Using Language in Public
Speaking
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Language is Powerful
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Using language can be a challenge.
Word choices can make your speech
unique.
Language can leave a lasting impression.
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Language Reveals Our Character
ATTITUDES
VALUES
BACKGROUND
EDUCATION
WORDS
KNOWLEDGE
MOTIVATION
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Oral versus Written Style
There are differences
Oral
Written
More personal.
More likely to use “I” and
“we.”
More detached.
Less likely to use “I” &
“we.”
Less formal.
More phrases.
Less varied.
Formal sentences.
Complete sentences.
More precise.
More repetitive
Passages can be reread.
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Using Words Effectively
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Use specific, concrete words.
Use simple words.
Use words correctly.
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Using Words Effectively
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Use specific, concrete words
Less specific & concrete
More specific &
more concrete
“Sounds of the
wilderness…”
“Night crickets, owls
hooting, wolves
howling…”
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Using Words Effectively

Use simple words – not jargon
Less simple
More simple
“…malignant
neoplasms characterized
by the proliferation of
anaplastic cells…”
“…the cancer
spread, the tumors grew,
the red blood cells were
less and less able…”
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Using Words Effectively
Use words correctly
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Denotation – literal meaning.
Connotation – personal meaning.
Notorious: famous
Notorious: famous because
of something evil or cruel.
Using the denotative meaning may not accurately
help listeners understand what it means to be
notorious.
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Adapting your Language Style to
Diverse Listeners
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Use language your audience can
understand.
Use appropriate language.
Use unbiased language.
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Adapting your Language Style to
Diverse Listeners
Use language your audience can understand
 Use standard US English:
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Taught in schools.
Used in the media, business and the US
government.
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Adapting your Language Style to
Diverse Listeners
Use appropriate language
 Avoid racial & ethnic slurs.
 Avoid language that puts down people due
to sexual orientation.
 Avoid language that attacks a certain
religious group.
 Do not attack people with disabilities.
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Adapting your Language Style to
Diverse Listeners
Use unbiased language
 Avoid sexism
Sexist language
Unbiased language
1. Fireman
2. His or her
3. Stewardess
4. Mailman
5. Chairman
1. Firefighter
2. Their
3. Flight attendant
4. Postal carrier
5. Chair
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Crafting Memorable Word
Structures
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Creating figurative images.
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Creating drama.
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Creating cadence.
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
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Metaphor.
Simile.
Crisis Rhetoric.
Personification.
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating figurative images
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Metaphor
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An implied comparison.
Helps us to understand an abstract concept by
comparing it to something more concrete.
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
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Metaphors
Prison metaphor
Banking metaphor
“Millions of people in the
world’s poorest countries
remain imprisoned,
enslaved and in chains.
They are trapped in the
prison of poverty.”
“We refuse to
believe that there
are insufficient
funds in the great
vaults of opportunity
of this nation.”
Nelson Mandela 2005
Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating figurative images
 Simile
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Unlike an implied comparison (metaphor), it’s
a direct comparison.
Uses “like” or “as.”
Simile
“…we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters,
and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. – 1963
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating figurative images
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Crisis Rhetoric:
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Language used by speakers during momentous
and overwhelming times.
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
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Crisis Rhetoric
2001 Terrorist attacks on the
U.S.
1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor
“One more circle
of Dante’s Hell.”
“…a date which will live in
infamy…”
“Nuclear winter.”
“…our people, our territory,
and our interests are in grave
danger.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Various
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating figurative images
 Personification: Assigning human qualities
to inanimate objects or ideas.
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“The Shuttle Columbia faithfully served her
crew.”
“Old man winter is fierce this year.”
“Father time never stops moving.”
“Take care of our Mother Earth.”
“Lady Liberty still breathes strong.”
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating drama
 Short sentences express vitally important
thoughts.
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Omission: leave out words or phrases the
audience expects.
Inversion: reverse normal word order.
Suspension: place a key word or phrase at the
end of a sentence (not at the beginning).
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating drama
Short sentence
Omission
“And the war came.”
“Sighted sub – sank same.”
Inversion
Suspension
“This much we pledge.”
“For families wanting their sons
and daughters to get the chance
of college or university, we will
meet the challenge of change.”
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating cadence
 Creates rhythmic order.
 Helps audience stay “in sync.”
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Repetition.
Parallelism.
Antithesis.
Alliteration
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating cadence
 Repetition: use of a key word or phrase
more than once for emphasis.
“We are Virginia Tech”
“We are Virginia Tech”
“We are Virginia Tech”
Nikki Giovanni (2007)
“Our job is not finished”
“Our job is not finished”
“Our job is not finished”
Rudy de Leon (2000)
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating cadence
 Parallelism: use of the same grammatical
pattern for two or more phrases, clauses or
sentences.
“In grief, we have found”
“In challenge, we
rediscovered”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)
“In victory, we have shown”
“We will walk”
“We will work”
“We will speak”
George W. Bush (2004)
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating cadence
 Antithesis: sentence with parallel
structures but with contrasting meanings.
“Our true destiny is not to
be ministered unto but to
minister to ourselves and to
our fellow men”
“Ask not what your country
can do for you; ask what
you can do for your
country.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(1933)
John F. Kennedy (1961)
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Crafting Memorable
Word Structures
Creating cadence
 Alliteration: repeating the (typically first)
consonant sound several times.
“Virility, valour, and
civic virtue.”
“Conviction, not
calculation.”
Winston Churchill 1941) Dick Chaney (2000)
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Tips for Using
Language Effectively
Creating drama
 Moderately: don’t go overboard with
language devices.
 Strategically: use in opening sentences, key
statements and conclusions.
 Simplistically: use short words; long words
are cumbersome.
 Economically: keep sentences to a manageable
length.
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