The formality checker

Casual markers pull the index down: particles such as 啦 (la, casual particle) and 哦 (o, casual particle), laughter such as 哈哈 (hāha, ha ha), and casual words such as 咋样 (zǎyàng, how about it, casual) and 搞定 (gǎodìng, sorted, casual). 你 (nǐ, you) counts lightly, because it is correct in many places and wrong only in a first formal message.

Formal markers push it up: 您 (nín, you, polite), 贵公司 (guì gōngsī, your company, polite), 烦请 (fánqǐng, may I trouble you to), 请查收 (qǐng cháshōu, please find attached). Over-formal markers push it up harder: classical words such as 敝司 (bì sī, our humble company, classical) and 顺颂商祺 (shùn sòng shāng qí, wishing your business well, classical) that belong to a printed letter, and sound stiff in a message.

Every marker, its weight and its suggested swap are printed in the checker's file, and every marker in the drafts below is highlighted when you open them. If you think a weight is wrong, the rules are there to argue with.

The checker sees words, not sentences. It cannot judge grammar, whether a sentence says what you meant, the order of a request, or a marker that is not on its list. A draft can sit in the right band and still be rude, wrong or confusing. Use it to catch the register mistakes learners make most, and then read the message once more as the person receiving it.

Each well-judged draft scores 100 in its own channel and loses points in the other two. The polite WeChat, at index 55, is exactly right for Manager Wang on WeChat and too casual for a first formal email (55). The formal email, at 82, is right for email and stiff on WeChat (58). There is no single "correct level of formality"; there is a correct one for each channel, and the question to ask before writing is where the message is going.

A draft translated directly from polite English lands at index 38: not rude, but casual, because English "you" becomes 你 (nǐ, you) and every English question becomes a 吗 (ma, question particle) question. It is just below the WeChat band. The three swaps in the build-along, an addressed greeting with 您 (nín, you, polite), a request with 烦请 (fánqǐng, may I trouble you to), and a statement instead of a 吗 (ma, question particle) question, move it to 59, inside the band, without making it stiff.

Politeness in a business message is fit: the reader feels addressed the way their role and the channel lead them to expect. Classical words such as 敝司 (bì sī, our humble company, classical) and 鄙人 (bǐrén, this humble person, classical) still appear in ceremonial letters, but in an email they put distance between writer and reader, and on WeChat they read as a joke or as a template pasted without thought. The bench's ceiling at 92 is the professional norm made countable: past a certain point, formality stops signalling respect and starts signalling distance.

Printed invitations, formal notices and ceremonial letters still use classical closings, and a learner should recognise them. The checker's band is for business email and messages, which is where most of your writing will go. If you are writing a printed invitation to a signing ceremony, the classical register is the right one, and the checker's email band does not apply; it says so in its notes.