Match the text to the job it has to do

A sentence is doing more than carrying meaning — it's telling the reader what kind of writing this is. AO5 rewards writing that fits its purpose (describe / narrate / explain / instruct / inform / argue) and audience (who you're writing for: peers, adults, councillors, readers of a national paper).

The six core purposes — sentence-level fingerprints

Purpose	Typical sentence shape	Example
Describe	sensory detail; present tense or past; imagery	"The corridor stretched, white, fluorescent, silent."
Narrate	past tense; characters; events; dialogue	"She set down the kettle and listened."
Explain	logical connectives; cause-and-effect	"Because the engine was cold, it idled roughly for two minutes."
Instruct	imperatives ("Press"); numbered or sequential steps	"Open the lid. Press the button. Wait for the green light."
Inform	factual; balanced; some structure (headings, lists)	"The new sports hall opens in March 2026."
Argue	claim + evidence + rhetorical hooks	"We cannot keep ignoring the playground crisis. The figures speak for themselves."

In a Paper 2 Q5 prompt, the form (article / letter / speech / leaflet) sets the register, but the purpose sets the sentence shapes. Mismatched purpose = lower AO5.

Audience — who you're writing for

Audience changes:

• Vocabulary — Year 7 audience needs simpler words than a council audience.
• References — to shared culture, school, music, the news.
• Tone — formal vs informal; serious vs warm.
• Concession — addressing what the reader might object to.

A model line that demonstrates audience awareness: "As students, we know the canteen queue is more than a line of bodies — it is twenty minutes we will never get back at lunchtime." Notice the inclusive we, the time-relevant detail (lunchtime), the slight humour. That sentence couldn't be written for a council; it's for peers.

Coherence — the reader's sense of thread

Coherent writing has clear connections between sentences and between paragraphs. Three coherence devices:

1. Cohesive ties — pronouns and synonyms that point back ("the corridor… it…"). Without them, every sentence reads as an island.
2. Connectives — however, therefore, furthermore, in contrast, meanwhile. They tell the reader the relationship between ideas.
3. Topic sentences — the first sentence of each paragraph signals what the paragraph is about. The reader's attention is hooked before the detail arrives.

Examples of weak vs strong cohesion:

Weak: "School needs a new sports hall. The old one is small. Pupils have to travel." Strong: "School urgently needs a new sports hall. The current one is too small for the increased intake, which is why pupils now spend twenty minutes a week travelling to off-site PE lessons."

Same content; the second flows because of which is why.

Paragraph shape — the standard PEEL

Even in non-literary writing, paragraphs benefit from a structure:

• P — point (topic sentence, the paragraph's claim).
• E — evidence (a stat, a quotation, a precise example).
• E — explanation (why this matters).
• L — link (to the next paragraph or back to the question).

This is most obvious in argument writing but applies to every purpose. It's the difference between a paragraph that lands and a paragraph that drifts.

A worked Paper 2 Q5 opening

Prompt: "Write a letter to your local councillor explaining your views on the closure of the youth centre."

Three openings, ranked:

❌ "I am writing to you about the youth centre. I think it should not close." (clear but flat; no audience awareness)

⚠️ "Dear Councillor Patel, I am writing to express my deep concern about the proposed closure of the Hill Road Youth Centre, which has been a part of our community for many years." (correct shape; clichéd phrasing)

✅ "Dear Councillor Patel, On Tuesday the Hill Road Youth Centre put up a notice in its window: Closing 31st March. Twelve words. They have undone a decade of community work in a single morning." (specific, audience-aware, immediate; introduces an emotional anchor without hyperbole)

The third opening shows control of register (formal salutation), purpose (explaining/arguing), audience (a councillor who reads many letters), and coherence (a clean narrative hook).