The tone of English speech can range from pompous to rude. This is called “register”. If you speak English, you have to choose a register. I recommend that, students of English should try to appear polite and well-educated. This means aiming for 4/5 on a register scale ranging from 5/5 for most formal to 1/5 for the least. The examples in this document are therefore set at 4/5. This scale is illustrated below.  As you can see, one of the features of low-register speech is consonant-dropping, for instance:

wot becomes wo
yes becomes ye
rait becomes rai

This is best avoided.


For example, the phrase “Is it not?” can be said in the following different ways:

iz it not
5/5 on the register scale: “pompous” or “ceremonial”.

iz‛nt  it
4/5 on the register scale: “polite” or “neutral”. A pause is marked between the two words (shown by a double space) to show that the first t belongs to the first word.

iz‛nt it
3/5 on the register scale: “familiar” or “friendly”. There is no pause between the two words, so the t at the end of the first word sounds as if it is the beginning of the second word. I found the extremely funny when I was ten year old (sounds like “tit”).

i‛n it
2/5 on the register scale: “casual” or “offhand”. The first t is dropped.

i‛n i
1/5 on the register scale: “vulgar” or “rude