Communication and Functional English
Communication and Functional English tests writing that does a job for a reader: dialogue, notice, advertisement, and report.
Dialogue
Make turns purposeful. Use adjacency pairs such as question–answer, invitation–acceptance or refusal, and complaint–apology. Match register to relationship, use contractions in speech, keep speaker labels clear, and avoid speeches longer than two or three sentences.
Notice
A notice is a public announcement, usually boxed, headed NOTICE, and dated. It answers who, what, when, where, why, and whom to contact. Use impersonal or passive forms such as Lost, Found, and The meeting will be held. Omit salutation and subscription, and sign with the issuing authority.
Advertisement
Identify the target reader and one selling point. Use a short headline, a body of two or three persuasive sentences, and a call to action with contact details. Adjectives and imperatives persuade; unsupported superlatives weaken.
Report
Use a title and, where required, a byline, date, and place. Write in the third person and past tense for events; report fact, not opinion; attribute statements (the principal said). Order information by importance and end with follow-up action.
Worked example
Task: report on a college blood-donation camp. Weak: We had a blood donation camp. It was very nice. Many people came. Revised: A blood-donation camp was held in the college auditorium on 12 August. Ninety-two units were collected, according to the district hospital team. The NSS coordinator said the camp would be repeated in January. Reasoning: passive and past tense, exact figures, third person, attributed statement, no personal evaluation.
Traps that cost marks
- A notice with a friendly salutation.
- An advertisement without contact details.
- A report mixing I or we with opinion.
- Dialogue that is really two monologues.
- Unverifiable claims.