Learn English – Difference between Formal and informal question

grammarmeaningword-usage

There are two questions:

A- How come you're a reporter?

B- How is it that you're a reporter?

Why A is informal and B is formal?

And I found that difficult to know that making the Informal question into formal question especially there are no rules.

Best Answer

These are not formal and informal questions.

A- How come you're a reporter?

This is asking how it came about that you are reporter? The speaker wants to know how, or maybe why, you became a reporter.

B- How is it that you're a reporter?

This is asking how it is possible that you can be a reporter. The speaker cannot understand how a person like you can be a reporter- suggesting maybe that you are incompetent, or that there are aspects of the job that you might not be able to deal with.