Speaking versus Writing THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE Spoken WORD. OR IS IT? Josef Essberger The purpose of all language is to communicate - that is, to move thoughts or information from one person to another person. There are always at least two people in any communication. To communicate, one person must put something "out" and another person must take something "in". We call this "output" (>>>) and "input" (<<<). I speak to you (OUTPUT: my thoughts go OUT of my head). You listen to me (INPUT: my thoughts go INto your head). You write to me (OUTPUT: your thoughts go OUT of your head). I read your words (INPUT: your thoughts go INto my head). So language consists of four "skills": two for output (speaking and writing); and two for input (listening and reading. We can say this another way - two of the skills are for "spoken" communication and two of the skills are for "written" communication: Spoken: >>> Speaking - mouth <<< Listening - ear Written: >>> Writing - hand <<< Reading - eye What are the differences between Spoken and Written English? Are there advantages and disadvantages for each form of communication?
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE Spoken WORD. OR IS IT?
Josef Essberger
The purpose of all language is to communicate - that is, to move
thoughts or information from one person to another person.
There are always at least two people in any communication. To
communicate, one person must put something "out" and another person
must take something "in". We call this "output" (>>>) and
"input" ( Speaking - mouth> Writing - hand
