Electronic mail (e-mail) messages were examined in terms of the relationship of texts to features of the communicative event itself. A tentative look was taken at how one particular component of the communicative event could explain differences and similarities in different text types as well as within the same type. The assumption was that texts (written or spoken) should be compared with each other indirectly, with reference to the primary purpose of the communicative event, the transmission of content (transaction), and/or the expression of social relationships or personal attitudes (interaction). Examples of e-mail messages and letters to the editor of "Time" magazine are cited to illustrate variations in written texts. It is concluded that written texts, regardless of their level of formality or intimacy, can show the writer's focus on interaction, and that this potential focus on interaction in e-mail messages can be realized by similar linguistic means as in spoken texts or even by quite different means. (LB)