Unit 1: Rhetorical Situation

18 terms. Say what each one means, then open the card to check.

• Rhetorical situation

  The whole set of parts that shape a text: the writer, the audience, the purpose, the message, the exigence that prompted it and the context around it.

  Example. A coach’s talk at halftime of a losing game has a speaker, listeners, a goal and a pressing moment; together these are its rhetorical situation.

• Purpose

  What the writer wants the text to do to or for the audience, such as persuade it to act, inform it, warn it or celebrate something.

  Example. A flyer urging neighbors to attend a hearing on a proposed cell tower aims to get them to show up and object.

• Intended audience

  The group a writer mainly means to reach, shown by who is addressed, what knowledge is assumed and what action is asked for.

  Example. A how-to post that uses “reps” and “sets” without defining them is written for people who already lift weights.

• Secondary audience

  People other than the main audience who will also read or hear a text, and whom a careful writer keeps in mind.

  Example. A company’s email about a new refund policy may be forwarded to customers, so the writer leaves out staff-only jargon.

• Message

  The main idea or claim the writer wants the audience to take away from the text.

  Example. A public service ad shows a phone buzzing on a car seat beside a crumpled bumper; its message is that no text is worth a crash.

• Call to action

  The specific step a writer asks the audience to take, often placed at the end where it is easiest to remember.

  Example. A blood-drive email closes with “Sign up for a twenty-minute slot by Friday.”

• Exigence

  The event, problem or need that prompts a writer to write at a particular moment; the answer to “why this text, and why now?”

  Example. When the hall booked for a chess club’s spring tournament cancels, the club’s president emails members that night about a new site.

• Occasion

  The time and place in which a text is delivered or published, such as a graduation, a town meeting or a newspaper’s opinion page.

  Example. A eulogy and a retirement toast about the same person are given on different occasions, so they differ in tone and focus.

• Context

  The wider background of a text: the events, conditions and beliefs of its time and place that the audience brings to it.

  Example. A speech urging people to save water lands differently in a town in its third year of drought than in a town after a wet spring.

• Kairos

  Speaking or writing at the right moment, and using that moment, so that the audience is most ready to listen.

  Example. A swim school runs its water-safety ads in late May, just as families are planning summer trips to the lake.

• Rhetorical choice

  Any decision a writer makes to reach the audience, including what evidence to use, in what order, which words to pick and what to leave out.

  Example. A speaker who decides to open with a story about one patient instead of a statistic about thousands is making a rhetorical choice.

• Ethos

  An appeal based on the writer’s credibility and character, built through relevant experience, fairness and values shared with the audience.

  Example. A pharmacist writing about mixing cold medicines notes that she answers questions about drug interactions every day.

• Pathos

  An appeal to the audience’s emotions, values or imagination, often through a vivid story, image or choice of words.

  Example. An animal rescue’s fundraising letter describes one cat that has waited in the same cage for nine months.

• Logos

  An appeal to reason through facts, numbers, cause and effect, comparisons and clear logical steps.

  Example. A tenant argues that fixing a leak now costs 300 dollars, while replacing the rotted floor later would cost 4,000 dollars.

• Persona

  The character or role a writer chooses to present to the audience, such as the worried neighbor, the expert or the plain-spoken friend.

  Example. A mayor signs her budget letter “a parent of two kids in our schools” rather than writing as the head of the city.

• Common ground

  Values, experiences or goals that a writer shows they share with the audience, so that readers feel the writer is on their side.

  Example. A student asking teachers to drop a Friday quiz begins, “We all want a week that ends with real learning, not cramming.”

• Direct address

  Speaking to the audience as “you” or by name, which draws readers in and makes a request feel personal.

  Example. A crosswalk sign reads, “You have six seconds before the light changes. Put the phone away.”

• Rhetorical analysis

  Explaining how a writer’s choices work to achieve a purpose with a particular audience, rather than only naming the choices.

  Example. Instead of “the author uses a statistic,” an analysis says the repair costs show budget-minded readers that acting now saves money.