AP English Language · Lesson 1

Purpose and audience

Know Know it

Every text is written by someone, for someone, to do something. The rhetorical situation is that whole set of parts: the writer, the audience, the purpose, the message, the exigence that prompted the text and the context around it. Reading the situation first tells you why the writer made each choice.

Purpose is what the writer wants the text to do: persuade the audience to act or believe, inform, explain, reflect, warn or celebrate. Many texts have a main purpose and a second one. A notice that a pool is closing for repairs informs, but if it ends by asking for donations, it also seeks support.

The intended audience is the group the writer mainly means to reach. Look for clues: who the text addresses (“Dear neighbors,” “members of the board”), what the writer assumes readers already know, which terms go unexplained, and what the text asks readers to do. A secondary audience may also read or hear it, such as reporters at a public meeting.

Name a purpose with a verb and a target. Not “to talk about parking” but “to persuade the council to keep the downtown lot free on Saturdays.”

Trap The topic is not the purpose

A letter about a closed bridge could aim to inform drivers of a detour, to complain to the county, or to thank the crews who reopened it. If your answer to “what is the purpose?” would fit all three letters, you have named the topic. Add the verb and the audience.

Worked example Easy

Original passage written for Peakscor practice. A note taped to the door of a laundromat:

The change machine is broken until Thursday. The corner store next door will make change for you, and the owner says you don’t need to buy anything. Sorry for the trouble. — Marta, manager

What is the main purpose of Marta’s note?

  1. To persuade customers to do their weekly shopping at the corner store next door
  2. To apologize to the store owner for sending customers next door
  3. To tell customers where they can get coins while the machine is outAnswer
  4. To explain to customers why the change machine broke down

How to solve it

  1. Ask what the note wants its readers to know or do.
  2. It names the problem and sends readers next door for change; the line about not needing to buy anything rules out selling.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Shopping at the corner store is ruled out by the line that customers “don’t need to buy anything.”
  • B. Incorrect. The apology, “Sorry for the trouble,” is aimed at customers; the note never speaks to the store owner.
  • C. Correct. The note reports the broken machine and points readers next door for change, which is the help they need right now.
  • D. Incorrect. The note says when the machine will work again but never explains why it broke.

Worked example Medium

Original passage written for Peakscor practice. From remarks by Lena Okoro, who runs the volunteer program at a city animal shelter:

You already know the dogs by name. You know Biscuit hates the hose and Pepper will lean on your legs until you sit down. So I won’t explain why weekend shifts matter. I’ll just tell you that six of you covered every Saturday in March, and the shelter needs twelve to cover April.

Which group is Okoro most likely addressing?

  1. People who already volunteer at the shelterAnswer
  2. Families who are thinking about adopting a dog
  3. City officials who set the shelter’s yearly budget
  4. New volunteers at their very first training session

How to solve it

  1. Look at what the speaker assumes: the listeners know the dogs and have already covered shifts.
  2. Look at what she asks: more people for April shifts. Both point to current volunteers.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Correct. Her listeners “already know the dogs by name,” and six of them “covered every Saturday in March,” so they already work there.
  • B. Incorrect. Families thinking about adopting would not be asked to cover Saturday shifts at the shelter.
  • C. Incorrect. City officials would be asked for money, but Okoro asks her listeners to cover weekend shifts.
  • D. Incorrect. New volunteers at a first training would not already know Biscuit and Pepper by name.

Explain Explain it

Task verbs: identify, explain

To explain a purpose or an audience, give your answer and then the clue that proves it. One quoted phrase and one sentence of reasoning is the whole move: “The flyer is for people who already ride the trail, because it tells them to ‘keep using the north gate’ rather than explaining where the trail is.”

Identify Your turn

A principal sends this two-sentence email: “The north parking lot will be repaved Monday through Wednesday. Please drop students off at the gym entrance on Oak Street those days.” Identify the email’s intended audience and its purpose, and point to one detail in the email that shows who the audience is.

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

Compare with a model answer

A full answer does this

  • Identifies the intended audience as the people who bring students to school, such as parents
  • Identifies the purpose as telling those readers where to drop students off during the repaving
  • Points to a detail in the email that fits people who bring students to school

Model answer

The email is written for parents and others who bring students to school. Its purpose is to tell them to drop students off at the gym entrance on Oak Street while the north lot is repaved. The request to “drop students off” shows the readers are the people bringing students to school, not the students themselves.

Apply Apply it

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

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