Writing: purpose, audience and accuracy

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.

Purpose and audience together decide how formal your writing should be

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.

A one-minute plan becomes your paragraphs: one idea each, joined by linking words

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.

Language marks rest on two pillars: range and accuracy

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 150 to 200 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.