1.1 Speaker, Audience & Purpose

The rhetorical situation

Every text arises from a rhetorical situation: a writer with a purpose addresses an audience about a subject in a particular context (the occasion or exigence). Analyzing a text starts with naming these parts.

Purpose drives choices

A writer's purpose — to persuade, inform, praise, satirize — shapes every choice they make. Ask 'what does the writer want the audience to think, feel, or do?' before analyzing how they try to achieve it.

Audience is central

Writers adapt to their audience's values, knowledge, and expectations. The same argument is framed differently for skeptics than for supporters. Effective rhetoric meets an audience where it is.

Key terms

Rhetorical situation

Writer, audience, purpose, subject, and context surrounding a text.

Purpose

What a writer wants the audience to think, feel, or do.

Audience

The intended readers whose values shape the writer's choices.

Exigence

The occasion or need that prompts a text to be written.

Context

The circumstances surrounding a text's creation and reception.

Try an AP-style question

Who is the primary audience?

1. School board members
2. Parents
3. Teachers
4. Students