C1WritingSpeakingGrammar~21 min

Register: formal ↔ casual

Switch tone for the situation, from texts to contracts.

1Learn the essentials

Casual ↔ formal: “Can you…?” becomes “Would you be able to…?”
Contractions and slang signal informal; full forms signal formal.
Mirror the other person's level — matching tone builds rapport.

2Warm up & speak

Phrase 1 / 18

Can you send it over when you get a sec?

¿Me lo pasas cuando tengas un momento?

💡 Casual: contracción, 'a sec' y un verbo corto. Perfecto entre compañeros.

Speak it, or skip ahead anytime.

3Lock it in

¿Me lo pasas cuando tengas un momento?

Say it in English, then check yourself.

4Practise writing

C1140–240 words

The same news, written twice

Thursday's workshop is cancelled and will not be rescheduled this quarter. Write that news twice, with the same facts in both: once for the team channel where everyone knows you, and once for the external partner who paid to attend. Label the two versions.

0 words (target 140–240)

Self-check

Tick each point once your draft covers it.

The same three facts in both versions — cancelled, why, what happens next — with nothing softened out of either
Three or more contractions in the casual version and not one in the formal version
A different opening and a different sign-off, neither borrowed from the other version
One act described with a phrasal verb in the casual version and a single-word verb in the formal one
The formal version apologises without using the word “sorry”; the casual one apologises in a single word

✍️ Want detailed feedback on your own text? Paste it to Rumi, your AI Tutor, for line-by-line corrections.

5Practise speaking

C1say it out loud

One chase-up, two dials

A file promised on Monday has not arrived. You must chase two people: the colleague beside you, and the agency you pay.

Say it to the colleague first, in one breath, the way you really would.
Say the same thing to the agency: slower, no “yeah”, and the date said in full.
Name three things that changed between the two, and none of them may be “more polite”.

You did it if

Both versions carried the same date and the same ask, and your three changes were audible ones.

0 of 3 moves rehearsed

Nothing here is listening or marking you — this is your own rehearsal, and you tick a move when you have said it out loud. For live correction, take the same situation to Rumi, your AI Tutor, in the role-play step below.

6Practise grammar

Your flatmate keeps borrowing your charger without asking. You have had enough: “I ____ lending it to you again.”

7Role-play the conversation

Rehearse the full conversation with Rumi, your AI Tutor — live, in-character role-play with gentle grammar & word-choice corrections as you go.

Open the AI Tutor