Register Shift in a Formal Letter
You must write a letter of complaint in Spanish to the manager of a hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, about a room that did not match the booking. Your draft opens: «Hola, te escribo porque la habitación era un desastre. Nos dijiste que tenía vista al mar pero no. Quiero que me devuelvas la plata.» A classmate says it is fine because 'the meaning is clear'. Your teacher requires you to rewrite the opening two sentences in an appropriate register and to justify three specific changes. You have 180 words.
1. Rewrite the opening two sentences in an appropriate register for a formal complaint letter.
Read the worked answer
«Estimado señor director: Le escribo para expresar mi disconformidad con la habitación que se me asignó, ya que no coincidía con la reserva confirmada. Si bien en la confirmación se indicaba que la habitación tenía vista al mar, lamentablemente no fue así.» The rewrite uses a formal salutation, the usted form («le escribo», «se me asignó»), a nominalised complaint («expresar mi disconformidad») rather than an exclamation, and hedged, factual phrasing («si bien... no fue así») that states the discrepancy without aggression.
2. Justify three specific changes you made and explain what each achieves communicatively.
Read the worked answer
First, «Hola, te escribo» becomes «Estimado señor director: Le escribo» - the formal address and usted establish the institutional relationship and signal that the writer expects a formal remedy. Second, «era un desastre» becomes «no coincidía con la reserva confirmada» - evaluative hyperbole is replaced by a factual, verifiable claim, which is more persuasive in a complaint because it invites verification rather than defence. Third, «Quiero que me devuelvas la plata» becomes a request framed through the confirmed booking, shifting from a demand for cash to a claim grounded in the contract. The register shift is not decoration: it changes the speech act from a personal outburst to a documented grievance, which is what the communicative purpose requires.