2. WRITTEN
LANGUAGE
SPOKEN
LANGUAGE
Received via the
eyes
Received via the
ears
Permanent – can
be checked
repeatedly
Temporary – we
retain what was
said only in
memory
(ephemeral)
Impersonal – the
writer does not
know exactly who
will read it
Personal – the
speaker is directly
addressing
someone
Distant – it can be
read at anytime
Immediate –
heard
simultaneously to
being said.
Blended Modes – aspects of 2 modes together e.g.
Political speech – planned and written to be spoken;
CMCs.

3. Genre: The form the text takes or the
category it belongs to (e.g. newspaper
article, diary entry etc.)
Mode: method of delivery and reception
Purpose: The intention of the
author/speaker
Audience: Intended or imagined
receivers of a text.

4. FUNCTIONS OF A TEXT
Writer positioning (use of register
and sentence structure; statistics;
use of pronouns)
Positioning of others & positioning
of ideas (adjectives & other word
classes used to describe others;
use of pronouns; neg & pos
connotations; titles given etc.)
Audience positioning (rhetorical
Qs; use of pronouns; humour;
emotive language etc.)
The text as text (cohesion &
coherence – use of pronouns &
linking words)