Choosing Form and Tone for Your Audience
English · Writing Composition · meta
Identify the audience for and purpose of writing before beginning, selecting the appropriate form, tone, and register to match the intended reader and communicative goal
What mastery looks like
- Determine the audience (e.g., peers, teacher, younger children, a public audience) and purpose (to persuade, inform, entertain, or explain) before drafting and explain how these choices affect language and structure
- Select an appropriate form for the writing task (letter, report, story, instructions, review) based on audience and purpose
- Adjust vocabulary, sentence length, and level of formality to suit the identified audience, e.g. using simpler language for younger readers and more formal language for an official letter
Check your understanding
Before Choosing Form and Tone for Your Audience starts a piece of writing, do they think about who will read it and why — adjusting their tone, vocabulary, and format accordingly, like writing more formally for a teacher than for a friend?