Recap
The audience is the group a writer addresses. It shares beliefs, values, needs and backgrounds, and a writer’s perception of these guides choices of diction, evidence, tone and structure. Texts often have a primary and a secondary audience; some audiences are divided. Context is the time, place and occasion of a text, and it shapes what is possible and appropriate to say.
Key relationships
| Idea | What to look for | Example clue |
|---|---|---|
| Primary audience | Who is directly addressed | “Councillors, you will say…” |
| Secondary audience | Who else will read or hear it | Newspaper readers, a wider public |
| Beliefs and values | What the group holds true and cares about | A neighbourhood that prizes its library |
| Needs | What the audience lacks or wants | Parents need to know costs and dates |
| Time | When in a sequence of events | Before a vote; mid-war |
| Place | Where delivered or published | Town hall, exposition, newspaper |
| Occasion | Type of event | Funeral, graduation, protest |
Clues to audience in a text
- Direct address and titles (“Fellow volunteers”).
- Which terms are explained and which are assumed.
- Shared references, local or historical.
- The pronouns: “we” for common ground, “you” for the audience, “they” for a third party.
- Objections the writer anticipates.
- The publication or setting.
Worked mini-example
Booker T. Washington, Atlanta, 18 September 1895. Context: a major exposition in the American South, about thirty years after the Civil War, in a period of growing segregation. Audience: divided. White Southern business and political leaders, Black Southerners and a national readership. Choice: the image “Cast down your bucket where you are” frames cooperation in practical, economic terms. The speech was later criticised by W. E. B. Du Bois and others, which shows how differently its audiences could hear it.
How the audience shapes a message
| Feature | For a young audience | For an adult official audience |
|---|---|---|
| Diction | Plain, friendly, short words | Formal, precise, institutional terms |
| Evidence | Examples from their daily life | Figures, rules, precedents |
| Structure | What happens to me first | The decision requested first, reasons next |
| Tone | Warm and direct | Respectful and measured |
Mistakes to avoid
- Naming the audience as “everyone” or “the public” when the text names a group.
- Forgetting a secondary audience.
- Treating context as a date only.
- Describing the text’s style without tying it to a belief, need or value of the readers.
- Analysing an old speech as though a modern audience were addressed.
Quick self-check
- A letter begins “Dear Trustees” and appears in a student newspaper. Name two audiences. Primary: the trustees. Secondary: student readers.
- Which is context: “a funeral” or “the writer’s goal”? A funeral (occasion).
- Which pronoun builds common ground? “We” (and “us”).
- Why can a divided audience make a writer’s task harder? The same words will be heard differently by groups with different beliefs and needs.
- Why is “a language that suits the audience” a weak answer? It does not say which audience, what they need, or which choice suits them.
For the full explanation and worked examples, return to the study guide.