Purpose
An author’s understanding of his persona, audience, and context will help him determine the appropriate arguments and rhetorical tropes for achieving his persuasive goal. Authors and speakers can use only the arguments and communication skills available to them to convey their purpose. The arguments available for any given topic are specific to that particular rhetorical situation and depend on the relationships between author, audience, context, and purpose. For example, skilful communicators recognize the wisdom of excluding or including certain information in the scope of their argument or adjusting their tone when addressing X audience versus addressing Y audience. To fully realize their stance, authors and speakers must also exercise control over the rhetorical appeals and arrangement natural to their topic. This step is the most observable event in the author’s achievement of rhetorical stance because it is the verbal expression of his position in relation to both audience and topic.
Read more about this topic: Rhetorical Stance
Famous quotes containing the word purpose:
“Thus one can observe that those who proclaim piety as their goal and purpose usually turn into hypocrites.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“Art for art’s sake, with no purpose, for any purpose perverts art. But art achieves a purpose which is not its own.”
—Benjamin Constant (1767–1834)
“Patience and tenacity of purpose are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)