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Common Core ELA7th GradeSpeaking & Listening

SL.7.6: Adapt Your Speech to the Setting

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.6 · Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas.

All 41 7th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 7 Language standards 1 and 3 here for specific expectations.)

Common Core State Standards, Grade 7, Speaking & Listening · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What SL.7.6 Means in Plain English

Seventh graders read the room: loose, quick talk with friends at lunch, then full sentences, precise words and no filler when they interview a city council member or present to a panel. Formal here follows L.7.1 and L.7.3: concise wording and complete sentences, not fancy vocabulary.

Sixth graders (SL.6.6) switch between casual and formal English, where formal leans on pronoun rules and a steady tone. Seventh grade’s formal English adds sentence variety and cuts wordiness. Eighth grade (SL.8.6) brings in verb voice and mood, like “If I were mayor.”

SL.7.6 I Can Statements

  • I can tell when a situation calls for formal English.
  • I can speak in complete, precise sentences without filler words.
  • I can switch back to casual talk when the moment allows.

SL.7.6 Worked Example

One question, asked first by a friend at lunch and then by a city committee member, and the answer has to change.

Prompt

Your class is asking the city parks committee to fund a skate park. A committee member asks you, “Why does this town need a skate park?” A friend asked you the same thing at lunch, and you answered casually. Now answer the committee.

Not YetSo, like, basically, kids just need somewhere to go, you know? Right now we skate at the library and people get mad, and it’s kind of a whole thing. A skate park would just be, like, really cool for everybody.A fine answer at the lunch table and the wrong one here: filler (like, basically, you know), vague words (a whole thing, really cool) and no complete point the committee can act on.
Meets the StandardThank you for asking. Right now, about forty students skate in the library parking lot after school, because there is nowhere else to go. Staff have asked us to leave several times, and two cars have been scratched. A skate park would give us a safe, legal place to ride, and it would free the parking lot for library visitors.A polite opening, complete sentences, specific facts in place of “a whole thing” and nothing wordy. The speaker sounds like someone the committee can take seriously, without sounding stiff.
Moves to Use
Size up the audience and the task before you answer: who is listening, and why?Drop the fillers (like, basically, you know) and finish every sentence.Swap vague words for exact ones: forty students, not “a lot of kids.”Say it once, concisely, instead of circling back with “so yeah.”Keep the casual version for friends, where it fits.

Common Mistakes with SL.7.6

Bringing lunch-table talk to the podium

“So, like, basically, it’s kind of a whole thing.”

Try this: Record a one-minute formal answer, play it back, and have students tally every filler word, then answer again aiming for zero.

Mistaking formal for fancy

“It is of the utmost importance that a facility for skating be constructed.”

Try this: Teach that formal means clear and complete, then have students rewrite stiff sentences in plain words a committee member would actually say aloud.

Formal everywhere

A friend asks “Want to skate later?” and gets “I would be delighted to accompany you.”

Try this: Run the same question in two settings, partner then panel, and discuss what should change and what should stay the same.

Where SL.7.6 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.6.6Switch between casual and formal English to fit the setting and the task.
AlongsideL.7.3Choose precise, concise language and cut wordiness, the core of formal speech this year.L.7.1Choose among sentence types and keep modifiers in place, the grammar formal English calls for.
Comes NextSL.8.6Adapt speech to the setting, with grade 8 grammar like verb voice and mood in the formal register.

Practice SL.7.6

Quick Check

  1. Name three filler words or phrases in the weak answer.
  2. Which vague phrase in the weak answer becomes specific facts in the strong one?
  3. Why isn’t the strong answer too formal?

SL.7.6: Other Names

SL.7.6CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.6

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.