5.1: Pop Quiz on Genres

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Pop Quiz: Rhetorical Analysis\(^{100}\)

Your friend, Noor, has been in a romantic relationship with Amor for the past two years. A few months ago, Noor moved to another city and, after trying to have a long-distance relationship, has decided to break up with Amor. Noor wants to break up in writing because they are scared that they won’t be able to go through with it in person (or over the phone) because Amor will talk them out of it. Noor still loves Amor and wants this to be as painless as possible for both of them.

What genre of writing should Noor use to break up with Amor?

Instagram / Social Media

Handwritten Letter

Report

Email

Text

Memo

Tweet

Whatever your response/answer is, it shows that you already are quite skilled at using rhetoric\(^{101}\) and genre. You may not believe this, but your brain conducted a instinctive rhetorical and genre calculation to come to your decision. It may have only taken a second or two, but you and your brain sorted through all of the (implicit) elements of rhetoric to make a pretty solid decision on which was the most appropriate genre.

Questions:

Why did you choose the genres you chose for this break-up message?
Why would some of those genres not work for this situation?
Which genres from that list are you not familiar with right now?

\(^{100}\)Rhetoric and Genre: You’ve Got This! (Even if You Don’t Think You Do) by Liza Long; Amy Minervini; and Joel Gladd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

\(^{101}\)According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, Rhetoric is “the art of speaking or writing effectively: such as. a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times. b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion.”