This is the biggest difference between spoken and written conversation

Speaking and writing are two different forms of communication. Sure, they both use words and grammar, but the features that support those words and grammar are totally different.

When we speak, the words and what they mean are shaped by our bodies and our voices. We might change how we pronounce a word or how much of the word sounds we make depending on our audience.

For example, a native English speaker talking to their family might say

“Imina gotathe store.”

Imina is not a word in English. But it is the sound of three words being said real fast: “I’m going to go to the store.”

And if a native English speaker were talking to someone they didn’t know well but was also a native English speaker, they might say it like this:

“I’m gonna go tathe store.”

Hopefully, you can see what you would hear in those examples and how they would sound different.

Speech is shaped by the body. By our facial expressions as we talk, by the pitch and pace and volume of our voices, by how we hold our bodies, how close we stand to the other people we are talking to, or whether we talk with our hands. We don’t need punctuation when we speak because our voices group the…