Digging Further Into the Idea of Genre

Miller (1984) has defined genres as typified responses to recurring social/rhetorical situations.  In other words, we communicate with others -- through speech and through writing -- to accomplish specific goals.  When situations are similar, patterns begin to arise.  If we can spot how and why these patterns unfold in the ways that they do, we can begin to engage in more conscious communication -- that is, we can adapt our language to meet our audience's needs and expectations, which can increase our chances of achieving our goals.

Check out this quick 5-minute video, below, for a little bit more about that.  Also, check out this Google Doc that I put together for a list of some of the many textual genres that are out there in the world.