✍️ Part 11: Audience Awareness and Purpose in All Three Styles
(Descriptive, Narrative, and Persuasive Writing for IGCSE, AS Level, and IB Exams)
At the heart of every great piece of writing lies clarity of purpose and a strong connection with the audience. Whether you’re painting a scene, telling a story, or arguing a case, knowing who you’re writing for and why you’re writing changes everything—your tone, content, and language.
🎯 Why Audience & Purpose Matter
✔️ They shape your voice
✔️ They determine what to include and what to leave out
✔️ They help your writing feel intentional and focused
✔️ They help examiners see your control over the task
🧠 Examiners don’t just look at what you say—but how well you say it to the right person, in the right way.
📌 The Three Writing Styles and Their Demands
| Style | Audience Examples | Purpose |
| Descriptive | Anyone reading for immersion, detail | To evoke a scene or sensory experience |
| Narrative | General readers, peers, teachers | To entertain, convey a theme, or reflect |
| Persuasive | Public, decision-makers, peers, adults | To convince, argue, or call to action |
🔍 1. Descriptive Writing: Audience & Purpose
Even without a formal audience, your reader’s expectations still matter.
- Purpose: Evoke emotion, engage the senses, capture a moment
- Audience: Usually a general one—examiner included
✨ How to show awareness:
- Use sensory-rich language that creates a vivid image
- Adjust mood: Is this tranquil, eerie, nostalgic, tense?
- Avoid over-description—choose what your reader needs to feel
You’re not just describing a beach—you’re making your reader feel the sting of salt on their lips.
🔍 2. Narrative Writing: Audience & Purpose
A narrative may seem informal, but it’s still crafted for someone.
- Purpose: To tell a story, explore emotion or character, share a message
- Audience: Often a general reader or examiner expecting a crafted piece
✨ How to show awareness:
- Match tone to your narrator (e.g., teenage voice ≠ adult tone)
- Use dialogue and pacing suitable for your chosen audience
- Let your story subtly reflect themes your reader can connect to
Is this a personal reflection, a suspenseful event, or a coming-of-age moment? Your choices must fit.
🔍 3. Persuasive Writing: Audience & Purpose
This is where audience and purpose matter most explicitly.
- Purpose: To persuade, inform, inspire, argue
- Audience: Can vary—students, adults, government, public, examiners
✨ How to show awareness:
- Adjust tone (friendly? formal? outraged?)
- Include relevant examples for your audience
- Choose vocabulary they relate to or respect
- Direct address: “You”, “We”, “Imagine this” = engagement
Compare:
❌ “We must fix the system.”
✅ “As parents, can you watch your child struggle and stay silent?”
🎯 Matching Language to Task: Style Tips
| Style | Tone | Features |
| Descriptive | Evocative, sensory | Figurative language, mood, detail |
| Narrative | Reflective, engaging | Characterisation, dialogue, voice |
| Persuasive | Assertive, engaging | Rhetorical devices, logic, emotional appeal |
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
| Mistake | Fix It By… |
| Using the wrong tone for audience | Rethinking what kind of language would engage them |
| Ignoring purpose altogether | Clarifying your intention in planning |
| Writing as if to no one in particular | Imagining a clear reader in your mind |
| Sounding robotic or rehearsed | Reading your writing aloud for tone check |
📌 Examiner Tip
- IGCSE/AS: Marks awarded for style, tone, and engagement
- IB: Audience and purpose are assessed in Criterion C (Engagement) and D (Style & Language)
- Don’t write into the void. Show you know who’s listening and why you’re speaking.
✨ “Successful writers control their tone to match their message.”
🧪 Quick Practice Task
Task: Choose one style below. Write 3 lines showing awareness of audience and purpose:
- Descriptive: A sunset in a war zone (for a reflective magazine piece)
- Narrative: A teenager’s first solo trip (for a school anthology)
- Persuasive: Why schools should adopt 4-day weeks (to a panel of educators)