Le genre surprise : essai ou lettre, en conditions d'examen

Unité PE-28 · campagne 19 · vous ne saurez qu'en ouvrant le sujet — exactement comme le jour J.

The real exam does not announce its genre in advance: the consigne may demand an essai argumenté, a formal letter, a contribution to an online debate, or a courrier des lecteurs. This final timed run reproduces that uncertainty — you discover the task when the timer starts, and the first minute belongs to the diagnostic de genre.

The diagnosis rests on one question: is there a named destinataire?

• « Vous écrivez au maire de votre ville pour contester… » — a person or institution receives the text. Genre: lettre formelle. The skeleton reflex fires: objet, formule d'appel, matching formule finale, then the 10/30/5 budget inside it.
• « Un forum en ligne pose la question… Vous rédigez une contribution argumentée. » — no addressee to greet. Genre: essai / contribution à un débat: reformulated subject, position, argument blocks, concession, conclusion — and no epistolary dressing.

Getting this wrong is expensive out of proportion to the effort of getting it right: a flawless letter written where the consigne asked for a debate contribution bleeds respect de la consigne points no argumentation quality can buy back.

The reassuring half of the lesson: the diagnosis only chooses the habillage. The core is genre-proof — clear position, two developed blocks, one concede-and-refute move, connectors, 250 words with margin, three-pass relecture. You trained that core across six timed and untimed productions; today you only learn to bolt the right shell onto it in sixty seconds.

Set the timer, read the surprise consigne, diagnose, and write under full exam conditions. Then grade yourself against the grid, starting — of course — with respect de la consigne.

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