All may be won or lost in making the link between the map of the writer and the map of the reader. Language is far richer than just words. In fact only a small part of what we communicate is conveyed verbally. Intonation, stress, pronunciation, accent, collocation, semantics and syntax are important. These too all involve a process of encoding and decoding and therefore a risk of misinterpretation due to differing frames of reference.
Congruence is also very important between verbal and non-verbal communication.
Our body language and facial expression needs to confirm what we are saying. If there is incongruence, the non-verbal message will often carry more credence and be the message that gets through. Communication can also be described at a psychological level. When the message conveyed is quite different to that which might be interpreted from just the surface. Intonation and stress can be an important key here, unlocking hidden and sometimes quite powerful meanings.