General Comment on Warm-Up 3

You all did really well on this task of changing informal spoken language into formal written language. There were, however, one or two frequently-made mistakes!

1. Formal vs colloquial language

There were some tricky bits of colloquial language here. 'Dumper truck', for example, is what that piece of machinery is actually called, whilst 'digger' is definitely colloquial. In the plant hire catalogue, it's called an 'excavator'.

2. Rules/regulations/requirements/suggestions

There are a couple of very tricky pairs of words you want to use in this exercise:

rule - regulation
obligatory - compulsory

Rules are made by clubs, societies and organisations and they're obeyed on a voluntary basis, rather than having the force of law.

Let's take the Olympics! Athletes have to submit to drug tests because that's one of the rules of the Olympic Committee. If they don't want to, however, they don't get arrested … but they can't compete in the Olympics any more.

Regulations are connected with laws. If you don't follow the regulations, ultimately you've broken the law. On this course, for example, the syllabus is backed up by 'Högskolelagen', so the requirements of the course actually have the force of law (i.e. I can be disciplined if I don't follow them!)

Actions which are governed by rules are obligatory.

Actions which are governed by laws and regulations are compulsory.

Thus, most of the things the Inspector talks about are compulsory, not obligatory.

… and what the law orders you to do are requirements (i.e. not suggestions or recommendations).

3. Should - have to - must

If you say that someone should do something, you're only making a recommendation. They can choose to ignore you, in other words. I should take more exercise, for example, but it doesn't mean that I'm going to!

Have to, on the other hand, talks about something you're forced to do because of someone or something else. Must is somewhat similar, but the reason comes from a feeling rather than a law:

You have to wear a seat belt. (Why? Because you'll be fined if you don't)

You must wear a seat belt. (Why? Think of how your family would feel if you were brain-damaged through smashing your head into the windscreen.