1. Deborah Tannen, “Cross Talk” (371-377)
Who is Tannen’s audience for this essay? What is her rhetorical purpose? What evidence from the essay supports your answers?
What reasons does Tannen give or imply for the source of differences between the ways men and women use language?
What kinds of evidence does Tannen use to support her comparison and contrast?
How does the Dilbert cartoon affect your understanding of Tannen’s essay?
Do you agree or disagree with parts of Tannen’s argument? Why or why not?

2. Tannen’s Thesis Statement
“These differences in management styles are one of the many manifestations of gender differences in how we talk to one another. Women use language to create connection and rapport; men use it to negotiate their status in a hierarchical order. It isn’t that women are unaware of status or that men don’t build rapport, but that the genders tend to focus on different goals” (372)
What is Tannen’s basis of comparison?
What are Tannen’s points of comparison?
How might we revise Tannen’s thesis statement to include these elements?