Audiences Are Dynamic
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| similes/ˈsɪmɪlɪz/ | Comparisons that explicitly connect things using words such as like or as. |
| metaphors/ˈmetəfɔːz/ | Expressions that describe one thing as another to suggest a comparison or transfer meaning. |
| analogies/əˈnælədʒiz/ | Comparisons of relationships or structures used to explain an idea or support reasoning. |
| anecdotes/ˈænɪkdəʊts/ | Brief accounts of particular events or experiences, often used to illustrate a point. |
| diction/ˈdɪkʃn/ | A writer's or speaker's choice of words. |
| syntax/ˈsɪntæks/ | The rules governing how words combine to form phrases and sentences. |
| biases/ˈbaɪəsɪz/ | Predispositions that influence how a person interprets information, selects evidence or presents a subject. |
The reader who finishes your essay is not the one who started it
- An argument that has just conceded something is being read by someone slightly different.
- Audiences are unique and dynamic — they change as they read.
- So the order in which you address them is part of the argument, not a formatting choice.
By paragraph four, the reader has eaten three courses of your argument; do not hand them the menu again.
Saying audiences are dynamic means that they...
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An argument that has just conceded is read by a slightly different reader.
Comparisons that reach an audience
- Writers may make comparisons — similes 明喻, metaphors 隐喻, analogies 类比 or anecdotes 轶事 — in an attempt to relate to an audience.
- A comparison works by borrowing what the audience already understands.
- So a comparison fails when the audience does not hold the thing being borrowed.
Select all the comparisons the CED names.
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Anecdotes complete the list; statistics are evidence, not a comparison.
A comparison works by ____ what the audience already understands.
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That is also why it fails on a reader who does not hold the borrowed thing.
Diction 措辞 characterises the writer
- Writers' choices about syntax 句法 and diction influence how the writer is perceived.
- Word choice may reflect a writer's biases 偏见 and affect their credibility with a particular audience.
- So a loaded word describes the writer as well as the subject — and readers discount accordingly.
Which audience factor is at work?
Sort each observation by the factor the CED names.
Word choice can affect a writer's credibility with an audience.
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Loaded diction describes the writer as well as the subject, and readers discount accordingly.
A comparison borrows what the audience already understands — so it fails silently on a reader who does not hold the borrowed thing. An analogy to a sport, a text or a shared memory is a bet on the audience, and a lost bet costs more than plain statement would have.
Reading a text for its picture of you
- Ask what the writer assumed you already valued.
- Ask what comparison they reached for, and what it required you to know.
- The answers describe the audience the writer imagined — which may not be the one they got.
Match each factor to the question it answers.
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A text can get one right and the others wrong — which is why it half-works.
Perspectives, contexts and needs
- Because audiences are unique and dynamic, writers must consider the perspectives, contexts and needs of the intended audience.
- Three separate things: where they stand, what surrounds them, and what they lack.
- A text can get one right and the others wrong, which is usually why it half-works.
A writer compares a funding formula to a household budget. For readers who run one, the comparison does real work. For readers whose objection is that a public body is not a household, the same sentence has conceded the argument before making it.
Audiences are unique and dynamic and change as they read. Comparisons borrow what an audience already understands and fail when it does not. Syntax and diction shape how the writer is perceived, and loaded word choice costs credibility. Consider perspectives, contexts and needs separately.
Write from a comparison the reader does not know
- The writer compares the timetable to a video game the reader has never played.
- Say why the comparison fails, and what an audience does while reading.
An essay compares a school timetable to a video game the intended reader has not played. Why does the comparison fail?
An unknown comparison teaches nothing.
Why does the video-game comparison fail?
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The borrowed idea has to be one the audience already holds.