4.3 - Paper 2 Q5: Adapting speeches, articles, letters and more
Paper 2 Question 5 asks you to present a viewpoint for a specified audience, purpose and form. AO5 rewards relevant content and coherent organisation adapted to that situation, while AO6 separately rewards vocabulary, sentence structures, spelling and punctuation; the full task is worth 40 marks, split 24 for AO5 and 16 for AO6. You will learn how one line of argument changes when the task names a speech, article, letter or another plausible form, then apply that decision to a fresh bounded task.
Read the reader relationship
Form is not a costume placed over an argument. It describes how a reader or listener encounters the writing. Before drafting, read the whole situation and connect four decisions:
| Task detail | Decision it should change |
|---|---|
| Audience | What these people know, value, resist or have the power to do |
| Purpose | What you want them to understand, judge or do after receiving the writing |
| Form | How they encounter it: heard live, read publicly, received directly or used for a stated function |
| Viewpoint | The position and line of thought you can sustain for this audience |
The form label matters, but no label writes the response for you. A speech to hesitant councillors, a speech to supportive classmates and a speech at a celebration would need different content, sequencing and register.
Register
The kind and level of language suited to the social relationship between writer and reader. It can shift within one response without becoming random.
Model a purposeful adaptation
Consider this practice situation:
A town is considering turning one traffic lane on Central Way into a protected cycle lane. Residents have been invited to speak at a transport forum attended by commuters, shopkeepers and councillors. Present a viewpoint on the proposal.
A generic opening might read:
Nowadays, cycle lanes are a very controversial topic. There are many advantages and disadvantages. In this speech I will discuss my opinion.
It names the topic and the form, but it could be delivered anywhere. It does not recognise the mixed audience, give listeners a reason to trust the speaker, or establish how the argument will move.
An expert first notices a tension: safer travel matters, but some shopkeepers may fear losing access for deliveries. Dismissing either concern would weaken the purpose. Because listeners hear a speech in real time, the opening should establish shared ground, make the position clear and give an audible direction through the argument:
Everyone in this room wants Central Way to work: commuters need a reliable route, traders need customers and deliveries, and families need to travel safely. A protected cycle lane can serve those needs, but only if the council plans loading access rather than pretending it does not matter. I am asking you to support a six-month trial with timed delivery bays on adjoining streets. First, consider what safer travel could add to the town; then judge whether this practical safeguard answers the strongest objection.
The direct address is not valuable merely because speeches sometimes use it. It gathers competing listeners around a shared aim. The two-part signpost is useful because a live audience cannot scan backwards, while the precise request gives councillors something they can decide.
Adapt the route, not the decoration
The same core viewpoint can survive a change of form, but the route taken through it may change. These are possible decisions, not compulsory features:
| Stated form | How the reader encounters it | Useful adaptations when the situation supports them | Empty imitation to avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speech | Listeners hear it live, usually once, in a named setting | Establish common ground or urgency; use audible signposts; address resistance in the room; close on a memorable judgement or action | Repeatedly writing “ladies and gentlemen” or adding rhetorical questions with no communicative job |
| Article, including a website or magazine article | A public reader may arrive with little context and can pause, scan or leave | Frame the issue quickly; guide the reader through purposeful paragraph turns; use a title or subheading only if it strengthens the argument's movement | Simulated columns, drawings, captions or disconnected subheadings that consume time and replace cohesion |
| Letter or email | A named recipient receives a direct communication within a particular relationship | Make the reason for writing clear; select reasons this recipient can use; adopt a respectful or familiar register as appropriate; end with a meaningful request or response | Treating an elaborate address and sign-off as proof that the content is adapted |
| Another stated form | The task tells you its function, setting and audience | Ask how the reader will use it, what they need first, and what final action or judgement fits; a report, review or website contribution would organise material differently because its function differs | Guessing a fixed template from the label and forcing every idea into it |
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