Identify the purpose, audience and context of a situational writing task and use them to shape the content, tone and choices in the response

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to read a Situational Writing task carefully and work out three things before you write a single sentence: the purpose (why you are writing), the audience (who will read it), and the context (the situation it happens in). These three things, often called PAC, control every choice you make: what to include, how formal to be, and what format to use. The whole Section B task on Paper 1 rewards a response that clearly fits its purpose, audience and context, so getting PAC right at the start is the single most useful habit for this paper.

The answer

Purpose: why are you writing?

The purpose is the job the writing has to do. Common purposes at N-Level are to inform (give facts), to persuade (get someone to do or believe something), to apologise, to invite, to complain, to request, or to explain. A task can have more than one purpose at once, for example to inform and to persuade. Once you know the purpose, you know what your writing must achieve, so you can check at the end whether it has done its job.

Audience: who will read it?

The audience is the person or group who will read your writing. Ask: are they an adult or a fellow student? Someone you know well or a stranger? Someone in authority (a principal, a manager) or an equal? The audience decides your tone. You would write more formally to a principal than to a friend, and you would explain more for a reader who does not already know the background.

Context: what is the situation?

The context is the situation that surrounds the task: what has happened, where the writing fits, and what kind of text it is. A letter after a real event, an email to a whole class, a report for a teacher, a notice for a board: each context shapes how you open, how you close, and how serious or warm you sound. The context often tells you the format to use as well.

Putting PAC to work

PAC is not something to write down and forget. Each part should change a real decision:

• Purpose decides your content (what points to include).
• Audience decides your tone (how formal or friendly).
• Context decides your format and details (greeting, sign-off, references to the situation).

If you can name your PAC and point to a choice each one leads to, your writing will fit the task and the marks will follow.

Examples in context

Example 1. A complaint email. Task: write to a shop about a faulty phone. Purpose is to complain and to ask for a refund or replacement. Audience is a shop manager (an adult you do not know), so the tone is firm but polite. Context is a customer email after buying a faulty item, so you state the date of purchase, describe the fault, and ask clearly for what you want.

Example 2. An invitation notice. Task: write a notice inviting students to a school concert. Purpose is to inform and to encourage attendance. Audience is fellow students, so the tone is lively and friendly. Context is a notice on a board, so you use a clear heading, the key details (date, time, place, cost), and an upbeat closing line.

Try this

• Cue. Read this task and name the purpose, audience and context: "Write a letter to your principal suggesting a longer lunch break." Purpose: to suggest and to persuade. Audience: the principal, an adult in authority, so polite and reasoned. Context: a formal letter, so use a proper greeting, sign-off and clear reasons.

• Cue. A task says "write an email to a friend inviting them to your house". List one content choice (give the date, time and what you will do), one tone choice (warm and casual, since the audience is a friend), and one format choice (a friendly greeting and sign-off, since the context is a personal email).

• Cue. Explain why purpose, audience and context can change the same piece of news. The fact "the trip is cancelled" would be written formally and with an apology to parents, but casually and with disappointment to a friend, because the audience and context differ even though the information is the same.