Audience, Purpose and Tone

Whywriteatext?

Audience: Who is the text for? Who would read the text?

Purpose: Why are you writing the text? What are you trying to achieve?

Tone: How formal does the text need to be? How should the text sound? Consider if it should have an emotional viewpoint or not.

‘Apt’ means appropriate. A text must suit the audience, purpose and tone. E.g. Formal language would not be appropriate for a children’s television programme.

differentpurposes

All texts are written for a reason. It is important to consider what that reason might be.

Persuade and Argue - you are trying to convince the audience to think, do or believe something

Inform - telling the audience about a topic

Describe - allowing the audience to picture something themselves

Instruct - telling the audience how to do something

Entertain - engaging the audience emotionally. It could make them laugh, cry or feel tense.

All texts have more than one purpose. What are the purposes of the following texts:

  1. A leaflet
  2. An autobiography
  3. A poster?

Answers

  1. A leaflet - inform you about a topic but probably persuade or advise you on how to handle a situation
  2. An autobiography - inform about a person but also to entertain you
  3. A poster - inform about a situation and possibly advise or instruct

introductiontotransactionalwriting

Transactional writing is writing for a ‘real-life’ scenario.

Letters

Formal letters have conventional structures. They could be any purpose.

1, The Hill,

Beechside,

Manchester,

M20 4HJ

18th October 2018

McDonald’s,

Grant Street,

New York,

276497

Note, your address is on the right-hand side, with the date underneath. Their address is on the left-hand side, underneath your personal address.

Use ‘Yours faithfully’ when using ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ and use ‘Yours sincerely’ when using the personal name.

Speeches

The written form of an extended piece of spoken language.

Emails

Place the address of the recipient at the top.

Place your own email address underneath

Write in a subject heading

Begin writing.

Example:

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Complaint

Dear Mr Price,

I am writing….

analysingasetoftexts

1.Who might be the audience be of a President Trump speech?

2.What might the purpose of a complaint letter be?

3.What might the tone of a complaint letter be?

4.What is the purpose of a letter from a bank?

5.What might the tone of an email to a parent?

Answers

1.Who might be the audience be of a President Trump speech?

It would depend who he is addressing. It might be a group of people who are in favour of Donald Trump. They might be people who are informed and educated on politics; however, it may be the opposite.

2.What might the purpose of a complaint letter be?

It would be to inform the manufacturer of the fault. However, you might be arguing that you should be due a refund.

3.What might the tone of a complaint letter be?

It would need to be formal and professional. You might sound particularly angry and disgusted by the fault.

4.What is the purpose of a letter from a bank?

It would probably be to inform you of a situation. However, they may be trying to persuade you to open a new bank account or to make changes to your existing account.

5.What might the tone of an email to a parent?

This would be informal but probably relatively respectful.

reflection

Consider the question that is asked in the examination. You must distinguish that the audience, purpose and tone might be of the response required. It is worth planning this on the examination first. Simply write:

  1. Audience -
  2. Purpose -
  3. Tone -