Writing
Writing asks you to communicate in Lea Faka-Tonga for a purpose and audience: invitation, letter, email, notice, article, or short narrative. Marks depend on relevance, organisation, range, and accuracy.
Core rules and concepts
- Plan purpose, audience, and text type before writing. A formal letter needs a greeting and closing; an email needs a subject line; a notice needs a headline.
- Vary sentences and link ideas: Naʻe ..., ʻOku ..., ʻE ...; ka, pea, koeʻuhi. Do not string short sentences without connectors.
- Choose possessive classifiers correctly: ʻeku/hoku, ʻau/hoʻo, ʻana/hono. The choice is lexical, not free variation.
- Check glottal stops, vowel length, and definitive accents. A missing mark can change the word.
- Keep register consistent. Avoid English word order such as Au ʻalu for ʻOku ou ʻalu.
Worked example
Email: Mālō e lelei Sione, ʻOku ou fakaafeʻi koe ki heʻeku ʻaho fānau ʻi he ʻaho Tokonaki. ʻE kamata ʻi he 7:00 ʻi he pō. ʻOku ou ʻamanaki ke haʻu koe. ʻOfa atu, Mele. Reasoning: the purpose is invitation; the greeting and closing fit an email to a friend; ʻe kamata is future; ʻi he pō makes the time clear. Removing the time phrase weakens the message.
Traps that cost marks
- Missing greeting or closing in a formal text.
- Using ʻoku for a future arrangement.
- Translating English word order directly.
- Forgetting macrons or glottal stops that distinguish words.