harm by the comment.
An individual may say words clearly and use long, complex sentences with correct grammar, but still have a
communication problem - if he or she has not mastered the rules for social language known as pragmatics. Adults
may also have difficulty with pragmatics, for example, as a result of a brain injury or stroke.

Pragmatics involve three major communication skills:

Using language for different purposes, such as

 greeting (e.g., hello, goodbye)

 informing (e.g., I'm going to get a cookie)
 demanding (e.g., Give me a cookie)
 promising (e.g., I'm going to get you a cookie)
 requesting (e.g., I would like a cookie, please)

Changing language according to the needs of a listener or situation, such as

 talking differently to a baby than to an adult

 giving background information to an unfamiliar listener
 speaking differently in a classroom than on a playground
 Following rules for conversations and storytelling, such as

 taking turns in conversation

 introducing topics of conversation
 staying on topic
 rephrasing when misunderstood
 how to use verbal and nonverbal signals
 how close to stand to someone when speaking
 how to use facial expressions and eye contact

These rules may vary across cultures and within cultures. It is important to understand the rules of your
communication partner.
An individual with pragmatic problems may:

 say inappropriate or unrelated things during conversations

 tell stories in a disorganized way
 have little variety in language use

It is not unusual for children to have pragmatic problems in only a few situations. However, if problems in social
language use occur often and seem inappropriate considering the child's age, a pragmatic disorder may exist.
Pragmatic disorders often coexist with other language problems such as vocabulary development or grammar.
Pragmatic problems can lower social acceptance. Peers may avoid having conversations with an individual with a
pragmatic disorder.
Learn more on this topic: Pragmatic Language Tips
If you have concerns about your loved one's social language use, visit ASHA ProFind.

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Linguistic and Pragmatic Competence
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Linguistic (Grammatical) Competence

Linguistic Competence refers to the ability to use the language code or system itself and all its component parts. The
language code in English can be divided into:

 Grammar, which consists basically of syntax (word order) and morphology (the composition of words as developed from a
root forms, e.g. prefixes, suffixes and regular plural forms). Morphological units are called morphemes.
 Phonology, which consists of the pronunciation of vowels and consonants in their linguistic environment, word stress,
sentence stress, pitch and intonation. Phonological units are called phonemes.
 Lexis (vocabulary), which also includes multi-word combinations which have their own specific meanings, e.g., 'take off', 'by
the way'. We also include words that are frequently found together, e.g., ‘a nice day’, ‘strong coffee’.
 Graphology, which is spelling and punctuation, in fact the written equivalent of phonology.

Pragmatic Competence
Pragmatic Competence refers to the ability to use language appropriately in different social situations. It is true to say that
there is no correct way to use language; however, we can certainly define what is appropriate use of language in different
circumstances. What do we mean by different circumstances? Below are some ways to differentiate circumstances:

 Purposes for communicating, often referred to as functions, e.g., inviting, apologizing

 Relative status of those communicating
 Topic area about which participants are communicating, e.g. general, business, computing, medicine
 Situation, which refers to a physical location, e.g., in a bank, at the airport, in a restaurant
To communicate appropriately in these circumstances, whether using spoken or written language, we use an appropriate
register, which may refer to level of formality, e.g., ‘Give me the book!', ‘Would you mind giving me the book?' Register
also refers to lexis in specific fields, e.g., jargon.

A. Language Functions
The notion of function is commonly used in ELT textbooks and materials. We can define ‘function’ here as the purpose
for which an utterance or unit of language is used. Typical categories are greeting, offering, inviting, rejecting an
invitation, apologizing, and complaining. The function of an utterance or sentence cannot be determined solely by its
grammatical structure. The same grammatical structure may be used for a variety of functions.
For example, examine the uses of the imperative verb form:
 Keep quiet! (order from a teacher)
Pass the salt, please. (request)
Back up your work onto an external drive. (instruction, recommendation)
Try this one on. (suggestion)
Come by on Saturday. (invitation)
In the same way, a function can be expressed by a variety of different grammatical structures.

For example, to request that someone stop talking, we might say:

Shut up!

Or alternatively…

Be quiet, please.
Would you be quiet, please?
Would you mind being quiet, please?
I’d really appreciate it if you would be quiet.

The choice of grammatical structure is clearly related to the circumstances and is chosen for its appropriacy in those
circumstances. Learners need to know how to express a variety of functions and which choices are appropriate in
different circumstances.

B. Register
Register is a term that relates to the words or expressions that are appropriate in a certain set of circumstances. For
example, in a particular situation, do we use a word or expression which is formal, neutral or informal, slang, related to a
certain dialect, or the jargon of some occupation? For example, child, kid, brat are all ‘synonyms’ in English, but they are
used in different circumstances.

STOP & THINK

Match the grammatical structure with its function. Might more than one answer be possible? Can you think of situations to demonstrate
how the same grammatical form and utterance could possibly be used for different functions?

Grammatical Structure Function

1. Well, I don't know about that. a) Giving advice

2. No way. b) Making an excuse

3. You ought to get more exercise. c) Apologizing

4. I left my handbook at home. d) Disagreeing

5. Sorry I'm late. e) Warning

6. I'm watching you. f) Refusing something

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