COMS 1 Public Speaking

COMS 1 – Public Speaking Professor Leach Chapter 12 Outline Using words well

I. Oral language style differs in three major ways from written language style.

A. Oral style is ______

B. Oral style is ______

C. Oral style is ______

II. Speakers are challenged to use words effectively, specifically by use of four language techniques. A. Use ______rather than ______words (e.g., “ball python” instead of “snake”).

B. Use ______rather than ______words (e.g., “fire and ashes” instead of “aftermath”).

C. Use ______words.

1. The best language is often the ______language.

2. (Person) ______lists words rules for utilizing simple words.

D. Use words correctly. 1. A public speech is not the time to demonstrate your ______with English vocabulary and grammar.

2. Be constantly aware that meaning in language has two dimensions:

______and ______; choose words carefully, especially with diverse audiences.

III. Effective speakers ______their language to diverse listeners.

A. Use language that your audience ______.

1. Use the ______of English that fits your audience best.

2. If the audience is diverse, use ______.

B. Use appropriate and unbiased language (avoid ______and ______terms).

IV. Effective speakers craft ______.

A. Memorable language creates ______, by means of two figures of speech.

1. ______and ______create vivid comparisons.

a. ______imply comparison, as in Jaime Escalante’s “Education is the vaccine for violence.”

Write a sample here ______

b. ______are more overt comparisons, as in Pope John Paul III’s description of the Bosnian war as “. . .the shipwreck of the whole of Europe.”

Write a sample here______

2. ______is the attribution of human qualities to inanimate things or ideas (Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep.”) Write a sample here ______

B. Memorable language creates ______, using, among others, four techniques.

1. Use a ______to express a vitally important thought (Lincoln: “And the war came”).

2. Use ______, leaving out a word or phrase the audience expects to see (World War II: “Sighted sub--sank same”).

3. ______, called inversion (Russian president Boris Yeltsin at the reintombment of Czar Nicholas II: “Guilty are those who committed this heinous crime”).

4. At times, keep listeners “guessing,” called ______(“What manner of men are these?”).

C. Memorable language occasionally creates ______through use of four language techniques. 1. ______- Defined -

2. In language style ______Defined - a. Franklin Roosevelt: “Our true destiny is not be ministered unto, but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.”

b. John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

3. ______of a key word or phrase gives rhythm, power, and memorability to your message.

4. ______is the ______(usually an initial consonant) several times in a phrase, clause, or sentence. a. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural: “Discipline and Direction.”

b. Winston Churchill, Address to the (U.S.) Congress: “virility, valor, and civic virtue.”

V. The Speaker’s Homepage provides additional examples of memorable language style, including an observation that John F. Kennedy’s “Ask Not. . .” quotation uses all the stylistic devices of this textbook chapter.

VI. Consider four tips for using memorable language effectively.

A. Do not ______.

B. Save use of stylistic devices for ______

______.

C. ______are more forceful than ______(Sit! March! Stop!).

D. Recast too-long sentences as ______or ______.