Use of Language and Functional Writing

Writing for a real purpose

Functional writing is writing that does a job in the real world: a message to a friend, a letter to an official, a note, an invitation or a form. To do it well you always think about three things before you write. Your purpose is what you want the writing to achieve. Your audience is the person who will read it. Your register is how formal your language should be. The same news, written to a friend and to a head teacher, should look very different. This module teaches those skills for writing in Irish, using a few well-known Irish phrases as examples.

Words for writing well

Learn these before you write anything. They name the choices that make a piece of writing suit its reader.

Match the phrase to its use

Formal against informal

The biggest choice in functional writing is register: how formal your language is. It depends entirely on who will read your writing.

Which sign-off fits?

You are writing a formal letter to an official you have never met. Which closing has the right register?

• le meas
• Slán
• A friendly nickname
• No closing at all

Match your language to your reader

Before you write a single word, picture your reader. To a friend you are warm and relaxed. To an official you are polite and careful. Choose your greeting and your sign-off to match, make your reason for writing clear in the first line, and check that every sentence suits that reader. Get the reader right and the writing does its job.

Pick the formal choices

Select every choice that suits a formal letter to an official.

• A respectful greeting such as A chara
• The sign-off le meas
• Careful, polite language
• A joke and a nickname for the reader
• Slang from a text message

Order the parts of a letter

Put the parts of a short formal letter in the usual order.

• The greeting, such as A chara
• An opening line saying why you are writing
• The main message with your details
• A closing line thanking the reader
• The sign-off, such as le meas
• Your name

Complete the writing facts

What you want your writing to achieve is its _____. The person who will read it is your _____. How formal your language is is the _____. A formal Irish sign-off meaning with respect is _____.

One message, two readers

Suppose you want to say you cannot come to an event. To a friend you might open with Dia duit, keep it short and warm, say you are sorry to miss it, and close with Slán. To the organiser of a formal event you would open with A chara, explain politely and clearly why you cannot attend, thank them for the invitation, and close with le meas. The purpose is exactly the same in both, but the audience changes the register, the greeting and the sign-off. Reading your message the way your reader will is the real test of good functional writing.

Spot the formal choices

Tap the TWO choices that belong in a formal letter.

• Opening with A chara, a respectful greeting
• Closing with le meas, a formal sign-off
• Using slang and a nickname for the reader
• Adding a joke meant for a close friend

Choose the right register

For each situation, choose the writing that fits the reader.

• You are writing to a friend to invite them out. How should you open?
• You are writing to a head teacher to request something. What register do you use?
• You are ending a formal letter to an official. How do you sign off?

Build a functional-writing rule

Choose the word for each gap to complete one rule of good functional writing.

Quick-fire writing check

Answer each question. You have three lives, and losing them all restarts the run.

Plan a message in Irish

Plan a short message in Irish inviting a friend to an event. Explain the choices you would make so that the message suits your reader.

• Say what the purpose of your message is
• Say who your audience is and how that sets the register
• Choose a suitable greeting, such as Dia duit
• Choose a suitable sign-off, such as Slán
• Explain why your language suits a friend rather than an official