Help your students build awareness of tone, audience and purpose with our Formal or Informal Language Worksheets! This structured and engaging resource guides students through the process of identifying, comparing and rewriting formal and informal language in both written and spoken contexts. It’s the perfect way to explore how communication shifts depending on who we’re speaking to and what the situation requires.

Students begin by reading a series of sentences and determining whether the tone is formal or informal. After colour-coding or labelling each example, they are challenged to rewrite the sentence using the opposite level of formality. Reflection questions are included to deepen understanding and promote discussion around why certain language is more appropriate in different settings.

Formal or Informal Language Worksheets are ideal for middle primary students and support key outcomes in both writing and oral language. They provide students with the tools to choose their words more thoughtfully and adapt their tone depending on the context. Whether you're teaching persuasive writing, oral presentations or respectful conversations, this resource is a practical way to introduce and reinforce audience awareness.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Identify the difference between formal and informal language
• ✅ Understand how audience, purpose and setting influence tone
• ✅ Rewrite sentences to reflect an appropriate level of formality
• ✅ Use respectful and effective communication in writing and speaking
• ✅ Reflect on tone, vocabulary and structure across language styles

What’s Included:

• Sentence classification and rewriting tasks
• Reflection prompts for written or oral response
• Clear, age-appropriate examples of both formal and informal language
• Student-friendly layout to support independence

Materials Needed:

• Printed worksheets (paper or card)
• Highlighters or coloured pencils for coding tone
• Optional: sentence strips or whiteboards for group sorting activities

How to Use:

1. Start with a class discussion and examples of formal vs informal language in context.
2. Students read and label each sentence as formal or informal using colour coding or symbols.
3. They then rewrite the sentence to reflect the opposite tone.
4. Finish with the included reflection prompts to encourage deeper thinking or peer discussion.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use during writing lessons on tone, audience or text type
• 💡 Include in oral language rotations to practise speaking respectfully and appropriately
• 💡 Pair students for role-play scenarios using sentence prompts
• 💡 Display rewritten examples as part of an audience awareness anchor chart
• 💡 Connect to persuasive or letter writing tasks where tone must shift

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Highlight key words or phrases that signal tone and register shifts
• 💛 Encourage students to think about when and why formal or informal tone is best
• 💛 Use sentence stems to support students who are developing confidence with tone
• 💛 Model rewriting aloud before students complete the task independently

Formal or Informal Language Worksheets are a practical tool for helping students recognise how tone and word choice impact communication - perfect for building respectful language habits and audience awareness in both writing and speaking.