1. Reading Pass: Rhetorical Situations
Created by Educational Technology Network

2. The situation
Discourse
Rhet What?
Audience
Constraints 10 20 30 40 50

3. Question
What is Rhetorical Situation?

4. Answer 1 – 10
-to refer to any set of circumstances that involves at least one person using some sort of communication to modify the perspective of at least one other person.

5. Question
How are rhetorical Situations and analysis used with regards to the audience?

6. Answer 1 – 20
Rhetorical situations and analysis are used to connect with the audience specfically when writing.

7. Question
What is one of the more important things writing teachers can do for their students ?

8. Answer 1 – 30
Teaching writing students to examine rhetorical situations as sets of interacting influences from which rhetoric arises, and which rhetoric, in turn influences, is therefore one of the more important things writing teachers can do.

9. Question
Who defines a rhetorical situation as, “the context in which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse.”

10. Answer 1 – 40
Lloyd Blitzer

11. Question 1 - 50 True or False
A rhetorical situation is a situation where a speaker or writer sees a need to change reality and sees that the change may be effected through rhetorical discourse.

12. Answer 1 – 50
TRUE.

13. Question
What is exigence?

14. Answer 2 – 10
Exigence is “an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be”

15. Question
What is rhetorical exigence?

16. Answer 2 – 20
A rhetorical exigence is some kind of need or problem that can be addressed and solved through rhetorical discourse.

17. Question
Define discourse?

18. Answer 2 – 30
Discourse by definition is communication of thought by words and talking (speech).

19. Question
Define Kairos

20. Answer 2 – 40
“the right or opportune time to speak or write”

21. Question
True or False
Is everything Discourse?

22. Answer 2 – 50
True.

23. Question
Who is a rhetor?

24. Answer 3 – 10
The people who generate discourse

25. Question 3 - 20 True or False
Rhetors can’t play several roles at once, they must balance one role and tune out all other roles.

26. Answer 3 – 20
False
Rhetors may play several roles at once, and even when they try to play just one role, their audience may be aware of their other roles.

27. Question 3 - 30 True or False
Rhetors need to consider who they are in a particular situation and be aware that their identity may vary from situation to situation.

28. Answer 3 – 30
Duh! True. 

29. Question 3 - 40 True or False
Are the roles of rhetor and audience are dynamic not interdependent.

30. Answer 3 – 40
False
Like the other constituents of rhetorical situations, the roles of rhetor and audience are dynamic and interdependent.

31. Question
Did discourse have a beginning?

32. Answer 3 – 50
Yes. Explain this…

33. Question
Who is the intended audience of this article?

34. Question
Why is knowing the indendend audience important?

35. Answer 4 – 20
Writers will have a stronger basis for making composing decisions and are better able, as readers, to understand the decisions other writers have made.

36. Question 4 - 30 True or False
The readers are urged instead of asking Who is the audience? They should ask how a discourse defines and creates contexts for readers.

37. Answer 4 – 30
True

38. Question
Will a rhetor’s ethos be the same for all audiences?

39. Answer 4 – 40
No. A rhetor’s ethos will not be the same for all audiences. It will depend on what they know and think of the rhetor’s past actions.

40. Question 4 - 50 True of False
Should rhetorical situations be clear to your already?

41. Answer 4 – 50
The idea of rhetorical situations might not be completely clear to your right away but you will get a handle on it. 

42. Question 5 - 10 True or False
Constraints are the easiest of the rhetorical components to define.

43. Answer 5 – 10
False. Constraints are the hardest of the rhetorical situation to define because they can include so many different things.

44. Question
Do persons, events, and objects have the power to constrain a situation?

45. Answer 5 – 20
Yes. All the things listed have the power to constrain since they are part of the situation.

46. Question
How does Grant-Davie define constraints?

47. Answer 5 – 30
He defines it as, “all factors in the situation, aside from the rhetor and the audience, that may lead the audience to be either more or less sympathetic to the discourse, and that may therefore influence the rhetor’s response to the situation

48. Question
Can a rhetor be constrained within the rhetorical situation at any given point during the composing process?

49. Answer 5 – 40
Yes. A rhetor continues to define, shape, reconsider, and respond to the rhetorical situation throughout the composing process, and at any given point during this process they may be highly constrained by the emerging discourse.

50. Question
True or False
precedents always create constraints?

51. Answer 5 – 50
True.