Writing: purpose, audience and accuracy · ⁨الكتابة: الغرض، الجمهور والدقة⁩

Before you write, ask two questions: why am I writing, and who will read it?

Know your purpose

• Every writing task has a purpose 目的: to inform 告知, to argue 论证, or to discuss 讨论.
• The purpose decides what you write and how you write it.
• The task tells you the purpose. Read it carefully and underline it.

Know your audience

• The audience 读者 is the person who will read your writing — a friend, a teacher, or an event organiser.
• Write in a way that suits them. You write to a friend in a different way from a teacher.

Choose the right register

• Register 语域 means how formal 正式 or informal 非正式 your language is.
• Use informal language for a friend: short forms (I'm, don't) and friendly words.
• Use formal language for a teacher or a report: full forms (I am, do not) and polite words. No slang 俚语.

Good writing is not just correct. It is also easy to follow.

Plan before you write

• Spend one minute on a plan 计划. Write down your main ideas and put them in order.
• A plan stops you from forgetting a point or repeating yourself.

Use paragraphs

• Put each main idea in its own paragraph 段落.
• Start a new paragraph for a new idea. This makes your writing clear.

Link your ideas

• Use linking words 衔接词 to join your ideas smoothly.
• For adding: in addition, also, as well as. For contrast: however, but, although. For results: so, therefore, as a result.

Language marks come from range 多样性 and accuracy 准确性.

Show a range

• Use different tenses 时态 and sentence types. Do not write every sentence the same way.
• Use a range of vocabulary 词汇. Choose a better word than the easy one, and use synonyms 同义词 to avoid repeating yourself.

Be accurate

• Check your grammar 语法, spelling 拼写 and punctuation 标点.
• Common errors are subject–verb agreement, verb tenses, and missing capital letters.

Check your work

• Leave one or two minutes to read your work again.
• Look for small mistakes you can fix quickly. Checking can save several marks.

• Before you write, say your job in one line: "an informal email to a friend, to invite him to a picnic".
• Cover every content point in the task. Examiners tick each point; a missing one costs marks at once.
• Learn what 120 to 160 words of your handwriting looks like, so you never count in the exam.
• Save the last five minutes to check your usual errors: verb -s, past forms, a / an / the.
• A short correct sentence beats a long broken one every time.