Audiences are unique and dynamic
There is no such thing as writing “for everyone”. A real audience has particular experiences, interests and worries. Two features of audiences are worth remembering.
- Audiences are unique. A town council, a group of nurses and a class of fifteen-year-olds can be given the same facts and will respond differently.
- Audiences are dynamic. They change: new events shift opinion, a speaker’s earlier points alter how later points are heard, and an audience may start sceptical and end convinced (or the reverse).
The course puts the consequence plainly: because audiences are unique and dynamic, writers must consider the perspectives, contexts and needs of the intended audience when making choices of evidence, organisation and language in an argument. That sentence is a checklist.
| What to consider about the audience | Questions |
|---|---|
| Perspective | What do they already believe? What do they value? Are they supportive, neutral or hostile to my claim? |
| Context | Where and when will they receive this? What recent events or pressures affect them? What medium is it in? |
| Needs | What do they need to know, decide or do? What worries are they bringing? What would make them ready to listen? |
| What the writer chooses | Examples |
|---|---|
| Evidence | Which kind this audience respects (statistics, expert testimony, personal stories, precedent, shared texts) |
| Organisation | Where to put the claim, the concession, the strongest point; whether to begin with common ground or with the issue |
| Language | Register, vocabulary, comparisons and tone suitable for them |
One claim, three audiences
Suppose the claim is: the town should build a new skate park. (The details below were written by Marlbridge.)
| Audience | Perspective and needs | Evidence | Organisation | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town councillors (sceptical, budget-minded) | Worried about cost and liability | Cost per user, maintenance figures, a comparison with similar towns, an insurance quotation | Open with the benefit to residents and the cost, address risk early, close with a funding plan | Measured, precise, formal |
| Local teenagers (supportive) | Want to know that it will really happen | A survey of what they would use, a design they can influence | Start with the vision, end with how they can help | Direct, energetic, “you” and “we” |
| Nearby residents (worried, partly hostile) | Fear noise and late-night disturbance | Noise readings from similar parks, a proposed curfew, supervision plans | Begin with common ground (a safe, pleasant neighbourhood), concede the noise concern early, then show the safeguards | Respectful, specific, no jargon |
The claim is the same in each case. What changes is which evidence is relevant, where each point goes and how it is said.
Strategies for hostile, neutral and supportive audiences
- Hostile. Start from common ground, not from the point of disagreement. Show that you understand their concern, use evidence they trust (their own sources or independent ones) and place concessions early. Do not insult them; it loses them for good.
- Neutral or undecided. Provide context they may lack, give clear reasons, show fairness by dealing with other views, and let the evidence do the work.
- Supportive. Move them from agreement to action. Reinforce shared values, give practical next steps and avoid wasting time proving what they already believe.
In all cases the writer asks: What does this audience need in order to be able to listen?
A public-domain example
Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting in the 1872 presidential election and, before her trial in 1873, lectured to audiences in the county where it would be held. In that speech she said: “It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.”
Consider the choices. Her audience included local citizens who might be called as jurors, so she turned to a text they all knew, the opening words of the Constitution’s Preamble (“We the People”), instead of to abstract theory. The evidence is therefore shared and checkable. The syntax uses repeated negatives (“not… nor yet… but”) to narrow and then widen the meaning of “the people”, which leads the audience step by step to her conclusion. The reasoning also suits a legal setting: it reads the text of a founding document, as a court would. Every choice responds to who is listening and what they must decide.
Worked example 1: adapting evidence, order and language
Task. A writer wants to persuade the parents of a primary school to support a ban on mobile phones at lunchtime. Identify the audience features and plan three choices. (Written by Marlbridge; the school and figures are invented.)
Step 1: perspective. Parents want their children safe, happy and learning, and some may see phones as a way to keep in touch. A number may worry that a ban makes contact harder in an emergency.
Step 2: context. The message goes home in a school newsletter, and parents are busy, reading in a few minutes.
Step 3: needs. They need reassurance that they can still reach their child in an emergency, and a clear reason that benefits their child.
Step 4: choose the evidence. The school’s own observations (a supervisor’s note that children in a recent trial played in groups instead of looking at screens), a short quotation from a pupil or teacher, and a clear statement of how parents can still contact the office.
Step 5: choose the organisation. Open with the shared aim (children’s wellbeing at lunchtime), place the emergency concern early and answer it, then present the benefit, and close with how the trial will be reviewed.
Step 6: choose the language. Warm, plain and short; no jargon; “we” to include the school and parents.
Result. The same facts told to the governors would be longer, would include costs and policy references, and would use a more formal register. The audience governs the selection.
Worked example 2: analysing a writer’s choices
Task. Explain how the passage below, written by Marlbridge, reflects an understanding of its intended audience: a group of farmers at a regional meeting.
“You have worked this land for longer than any of us have worked at a desk. So I will not tell you how to farm. I will tell you what happened at the Dalby co-operative, where twenty-two families faced the same weather you did last year. Eighteen of them had insurance that paid out on the day. Four did not. I would like to explain what that cost them, and then I will ask you what it would cost you.”
Step 1: identify the audience features. Experienced, practical, likely wary of outsiders who instruct them.
Step 2: identify the choices.
- Language and stance: “You have worked this land for longer than any of us have worked at a desk” honours their experience and reduces the speaker’s authority, which pre-empts resentment. “I will not tell you how to farm” removes the threat of being lectured.
- Evidence: a case from a neighbouring co-operative facing the same weather, which is concrete, comparable and told in numbers (22, 18, 4) that farmers can weigh.
- Organisation: respect first, then the story, then the question, so that the conclusion is left for the audience to draw (“what it would cost you”).
Step 3: state the effect. The speaker earns a hearing from a possibly sceptical audience by showing respect and giving them evidence they can compare to their own lives. The final question turns the audience from listeners into judges.
Model sentence. “By opening with respect for the farmers’ experience and offering a case from a similar co-operative, the speaker shows that he understands their perspective and needs, which makes his later suggestion harder to dismiss as outside interference.”
Common misconceptions
- “Knowing the audience means telling them what they want to hear.” It means anticipating their concerns and meeting them with honest reasons.
- “There is one best organisation for an argument.” The best order depends on whether the audience is hostile, neutral or supportive.
- “Audience is only about tone.” It affects evidence and organisation as well.
- “The audience is whoever reads it.” The intended audience is the group the writer addresses; a text may have others, but analysis should start with the intended one.
- “Audiences are fixed.” They change during a text and over time, and a writer plans for that.
- “In an exam passage I should speculate about the audience.” Base your claims on clues in the text and prompt.
Where this leads
Topic 8.4 moves from audience to style: how a writer’s mix of word choice, syntax and conventions adds up to a recognisable manner. Practise now with the practice questions, use the revision notes and checklist, and then read the Topic 8.4 study guide. To revisit how word choice affects trust, see the Topic 8.2 study guide.
Quick questions
How do I find out about an audience in an exam passage?
Use the context in the prompt and the text: who is addressed (title, salutation, setting), what the audience probably knows and values, and what the writer assumes. Do not invent facts about the audience; reason from the evidence given.
What does it mean that audiences are dynamic?
Audiences change over time and within a text: attitudes shift, new information arrives and a writer's earlier points alter how later points are received. A writer may start cautiously and become bolder as agreement grows.
Should I always tell the audience what they want to hear?
No. Understanding an audience means anticipating their objections and needs so that you can address them honestly, not flattering them. A hostile audience, for example, may need common ground and strong evidence before they will listen.