This chapter examines written language, beginning with a discussion of alternative approaches to learning about the connections between the sounds of speaking and the graphemic or written representation of these sounds. It goes on to discuss alternative approaches to describing how written language works, from the traditional grammar of didactic pedagogy, to Chomsky’s transformational-generative grammar, to Halliday’s functional approach. We end the chapter with our own Multiliteracies approach to describing what we call the ‘design elements’ of written texts.