Writing for content and/or form The purpose ot writing, in principle, is the expression of ideas, the conveying of a message to the reader, so the ideas themseives should arguably be seen as the most important aspect of the writing. On the other hand, the writer needs also to pay some attention to formai aspects: neat handwriting, correct spelling and punctuation. as well as acceptable grammar and careful selection of vocabulary. This is because much higher standards of language are normally demanded in writing than in speech: more careful constructions, more precise and varied vocabulary, more correctness or expression in general. Also, the slow and reflective nature or the process of writing in iseif enables the writer to devote ime and attention to formal aspects during the process of producion something it is difficult to demand in the course of the real-time flow of speech. One of our problems in teaching writing is to maintain a fair balance between content and form when defining our requirements and assessing. What this 'fair balance is depends, of course, to some extent on your own teaching siruation and opinion