A register is a place to hold something, from money in a cash register to heat in a heating register. But the word also has many other meanings, from a book to record things officially to the kind of thing the checkout lady puts your groceries in so she can ring you up. It can even refer to how your voice sounds and the way you sign a check. Then there is the verb, to register, which can mean anything from the official recording of an event to a look of disbelief on someone’s face.
In sociolinguistics, register is a variety of language used in a particular communicative situation. People often adjust their speech and writing to fit the expectations of the situation, for instance following prescriptive standards when speaking in an official context and refraining from using casual register language like slang and contractions with friends or acquaintances.
People use different registers when interacting with others, and some linguists divide them into five distinct categories. They are informal, casual, social, formal and intimate.
The most common register is informal, which people use in most situations with their family, friends and close acquaintances. It involves the use of slang, contractions and vernacular grammar in group settings, where there are usually power differentials between the participants. It is also common for people to use expletives or off-color language in some settings.
Those who study communication also consider the tone, style and intensity of a person’s use of language when assessing their register. This is because it is not just the words that are important, but how they are said, in what context, with whom and under what circumstances.
A person’s register can also be adjusted when they are communicating with other groups, for example, by using more formal vocabulary and grammar when addressing an audience or by switching to a casual style with co-workers or customers.
Register can also be found in computer technology and computing, where it is a high-speed memory location that is directly accessible to the central processing unit and used to store inputs, outputs or intermediate results of computations. It can also be seen as a sort of short-term storage for instructions, allowing the CPU to execute commands quickly.
When creating a registration process, it is crucial to find the right balance between minimizing questions and pages while ensuring that you receive all of the information that you need from your applicants. The most successful processes tend to be simple, yet still require a high level of detail from the applicants. It is also helpful to offer multiple ways for applicants to complete the registration process, including online, fax, email and USPS. This can help minimize the number of steps for your applicants, making them more likely to finish it without putting off or giving up. It is also helpful to provide excellent customer support, which can reduce frustration and make your applicants feel cared for throughout the registration process.