An engineer needs to report the same incident in two places: a Slack channel and an executive postmortem report. Which pair correctly matches register to context?
Register means choosing language appropriate to the audience, channel, and purpose. Slack uses informal but clear language: contractions, abbreviations, a timeframe, and a commitment to update. The executive report uses formal register: full noun phrases (degradation event), precise timestamps (UTC), and a quantified impact (40% error rate). Option A reverses the registers. Option C puts over-formal language in Slack, which wastes readers' time and misreads the channel. Related patterns: shifting between docs ↔ PR comments ↔ Slack ↔ email.
2 / 5
A developer is writing a PR description and then a verbal standup update about the same change. Which pair is most register-appropriate?
A PR description is written documentation — it should be concise, precise, and use technical vocabulary (exponential backoff with jitter). A standup is verbal and conversational — the same technical content is delivered in natural spoken English with a brief explanation of why ("it was using linear backoff"). Neither register is dumbed down — both contain the key technical information, but the delivery adapts to the channel. Options A, C, and D all show register mismatches. Related patterns: written doc ↔ verbal update, formal commit message ↔ Slack mention.
3 / 5
An engineer receives a Slack message: "heads up — auth is flaky on staging, seeing 401s on the /token endpoint." Which reply is most register-appropriate for Slack?
Slack communication in an engineering team uses informal but informative register: a brief acknowledgement (Cheers — on it), a concrete action statement (will check the token endpoint config and rotation schedule), and a time commitment (back to you in 30). Option A is over-formal for Slack and wastes reading time. Option C is sarcastic and unprofessional. Option D provides no information about what will happen. Related patterns: informal acknowledgement + action + timeframe = effective Slack reply.
4 / 5
A technical lead is writing an Architecture Decision Record (ADR) about switching from REST to GraphQL. Which sentence is most appropriate for the formal ADR register?
ADRs require formal, precise, attributable language: a named evaluation process (after evaluating), specific technical reasoning (over-fetching overhead), a clear decision statement (the team has decided to adopt), a defined scope (client-facing API layer), and a reference to supporting documentation. This register ensures the ADR is useful months or years later. Options A, C, and D are informal and lack the traceability an ADR requires. Related patterns: "following a review of... the decision has been made to...", "as per the evaluation criteria defined in..."
5 / 5
A code review comment flags a potential performance issue. Which comment demonstrates the best register for a constructive PR review?
Code review comments should use professional collegial register: name the problem precisely (N+1 query behaviour), suggest a concrete solution (join or eager loading), use a modal for appropriate softness (may introduce), and offer collaboration (happy to discuss). Option A is blunt and provides no actionable guidance. Option C is informal and unprofessional. Option D is aggressive and inappropriate. The register in option B is constructive: it respects the author while being technically specific. Related patterns: "consider refactoring... this may affect... one option would be to..."