Chapter 2 brings to light a concept that many are familiar with, but don't even know it. This concept is the idea of having a rhetorical situation, a genre, an audience, a purpose, a stance, a context, and a medium and design. No matter if you're writing a birthday note to your mom, tweeting about a new artist, or writing an essay about a book for school, you have a rhetorical situation to think about. When you text a friend, you don't write in third person, you don't use slang in a college application, you have to take in account a handful of things when using words to express an idea.
At times it can be hard to see the intent of written words, so it is important to know your genre. Whether you are assigned a genre, or you get to choose your own, take in consideration how different genres will affect your tone in writing. Following your genre is your audience, who will be reading your work. How will your words effect your readers, and how they respond, this leads into the next stage. Your purpose may be perceived different if you don't take in account who you are talking to. Along with your purpose is your stance. If you don't stand by what you're saying, how will others? Stay strong in what you believe and don't worry about changing for others. Make sure your stance is justified though. Context is a strong tool that can help prove your point, or completely destroy it. Do your homework! Lastly is your medium and design. Make sure that your medium is works the best for your audience and purpose you are trying to portray.
Ultimately, as a functioning human being you use this process daily. Everything you write or say goes through this filter. Yes, at times you might miss a step or two because you aren't thinking of consequences. But to get your view across most effectively, run through this filter to make sure you are saying the right things to the right people.
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