3. Mode and genre

Question 1

What is a mode of communication? Name both of them.

Answer 1

A mode of communication is the way in which you communicate. The two types involved in English language are the written and spoken mode.

Question 2

List the features associated with the written mode.

Answer 2

Writing is:

• Objective
• A monologue
• Durable
• Planned
• Highly structured
• Grammatically complex
• Concerned with the past and future
• Formal
• Decontextualised

Question 3

List the features associated with the spoken mode.

Answer 3

Speech is:

• Interpersonal
• A dialogue
• Ephemeral
• Spontaneous
• Loosely structured
• Grammatically simple
• Concerned with the present
• Informal
• Contextualised

Question 4

What are the two ways of categorising the modes?

Answer 4

Through the oppositional view, where language falls into either speech or writing and has all the features associated with it, and the blended-mode view, where language has features of both modes on a continuum, with spoken mode and written at the poles.

Question 5

What mode would these fall into?

1. A letter of resignation
2. A conversation at a party
3. A speech from the Prime Minister
4. A text message
5. A textbook
6. A birthday card
7. A celebrity “meet and greet”
8. Talking to a stranger on the bus
9. A transcript from an interview
10. “Wuthering Heights”

Answer 5

1. Written
2. Spoken
3. Blended-mode
4. Blended-mode
5. Written
6. Blended-mode
7. Spoken
8. Spoken
9. Blended-mode
10. Written