"Hey, dude! Whassup?" Would you greet your principal that way? Probably not. You know that a polite "hello" or "good morning" is more suitable for principals, teachers and other adults at school. At home, a hearty "hi" may be just right for your family members. Your friends, however, could be fine with a greeting full of slang – they might understand you even if you only say, "Sup?"

"Hello", "hi" and "hey" mean the same thing. Likewise, "what's up", "wassup" and "sup" all morphed from "what is up with you". Many synonyms are like that: a dictionary may say they have the same meaning, but each has a slightly different flavour. And, in real life, some words are better for certain settings than others.

That is why you should quickly size up social settings before speaking. Where you are, what is happening there, your role and to whom you are speaking – put these together and they give you the social setting. Settings can be very formal, very casual or anywhere in between.

Let's say you are the emcee at your school's annual speech day. You greet guests in the right order. You introduce items exactly as in the programme. And, you use Standard Singapore English.

By doing all this, you are meeting expectations of the emcee of a formal event.

The next day, you emcee at a friend's party. There, you are free to say almost anything you would like to.

The idea is to get everyone into party mode. You use some Singlish. You crack a joke or two. You even sing a few lines of a song. Now, you are doing what is expected of an emcee at a very informal gathering.

Whether it is a formal or casual event, good emcees know how to vary their talking styles to match settings. Try to do the same in the different social settings that you step into in your life.

- MARY GEORGE