Transcript The Role of Audience

From Rules to the Ridiculous
understanding audience when considering
matters of correctness, style, and choice
What would you do
if the person you
were talking to
looked like this?
In oral communication,
we have the benefit of
immediate feedback
from our audience.
A smile…
A nod…
A furrowed brow…
We can make
adjustments on the fly.
When we speak to people we are constantly assessing their
reactions. We can read their non-verbal cues—their facial
expressions, body language, and so forth. Sometimes they
will even stop us to tell us what they think about what we
are saying, or if they don’t understand.
This feedback allows us to make adjustments.
But how does this work in writing?
It’s easy to lose sight of our audience when writing…
After all, isn’t writing a lone
activity? Something done in
quiet solitude? You know the
image—the writer alone in his
cabin in the woods where no
one else matters.
Is this an accurate view of
writing?
When talking about writing…
• There’s no right or wrong writing BUT…
• There is writing that is effective and
writing that is not so effective
• Who decides if your writing is effective?
Writing is about making choices…
• How do you know what choices to make
as a writer?
• Every choice you make as a writer should
be based on your absolute understanding
of just two things…
1. AUDIENCE
2. PURPOSE
Audience Analysis
• As writers, we need to make a deliberate
effort to understand our audience
• We need to do some analysis by asking
questions about our audience
• And then keep the resulting image of
who our audience is foremost in our
minds as we make our choices
• Know your audience, know how you want
to affect your audience (i.e. know your
purpose), and then make choices
PRACTICE:
recognizing the target audience
Choose the right audience…
Dear Sir,
• Your co-worker
I am sorry to bother
you with this, but I just
wanted to verify with
you an e-mail that I
received from Mr.
Johnson yesterday
afternoon…
• The CEO
• Your cousin in Cleveland
Choose the right audience…
Mike,
• Your co-worker
Johnson sent this to me
yesterday afternoon
and I have no idea what
he is talking about.
Does it make sense to
you…
• The CEO
• Your cousin in Cleveland
Choose the right audience…
Hey man,
• Your co-worker
Wonder if you can help
me out. My boss sent
this to me yesterday
afternoon and I just
can’t figure out what he
means. What’s your
take on it…
• The CEO
• Your cousin in Cleveland
So what about all the rules of English?
Any fool can make a rule
and every fool will mind it.
–HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Choices versus Obedience
• In some matters of language we have no
choice: “up the street” vs. “the street up”
• But for other matters choice is at the
forefront of a good writer’s mind.
• Which is clearest and most direct?
– There was a lack of evidence in support for their
claim.
– Their claim suffered from a lack of evidence in its
support.
– They could not support their claim because they
lacked evidence.
Choice vs. Obedience
• Sometimes what is choice and what is
not is contested…
– Can I split an infinitive?
– Can I start a sentence with and?
– Can I end a sentence with up?
The fact of the matter…
• We must write English correctly, but we
also must realize that some points of
“correctness” are less important than we
think (or not important at all).
• “Correct” writing is a not necessarily
clear, direct, or effective.
Unlike matters of style, correctness seems
not to offer choices but to require obedience.
Three kinds of rules
1. Rules that govern the fundamental
structure of English
– the book, not book the
2. Rules that define standard written form
– you were, not you was
– I don’t know anything, not I don’t know nothing
3. Rules invented by grammarians about
trivial points of usage
– Don’t split infinitives, as in to quickly leave.
– Don’t use than after different, use from.
– Don’t use between with three or more.
Observing rules thoughtfully
• The worst (i.e., safest) case policy
– Follow all the rules all the time because somewhere
sometime, some reader might criticize you for
something.
– But if you follow all the rules all the time you
surrender a measure of stylistic choice.
• A more thoughtful (i.e., riskier) approach
– The alternative to blind obedience is selective
observance
– As always, be mindful of your audience.
How conservative are they?
What will they accept or not accept?
Put clarity and directness before “correctness.”
Observing rules thoughtfully
If vast numbers of careful writers choose to
ignore a rule and the vast majority of educated,
careful readers don’t notice, then the deviation
from the rule can be neither an error in good
grammar nor a violation of “good” usage.
–JOSEPH WILLIAMS
PRACTICE:
making choices as you write
Guess the audience…
your family priest
someone who doesn’t
speak English very well
best friend
neighborhood pimp
4-year old sister
someone you’re
talking to at a bar
the chief of police
If you wish to persuade me, you must
think my thoughts, feel my feelings,
and speak my words.
–MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO