2. Is This a Context or Setting…
Okay so you ran into your non-native English speaking friend again. This time it was on the way home from Michael & Emily’s combined birthday party.
You pull up to a gas station, get out of your car, start pumping gas and you notice your friend standing on the opposite side of the pump doing the same. After the “hi” “hi” exchange your friend says:
“(YOUR NAME INSERTED HERE), Are context & setting completely interchangeable? Can I use either one in place of the other or are there certain situations where only one or the other will do and if so what are those situations?”
If your friend is satisfied with your answer he/she will pay for your tank of gas and buy you a giant slushie.
***
So – what’s your answer, smarty pants?
They are similar, but not interchangable. For example, when one considers a particular moment in time (such as a murder) then context refers to the actions and tensions which led to this moment (such as discovering your partner has been cheating on you coupled with the fact that you have just been made redundant, and how this makes you feel), whereas setting refers to the actual place where the murder was committed and its general geography.
Basically, context is prior actions and feelings and their impact, and setting is the area where the resulting action or decision was taken.
So just to clarify even further, you are saying “context” has to do with the intangible and “setting” has to do with the tangible?