This study looks at the problems presented by a group of young children from Chile in their interpretation of certain forms of non-literal language: indirect speech acts and irony. The authors analyzed the oral comprehension and written production of 141 13-14 year-old students. Oral comprehension was measured by the Instrument for the Measurement of Pragmatic Inferences and the written production by and Analytic Assessment Guide. The authors conclude that while the development of oral comprehension of non-literal language appears to have an influence on writing abilities, the co-relation in not strong enough to claim that it has a practical significance.