TA: Enthymemes

Enthymeme #1:

Audience = A busser at a restaurant who is a college student at BYU.

WATCO coming back from your break late on our friendly work relationship?

Coming back from your break late will create tension in our friendly work relationship because if I have to clean your tables for you, I will feel entitled to a portion of your tips.

Implicit Assumption: Whatever makes me feel entitled to a portion of your tips will create tension in our friendly work relationship.

The audience probably has never thought about coming back from his break as having any kind of social consequence. He will probably reject the claim, but when I persuade him that I will want to claim some of his money for doing some of his work, he will agree with the implicit assumption.

Enthymeme #2:

Audience = People that go to the library and don't read the posters that are all over the place and reshelve their own books even when they are expressly asked not to.

WATCO reshelving your own books in the periodicals department on having access to the resources you need for future projects?

Reshelving your own books in the periodicals department will impede your access to the resources you need for future projects because if the librarians don't have accurate statistical data showing what you use frequently, they will decide to cancel their subscriptions to the journals you use.

Implicit Assumption: Whatever makes the librarians decide to cancel subscriptions to the journals you use frequently will impede your access to the resources you need for future projects.

This particular audience is unaware of the reasons for not reshelving books in periodicals, and doesn't think that it's important to follow the directions not to. The audience does not initially agree with the claim, but the implicit assumption is quite clear and the audience cannot deny its simple truth.