How many times have you left an article half-read? If you're like me, probably several times. When there's no context, it's like listening to someone speak in a foreign language. As readers, we feel out of place, even unwanted. So why do we get bored with some writers while we are forced to read others? In her article “Writing for an Audience,” Linda Flower, professor of English at Carnegie-Mellon University, focuses on the importance of knowing your audience for effective writing. She asserts that persuasive writers analyze their audience and identify fundamental differences in knowledge, attitudes, and needs between themselves and the target audience. Flower says that to teach the essentials; writers must create “common ground,” ground that reduces the differences between writer and reader. She concludes that the purpose of writers is to share their knowledge and make the reader see the world from their point of view, if only for a second, despite differences with the intended readers. This is exactly what Bill Bryson achieves in his article “Good English Bad English”. He meets Flower's criteria of an effective writer. Bryson is a successful writer because he creates "common ground" to "bridge the gap" between critical differences by tailoring his paragraph structure, the complexity of his writing, and his tone to his target audience: a general reader with some academic training. forms well-structured paragraphs that are clear, concise, accessible and impactful for the general reader. He does not forget that his audience is the general reader with a certain university education. There are certain conventions that a writer follows when addressing a wider audience, such as maintaining a middle of paper......he was doing the targeted reader a service. Writers analyze their audience, their prior knowledge of the subject, their attitudes toward the subject, and what they need to know about the subject, because the audience matters to them. The next step is to tailor their writing based on the target reader, the tone they will write, how they will structure their paragraphs, and the information they will give. As a result, the reader will read it and understand what the writer is saying. At this point, mission accomplished. Wasn’t that the main point of the writing anyway? Works Cited Bryson, Bill. “Good English and bad English. » Explore the language. Ed.Gary Goshgarian. San Francisco: Pearson, 2010. 159-167. Print.Fleur, Linda. “Writing for an audience.” Explore the language. Ed.Gary Goshgarian. San Francisco: Pearson, 2010. 98-101. Print.