Back to the full dot-point answer
NSWEnglishQuick questions
Module C: The Craft of Writing
Quick questions on Audience, purpose, and context in HSC English Advanced Module C
15short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is audience?Show answer
Every piece has an audience, whether or not the writer has chosen one. A piece that has chosen its audience makes specific moves; a piece that has not produces a generic register that addresses no one in particular.
What is purpose?Show answer
Purpose is what the piece is trying to do. The purpose should be visible without being declared.
What is context?Show answer
Context is the conditions in which the piece imagines itself appearing. Context is harder for students than audience and purpose because it is rarely declared in the task.
What is audience-fit at the level of sentence?Show answer
Audience operates at the sentence level as much as at the conceptual level. A sentence reaches for the audience or fails to.
What is purpose-fit at the level of structure?Show answer
Purpose operates at the structural level. A piece's purpose shapes the order of material, the placement of the strongest moments, and the position of the close.
What is context-fit at the level of form?Show answer
Context operates at the level of form. A piece's imagined publication or occasion shapes the form.
What are handling the stimulus's audience cues?Show answer
Module C stimuli often imply an audience or context. A stimulus that includes a quotation from a speech implies a context; a stimulus that includes an image of a specific place implies an audience. Read the stimulus for these cues.
What is direct address?Show answer
A second-person pronoun, a named addressee, an apostrophic gesture. The most explicit audience marker.
What is implied address?Show answer
A first-person plural ("we") that the audience is asked to inhabit. A phrase that assumes the audience shares a position.
What is register?Show answer
The level of formality, the diction, the syntax. Register is the most pervasive audience marker.
What is to move?Show answer
The piece aims to produce an emotional response (grief, joy, wonder, anger).
What is to persuade?Show answer
The piece aims to bring the audience to a position.
What is to provoke?Show answer
The piece aims to unsettle, irritate, or challenge.
What is to commemorate?Show answer
The piece aims to mark, honour, or remember.
What is to question?Show answer
The piece aims to open the audience to a question they had not considered.