AP English Language · Lesson 2

Exigence and context

Know Know it

Exigence is the event, problem or need that prompts a writer to write now. A flood, a vote next week, a new rule or a column the writer disagrees with can all be the exigence. Ask: why this text, and why now?

The occasion is the time and place where the text is given or published, such as a graduation, a town meeting or the opinion page. Context is the wider background: the events, conditions and beliefs the audience brings with it.

Writers put exigence to work. Naming a recent event at the start reminds the audience that something has to be decided soon, and it shows the writer is responding to a real situation. Using the right moment this way is called kairos.

Context also explains choices that might seem odd on their own. A writer who stresses safety right after an accident, or cost in the middle of a budget crisis, is speaking to what the audience is already worried about.

Trap Exigence is not purpose

The exigence is what prompted the text; the purpose is what the text tries to do about it. If a storm knocks out power for a week and a resident writes to demand buried power lines, the storm is the exigence and the demand is the purpose. Questions often offer one as a wrong answer to the other.

Worked example Easy

Original passage written for Peakscor practice. The opening of an email that Mr. Adebayo, a high school principal, sent to all families on a Tuesday evening:

This afternoon a water main broke under Fifth Street, and our building has no running water. School will be closed tomorrow. We will email again by 6 p.m. Wednesday about Thursday.

What is the exigence for Mr. Adebayo’s email?

  1. The plan to send families another email on Wednesday evening
  2. Families’ questions about the school calendar for the rest of the year
  3. His goal of letting families know that school is closed tomorrow
  4. The water main break that left the school without running waterAnswer

How to solve it

  1. Exigence answers “why write this now?”
  2. The email exists because the water main broke that afternoon; announcing the closing is what the email does about it.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. The plan to email again on Wednesday is part of the message, not the event that prompted it.
  • B. Incorrect. The school calendar for the year is never mentioned; the email is about one closing.
  • C. Incorrect. Telling families school is closed is the purpose of the email; the exigence is the break that caused the closing.
  • D. Correct. The broken water main is the event that made the email necessary that evening.

Worked example Medium

Original passage written for Peakscor practice. A city council member wrote two possible openings for a speech asking the council to add crosswalks on Route 9. She gave the speech at a council meeting four days after a cyclist was hit on Route 9.

Opening 1: Route 9 carries more traffic every year, and our crosswalks have not kept up.

Opening 2: On Thursday, a nineteen-year-old on a bicycle was hit at the corner of Route 9 and Elm. She is recovering. The crosswalk she needed is not there.

Why might Opening 2 suit this occasion better than Opening 1?

  1. It gives more statistics about how much traffic on Route 9 has grown each year
  2. It ties the request to a recent crash the council has reason to take seriouslyAnswer
  3. It avoids naming any particular street corner, so no neighborhood feels singled out
  4. It shows that the speaker has studied traffic engineering

How to solve it

  1. Find what is new about this moment: a crash four days ago on Route 9.
  2. Opening 2 uses that event, so the request feels pressing; Opening 1 could have been said any year.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Opening 2 has no traffic statistics at all; it tells what happened to one cyclist.
  • B. Correct. Opening 2 uses the moment: the crash four days earlier makes the missing crosswalk a present danger, not a general trend.
  • C. Incorrect. Opening 2 names a particular corner, Route 9 and Elm, which makes the problem concrete.
  • D. Incorrect. Nothing in Opening 2 mentions the speaker’s training or any traffic engineering study.

Explain Explain it

Task verbs: identify, explain

To explain how context shapes a text, connect three things: the event, what the audience is likely to feel because of it, and the choice the writer made in response. For example: because the speech came the week a factory announced layoffs, the audience was already worried about jobs, so the mayor opened with job numbers rather than with the new park’s beauty.

Explain Your turn

A youth soccer league sends this message to its teams in late August: “Last season, three games were canceled because no referee showed up. This year, every team must name one parent who will take the free referee course before September 15.” Identify the exigence for the message, and explain how mentioning it could help the league persuade teams to follow the new rule.

Write it, then compare. Nothing you type here is saved or graded.

Compare with a model answer

A full answer does this

  • Identifies the exigence as last season’s games canceled for lack of a referee
  • Explains how mentioning the canceled games could help persuade teams to follow the rule

Model answer

The exigence is last season’s three canceled games, which happened because no referee came. Mentioning them shows teams that the rule fixes a problem they have already seen, so naming a parent for the referee course looks necessary rather than like extra paperwork.

Apply Apply it

Practice these topics. AP Practice questions on exactly what this lesson covers, with an explanation for every answer.