Quick questions on Mode: speech and writing - Edexcel A-Level English Language and Literature

The continuum matters because few exam texts are purely one mode. A spoken text may be partly scripted; a written text may imitate speech. Placing a text on the continuum, and explaining which features pull it toward speech or writing, is a more sophisticated move than simply labelling it. The decisive question is always what the mode does: how the channel shapes the voice the text constructs.

Real-time, unplanned speech has characteristic features that a transcript preserves. It is interactive: speakers take turns in adjacency pairs, hold and yield the floor, overlap, interrupt and give back-channel support ("mm", "yeah"). It is spontaneous: it carries fillers ("er", "um"), false starts, self-repairs, repetition and ellipsis (omitting words recoverable from context). It is prosodic: stress, intonation and pace carry meaning.

Planned writing is monologic and editable, so it can be controlled in ways speech cannot. It tends to standard grammar and spelling, more subordination and complex syntax, deliberate structure (paragraphing, cohesion, a shaped opening and close) and graphology (layout, typography, images). Because the writer can revise, the voice can be crafted precisely: authoritative, reflective, persuasive or literary. The absence of an immediate interlocutor means the writer must build the relationship with the reader through address and structure rather than negotiate it in real time.

Give three features of spontaneous speech and one of planned writing. [4 marks]

What does it mean to call a text blended, and why is it useful? [3 marks]

Why is mode often the best starting point for comparing two texts? [2 marks]