Speeches

• Appeal to ethos: how do speakers establish credibility and trustworthiness? Pay attention to the moves speakers use to reduce the distance between the speaker and the audience.
• Appeal to Pathos - how do speakers evoke emotional responses from their audience? Look for loaded words and phrases that make the audience feel one way or the other.
• Appeal to Logos - every speech needs a logical argument. Read the text carefully to understand how evidence and facts are presented in a logical manner to persuade the listener to join the cause or take a certain position on a topic.
• Modality - words such as “must”, “might”, “should”, and “have to” may be small in stature, but they are important in meaning! Look for these keywords to understand the degree of certainty and the strength of feeling in the language of the speaker.
• Structural moves (whole speech) - How does the speech begin? Did they deliver an anecdote or a joke? Did the speaker try to shock you with a provocative fact? How do they structure the main argument? What moves do they use at the end of the speech?

  Consider how speakers organize their arguments for effects on the listener.
• Structural moves (sentence level) - Look for short syntax to accentuate key points, parallel structure to illustrate patterns, and command terms when you want to call the listener to action. And, don’t forget important techniques like antithesis that often are used to deliver the main claim toward the end of a speech.
• Language moves - This is the time to consider figurative language and all the components. Think about connotation, denotation, euphemism, hyperbole, tone, and mood. Just like on other text types, isolate words and phrases, deconstruct them, and show how they shape meaning.
• Evidence: Writers use evidence to make their argument stronger and bolster their credibility. There are three main types of evidence: Anecdotal; Expert Opinion and Statistical:
• Expert opinion: To make a writer’s position seem more credible, they may quote the opinions of experts that correspond with their own. As in a court case, experts are often called on to make one side seem stronger and more believable.
• Statistical evidence: Like any form of evidence, statistics can be used to make an argument seem more conclusive, a writer’s opinion more valid. Often statistics are used that are out of context, or from unreliable sources. As the saying goes, “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
• Anecdotal evidence: An anecdote is a tale involving real life events, a true story. Such stories can be used by writers as evidence to back their claims. To support a contention, and to make themselves appear more credible, writers often use personal anecdotes.
• Syntax: The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. It is sentence structure and how it influences the way a reader perceives a piece of writing.
• Repetition: When used sparingly for effect, it can reinforce the writer's message and/or entertain the reader. Writers may repeat a word, a phrase or an entire sentence for emphasis. (Ex. “We will all suffer for years to come unless we stop this government, stop them in the workplace, stop them in the polls, and stop them on

  election day.”)
• Cumulation: Using many similar words in a short space is cumulation and can give weight to the idea being expressed. (Ex. “This task requires guts, determination, grit and willpower.”)
• Alliteration: This refers to the repetition of the first sound in consecutive words, an effect which draws attention to the words in question. (Ex. “To rip people off so blatantly shows Mr. Craven to be cruel, calculating and crooked.”)
• Anaphora: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence.
• Epistrophe: A word or phrase repeated at the end of consecutive lines.”
• Parallelism: The technique of arranging words, phrases, clauses, or larger structures by placing them side by side and making them similar in form. Also referred to as parallel construction or parallel structure, similarity. Example (from Churchill): “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields.
• Understatement – The ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous and emphatic.
• Expletive - Figure of emphasis in which a single word or short phrase, usually interrupting normal speech, is used to lend emphasis to the words on either side of the expletive. Ex. in fact, of course, to be sure, indeed, I suppose, I hope, you know, you see, clearly, in any event, in effect, certainly, remarkably.
• Invective – an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language.
• Tone – Similar to mood, tone describes the author’s attitude toward his material, the audience, or both.
• Undertone - An attitude that may lie under the ostensible tone of the piece. Under a cheery surface, for example, a work may have threatening undertones.
• Colloquial Language: Refers to refers to the usage of informal or everyday language. This slang can be used in different ways. It can set the writer up as knowledgeable, on the inside of a social group. A writer may also use slang in a sarcastic manner, to attack an

  opponent or mock an argument. It may also be used to appeal to a reader’s own sense of cultural identity, or reinforce a writer’s overall tone.
• Inclusive Language: Inclusive language aims to directly address the reader, either personally or as a member of a shared group. This involves using such words as us, we, you, our.
• Synthetic Personalization: the process of addressing mass audiences as though they were individuals through inclusive language usage. This is often done through second

  person in advertisements (See you after the break-Welcome to McDonald’s)
• Diction (Word Choice): Is a person "slim" or "skinny"?Is an oil spill an "incident" or an "accident"? Is a government expenditure an "investment" or a "waste"? Writers reinforce their arguments by choosing words.
• Ambiguity: Use of language in which multiple meanings are possible. Ambiguity can be unintentional through insufficient focus on the part of the writer; in good writing, ambiguity is frequently intentional in the form of multiple connotative meanings, or situations in which either the connotative or the denotative meaning can be valid in a reading.
• Euphemism: a more acceptable or usually a more acceptable way of saying something uncomfortable (i.e. collateral damage instead of civilian death)
• Analogy: comparing one situation to another. For example, comparing the game of football to war.
• Metaphor: A figure of speech that describes a subject without using 'like' or 'as'.
• Hyperbole: Completely overstating and exaggerating your point for effect. (Like when your mom says,"I must have asked you a million times to clean your room!")
• Symbol/symbolism – Generally, anything that represents itself and stands for something else. Usually a symbol is something concrete – such as object, action, character, or scene – that represents something more abstract.
• Synecdoche (si-nek-duh-kee) – is a type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, the genus for the species, the species for the genus, the

  material for the thing made, or in short, any portion , section, or main quality for the whole or the thing itself (or vice versa). Ex. Farmer Joe has two hundred head of cattle [whole

  cattle], and three hired hands [whole people]. If we had some wheels [whole vehicle], I’d put on my best threads [clothes] and ask for Jane’s hand [hopefully her whole person] in

  marriage.
• Concession: acknowledging the opposition’s main idea
• Appealto authority: A writer may mention an important event or person in an essay to

  lend importance or credibility to his/her argument. “According to...”
• Facts: using statistics or data to support an argument.
• Rhetorical Question: Sometimes a writer or speaker will ask a question to which no answer is required. The answer is obvious so the reader has no choice but to agree with

  the writer's point.
• Irony: Irony is present if the writer’s words contain more than one meaning. This may be in the form of sarcasm, gentle irony, or a pun (play on words). It can be used to add humor or to emphasize an implied meaning under the surface.
• Testimonial: using words of an expert, a famous person, or a regular “Joe” to persuade others.