The paper presents data of an experimental study of development of written speech in primary schoolchildren. The study reveals correlation between varieties of written speech (unaddressed written speech, addressed and uncompleted written speech, addressed and completed written speech) and composition of positions determining the utterance. The position is treated as the author's ability to act in the capacity of a participant ("here and now") and in the capacity of a viewer ("outside the situation"). The author argues that transition from dialogical oral speech to monological written speech is determined by the primary schooler's ability to act within a position.