1. [Based in part on Website coverage]: You are having friends over, but your housemate has not cleaned up his or her dishes and trash. You state, "My friends are coming over tonight," thinking that will motivate your housemate to do the cleaning. The housemate takes it as a simple statement of fact. Discuss this first in terms of speech act theory and then in terms of face and politeness theory.
2. Watch a movie that presents two families in a fair amount of detail (examples follow). Analyze the movie in terms of internal and external dialectical tensions, as well as the strategies people use to negotiate them:
   • Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: 2 families are quite different, allows for nice analysis of internal, as well as external dialectics
   • Dad: There is a variety of spousal and family relationships (sons with fathers). How the tensions are handled changes some through the movie. For a more contemporary example, see About a Boy.
   • The Miracle Worker: Analyze the tensions between Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller as these compare to the tensions between Helen Keller and her family. (This might demonstrate how factors beyond the couple's control might impinge on how the dialectics are worked out).
3. Describe an instance when you were in contact with one stranger for a long time (such as side-by-side on a bus or plane). Compare and contrast social penetration theory and boundary management theory as they would explain your interaction. Determine which you think is a better theory (using your own common sense and the standards in Ch. 1).

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