Transactional Writing

Tips

• Always know how your text will end what you want to include

• Have a strong, convincing opening and ending

• Always plan before you begin writing

Questions Style

Write a letter to X, applying for a position as Y

Write an article for a newspaper, exploring X

You must identify the PAF of the text you have been asked to write

Purpose

Audience

Form

The question is testing your ability to adapt your writing for different purposes and different audiences

The question will be marked for SPaG

Use the three bullet points within the question to help plan and structure the writing

New ideas, topics, people, places need new paragraphs

Headings and subheadings are allowed, if it is appropriate, to help you organise your work

Techniques for Transactional Writing

• Rhetorical questions

• Emotive language

• Rule of three

• Repetition

• Modal verbs

• Antithesis

• Opinion

• Lists

• Connectives to link ideas

• Hyperbole

• Headings and subheadings

• Facts

• Statistics

• Experts opinions

• quotes , if you are able to remember them

• Historical information

• Personal pronouns

• Direct address

• Subject-specific terminology

• Figurative language

• Inclusive language

• Anecdotes

• Juxtaposition

• DO NOT USE A CONFRONTATIONAL TONE IN A FORMAL LETTER

Review

Reviewing writing tends to be a piece of writing in which you offer your personal opinion

To demonstrate how much you do know about a topic, you will need to support your points with valid reasons

A review focuses on strengths and weaknesses, uses evidence to support ideas, draws a conclusion, saying whether something will be useful for, or interesting to , its audience and purpose and gives personal opinion with a confident and authoritative tone

What makes a successful review?

• Opens in a lively way in order to state the writer’s opinion

• Use of direct address

• Use of rhetorical question aimed at the reader in order to engage the reader

• Alliteration emphasises a key phrase or point

• References. This allows the reader to understand the author more especially if you reference past well known works of the author

• Metaphors have the ability to emphasise the writer's feelings, whether that feeling is negative or positive.

• Use standard english and mainly formal language, only using a few informal choices where appropriate#

• Use a mix of sentence types and lengths to make it more interesting to read

• Use generally straightforward everyday vocabulary with some subject-specific specialist words

• AVOID SPEAKING LIKE A WALKING THESAURUS AS THAT MAY MAKE THE WORK SEEM INTIMIDATING AND BORING

• Give your view immediately

• Use other writing techniques to engage the reader, e.g. hyperbole, metaphors, similes, personification, i m a g e r y.

V O C A B U L A R Y   T O   U S E

• Superlative

• Marvellous

• Supreme

• Outstanding

• Dazzling

• Remarkable

• Consummate

• Prodigious

• Unique

• Peerless

• Premier

• Faultless

• Flawless

• First rate

• Finest

• Brightest

• Biggest

• Superior

• Praiseworthy

• Noteworthy

• Enviable

• Admirable respected

• impressive