Keith Grant-Davie asserts that when "an activity , an event, or a situation... [is] shaped by language or communication", than it is a rhetorical situation. Rhetorical situations exist to solve a problem or fulfill a need; the purpose of any bout of communication is called it’s ‘exigence’. However, what makes most rhetorical situations unique from one another, are the constraints imposed upon it. Constraints “are factors that limit or focus the response to... a given situation”.
If exigence is the content of rhetorical situations, I imagine that constraints are the style. If you ate a whole cake, and said “I ate the whole thing”, the exigence of that phrase would be the same as if you said “I ate the whole thing...”. However, the difference in inflection between the first and the second, represented by the ellipsis, also represents the difference in potential constraints of each rhetorical situation. A triumphant professional speed eater who downed a cake before his competitors might say the first phrase, while a dog with icing on his muzzle and tail between his legs in the corner of the room, with body language, could express the second phrase. A compound rhetorical situation is comprised of many independent but related rhetorical situations. Communication that doesn’t occur in real-time is considered a compound rhetorical situation.
Like everyone else, college students should be aware of rhetorical situations and their constraints, so we can communicate effectively. It’s important to understand what you want to say before you speak, so your audience isn’t confused about the exigence of your discourse. It’s also important to understand the context of your rhetorical situation, so you can adjust for the constraints of the given situation.
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