There once was a boy named Speaker who married a girl named Audience and they had a baby

named Purpose.

Meet Your Audience!

There is no such thing as a universal audience!

There may be really huge audiences like everyone in the room, all American voters, people who use paper towels, etc, but you must identify what binds them together.

Does the speaker/author know the audience personally?

This is determined by diction. Is it detached or intimate? Broad and inspiring or specific and task-oriented?

Can you infer any biases, prejudices, affections, mutual concerns, etc. between the speaker and audience?

What is your Purpose?

In what role is the speaker presenting him/herself?

If he is a president/politician, maybe hes trying to seem like a father giving advice or a coach giving a pep talk. Perhaps as a world leader standing up to a bully. This would be determined by tone.

Sometimes the speaker is aware he/she is giving the same speech to multiple audiences simultaneously and thus purposes may also differ. Ex: What other audience and purpose is Kennedy addressing BESIDES reprimanding the steel corporations? What other audience and purpose is Elizabeth I addressing BESIDES inspiring the troops at Tilbury to fight bravely?

Most purposes can be determined by these simple questions:

1. Is the speakers main purpose to explain an idea or provide information? 2. Is their main purpose to persuade readers to see things their way or to move readers to action?

3. Is their main purpose to describe an experiment or a detailed process or to report on laboratory results?
From these simple questions and answers, you must elaborate on whether they entertain, mock, pay homage, deceive, reprimand, etc. in the process of informing, persuading, or reporting.

Remember you can devote 1 whole paragraph to Audience and Purpose, just like to our other favorite couple, Tone and Diction! Just make sure you have sufficient detail to answer 1.) How the Speaker effectively/ineffectively uses these rhetorical strategies? 2.) Why does he/she choose these specific strategies for this audience/context?

For the NPR story

In 2-3 sentences, describe the specific audience and change in purposes to communicate the dangers of climate change. Why would this be more effective/ineffective?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/09/10/ 160761974/when-heat-kills-global-warmingas-public-health-threat