9.12 Style — one message in four registers — Epoché
What you will be able to write The same message in four registers: familiar, standard, formal and administrative, about 200 words each. Choices of vocabulary, syntax and formulas that mark each register, beyond single words. The awareness of register that French readers expect from a C1 writer: knowing when each one fits and when it shocks. Drafts you can check with an AI assistant for consistency of register. Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English On est restés bloqués dans un bouchon pendant des heures. [1] We were stuck for hours in a traffic jam. Nous sommes restés dans le train pendant dix heures. [2] We were on the train for ten hours. Tenez-vous bien pendant mon absence. [3] Behave yourself during my absence. Nous ne pouvons nous entretenir maintenant. [4] We can't talk now. Voilà les décisions que nous avons prises. [5] Here are the decisions we've come to. Prerequisites : 9.11 and 5.21 — this lesson follows 9.11 Writing and uses the registers of 5.21 Vocabulary , where you met soutenu , courant , familier and argot word by word. In 5.21 Vocabulary you learned that French has several words for the same thing, la voiture , la bagnole , le véhicule . But a register is more than a choice of words: it changes the grammar, the length of sentences, the way of addressing the reader, and the formulas at the beginning and the end. A French reader notices at once a sentence that slips from one register to another. This last writing lesson asks you to tell the same small story four times. Model The same situation, written for this lesson in four registers: someone missed a morning meeting because their train broke down. Familiar: a text message to a friend. Désolé, j'ai pas pu venir ce matin, mon train est tombé en panne en pleine campagne. On est restés bloqués deux heures, c'était la galère. Je suis crevé. On se voit demain ? Standard: an email to a colleague. Je suis désolé, je n'ai pas pu venir à la réunion ce matin. Mon train est tombé en panne et nous sommes restés bloqués pendant deux heures. Est-ce qu'on peut se voir demain pour en parler ? Formal: a letter to a person of standing. Je vous prie de bien vouloir excuser mon absence à la réunion de ce matin. Le train qui devait me conduire jusqu'à vous est demeuré immobilisé près de deux heures, à la suite d'une panne. Me serait-il possible de vous rencontrer demain, afin que nous puissions nous entretenir des décisions prises ? Administrative: an official note. Objet : absence à la réunion du 5 octobre. Il est porté à votre connaissance que l'agent concerné n'a pu assister à la réunion en raison d'un incident technique sur la ligne ferroviaire. Un justificatif sera transmis au service. Une nouvelle rencontre est proposée pour le lendemain. Notice what changes besides the vocabulary: the dropped ne and the on of the familiar version; the est-ce que question of the standard one; the inversion Me serait-il possible , the conditional and the subjunctive after afin que in the formal one; and in the administrative note, the disappearance of the person, replaced by l'agent concerné and the passive. The plan Register Marks · where it is used familier no ne , on for nous (also common in courant ), short sentences, familiar words ( crevé , la galère ) · messages to friends, dialogue in fiction courant complete negation, est-ce que , ordinary words, the perfect · emails, most everyday writing soutenu inversion, the conditional of politeness, the subjunctive, rarer words ( demeurer , s'entretenir ), formulas ( Je vous prie de bien vouloir ) · letters, speeches, literature administratif impersonal and passive structures, nouns instead of verbs, fixed formulas ( Il est porté à votre connaissance que ) · official notes, reports, forms Consistency. The commonest fault is mixing: a letter that begins Je vous prie de bien vouloir and continues with c'était la galère . Choose the register before you write, and keep it to the end, including the closing formula. Not better or worse. No register is the correct one. The familiar version would be ridiculous in an official note; the administrative note would be cold, even rude, in a message to a friend. Writing well means choosing the register that fits the reader. The administrative style. It is the register foreigners find hardest to read and the one French people most like to mock. Learn to recognise it, and to translate it mentally: Il est porté à votre connaissance que simply means we inform you that . Useful sentences Corpus sentences in different registers. French English Je suis crevé. [6] I'm shattered. J'étais en retard. [7] I was late. Excusez mon retard. [8] I'm sorry I'm late. J'accepte vos excuses. [9] I accept your apologies. Pas maintenant, veuillez attendre un peu. [10] Not now, please wait a bit. Practice Read and translate. Read them aloud, then translate each into English: Nous sommes venus pour vous voir. [11] / Nous avons discuté jusqu'à deux heures du matin. [12] / Êtes-vous sûr de ne pas vouloir attendre jusqu'à demain ? [13] / Je suis désolé que vous n'ayez pu venir avec nous. [14] / Nous sommes toutes les deux ici pour la même raison. [15] / Nous sommes en retard parce que notre voiture est tombée en panne. [16] / Veuillez m'excuser pour mon retard. [17] Into French. Say these in French; every word has come up in the course: Would you like to see my new car? / Maybe you'd like to come with us. / We're waiting. Your task Choose a small event and tell it four times, in about 200 words each: a message to a friend, an email to a colleague, a formal letter, and an official note. Possible events: you lost an important document; you must cancel a trip; your neighbour's dog has been barking every night. Then underline in each version three features of grammar, not only of vocabulary, that mark its register. Asking the AI for help Write your four versions first. Then ask: Here are four French versions of the same