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Adapt Speech to the Context is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on choosing the register a task and situation call for, aligned to Common Core standard SL.5.6. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 21 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Adapt Speech to the Context

SL.5.6

NameDate

Tick the right answer.

1.You are writing dialogue for a character from a particular place. What should guide you?
  • A.How that person would really speak
  • B.Formal written standard, always
  • C.The shortest possible words
2.A mill owner's account leaves out the wage figures. Why might that be?
  • A.They were not what he was arguing about
  • B.They are secret
  • C.He did not know them
3."He would rather not say." Why might a writer report this instead of quoting it?
  • A.Because quotations are banned
  • B.To keep the focus on the refusal rather than the words
  • C.To save space
4.Why does a report avoid the first person?
  • A.Because it presents events rather than one person's experience of them
  • B.Because "I" is informal
  • C.Because reports must be long
5.Which account is most likely to give you a total?
  • A.The newspaper report
  • B.The worker's account
  • C.The owner's account
6.Which sentence uses its punctuation to create a pause for effect?
  • A.She said yes. Eventually.
  • B.She, said, yes.
  • C.She said yes eventually and that was that.
7.Which shows a difference between spoken and written English?
  • A.Speech uses more commas
  • B.Writing is always formal
  • C.Speech can trail off; writing usually finishes the thought
8.Which is a dialect difference rather than an error?
  • A."I were sat there" in some northern English varieties
  • B.Leaving out a full stop
  • C.Spelling "their" as "there"

LessonPrint · SL.5.6 · Set 21 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Adapt Speech to the Context

Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.How that person would really speak
  2. 2.They were not what he was arguing about
  3. 3.To keep the focus on the refusal rather than the words
  4. 4.Because it presents events rather than one person's experience of them
  5. 5.The newspaper report
  6. 6.She said yes. Eventually.
  7. 7.Speech can trail off; writing usually finishes the thought
  8. 8."I were sat there" in some northern English varieties

More practice for SL.5.6

Adapt how you speak to the context, using formal English when it fits.

Teaching this next? Adapting Speech to the Task is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to SL.5.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.