Among so many terms in rhetoric, three serve as a compass, even among the larger terms ("trees") in the forest of rhetoric:

• kairos (the opportune moment);
• audience
• decorum (fitting one's speech to the context and audience)

Together, these terms invoke the rhetorical worldview in which, sensitive to the contingencies of the moment, a speaker or writer tailors words to contexts and audiences towards some discernible result or effect.