UNIT 6

LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

 

1. NEWS WRITING

One of the elements of good writing is grammar – the rules by which the words fit into the structure. With so many people using a language as complex as English, there are lots of opportunities for making errors. We cannot possibly list them all here. We will, however, remark on some of the most common mistakes made by journalists.

 

1. Collective Nouns

Some nouns which are collections of individual parts are treated as plural, while others are treated as singular.
It is very much a matter of which style your particular newspaper or broadcasting station uses, but there is a general guideline.
If individuals within the group act or make decisions as a single body, use the singular verb.

RIGHT: The Government said it was going to abolish income tax.

WRONG: The Government said they were going to abolish income tax.

However, if the collective group is more noted for its individual parts, treat it as a plural. This is commonly done for sporting teams.

RIGHT: The team manager said they were going to win.

WRONG: The team manager said it was going to win.

Remember also that a singular noun should be treated as singular even when it contains several things. For example, we say that:

 

A bag of coconuts is sitting on the table.
A flock of sheep is grazing in the field.
The bus full of nurses is waiting outside.

 

This is because the subject of the sentence is “a bag”, not “coconuts”; “a flock”, not “sheep”; and “a bus”, not “nurses”.

 

2. Neither, none, each and every

The words neither, none, each and every are treated as singular when they are the subject of a verb, even though they refer to more than one thing or person. This is because the words mean not either one, not one, each one and every one.

RIGHT: Neither the man nor the woman is able to speak.

WRONG: Neither the man nor the woman are able to speak.

The word none is treated as singular (because it is short for not one), even though it is usually followed by a plural noun. The subject of the sentence is none (i.e. not one) and therefore needs a singular verb. The subject of the sentence which follows is not men, it is none:

RIGHT: None of the men was willing to testify in court.

WRONG: None of the men were willing to testify in court.

The words each and every are treated as singular, even though they may be followed by a long list of things they refer to.

RIGHT: Every car, bus, bicycle and rickshaw in the city has to be licensed.

WRONG: Every car, bus, bicycle and rickshaw in the city have to be licensed.

3. Misplaced modifiers

When you use a phrase to modify or describe part of a sentence, make sure that it describes the correct part. The rule is that the modifier attaches to the noun nearest to it. Mistakes can sometimes be very amusing. In this example, the modifier is in italics.

RIGHT: The plane came to a halt in front of the clan chief who was dressed in a grass skirt

WRONG: Dressed in a grass skirt, the plane came to a halt in front of the clan chief.

4. Pronoun in Reported speech: I, me, we and us

These become a problem when you turn someone’s quotes into reported speech. It is correct to use I, me, my, we, us, and our within quotation marks, but once you take the quote marks away and write in reported speech, you have to make the following changes:

 

I becomes he or she,
me becomes him or her,
my becomes his or her.
We becomes they,
us becomes them,
our becomes their.
you becomes him, her or them,
your becomes his, hers or their.

 

Many journalists remember to change the I, me and my in reported speech but forget about the rest of the changes that have to be made. In the following example, we show the right and wrong ways of turning a sentence from quotes into reported speech. The original sentence in quotes was:

 

The Prime Minister of Fiji told soldiers in Suva: “I will do my best to protect our country.”

 

Turned into reported speech, it becomes:

RIGHT: The Prime Minister of Fiji told soldiers in Suva that he would do his best to protect their country.

WRONG: The Prime Minister of Fiji told soldiers in Suva that he would do his best to protect our country.

In the wrong version above, leaving the word “our” in the sentence implies that we, the journalist, are included in the story.

 

It is sometimes not enough just to change a few words. Sometimes you will have to add words of explanation. In the correct sentences above, it is clear who is speaking to whom. However, when changing quotes into reported speech it occasionally becomes less clear, especially in paragraphs later in the story. Suppose the Prime Minister then went on to tell the soldiers:

 

“I can do so much, but I also need your help.”

 

In reported speech you would then have to write:

 

The Prime Minister of Fiji told soldiers in Suva that he would do his best to protect their country.
He said he could do so much, but he also needed help from the army.

 

This would be an acceptable solution in writing for radio and television, where you should not use direct quotes in scripts. If you are writing for the print media, the best solution is to give the quotes themselves.

 

5. Its and it’s

There is often confusion over these two words. The rule is simple. Use its when referring to something belonging to it. Use it’s as a short form for it is. For example:
The wounded animal returned to its lair.
The hunter said: “It’s not clear what is happening at the moment.”

 

6. Punctuation

Here are some basic rules of punctuation used in most style books. The Golden Rule of all writing, however, is to keep it simple and clear.

 

1. Capital letters

These are used at the beginning of sentences and for the names of people and places. Capitals are also used at the beginning of words which are a titles rather than a description. For example, we write about “the Government of Sri Lanka” because that is the title of one specific body, but we write of “agreements between governments” because we are speaking about governments in general. The following example demonstrates the difference:

 

Eight prime ministers attended the meeting, hosted by the Prime Minister of India.

 

Capital letters should also be used for the trade names of products and companies. For example:

 

The Universal Cement Company produces cement called Cemebond.

 

2. Full stops

Called “periods” in America, full stops are used at the ends of sentences, as decimal points and with certain standard abbreviated place names. For example, in America Cal. for California or N.Y. for New York; in Australia W.A. for Western Australia or Vic. for Victoria., though it becoming increasingly common to drop the full stops in informal use. However, unless the abbreviation is one well-known to your audience, write the name in full. Journalists working for radio or television normally give the names in full.

 

When used at the end of a quote, the full stop comes within the closing quotation mark:

 

He said: “This is not what we wanted.”

 

Not all abbreviations use full stops. Most newspapers today do not use them to abbreviate Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Rev and similar common titles.
It used to be the case that full stops were used within abbreviations of titles. Increasingly, editors are choosing to leave them out, as in USA, PNG or UN.

 

3. Commas

The comma in written English acts very much like a pause in the spoken language. It is used within sentences to separate phrases or lists of words, as in the following example:

 

The company, which was only set up last year, now produces a range of goods including tyres, steering wheels, exhaust systems and windscreens.

 

Notice that there is no comma before the and at the end of the list.
Commas should only be inserted to help reading or listening. If you find you have several commas in your sentence, it is probably too long and should be split into separate sentences.

 

4. Semi-colons (;)

Their main use is to separate phrases which already contain commas, especially in lists:

The winners were: Bagu Lagi, geology; Jim Ho, physics; Peter Graham, Doro Meeni and Fa’afo Tokala, economics; and Nga Nganda, history.

 

5. Colons (:)

There are two principle uses for the colon in news-writing. One is at the start of lists, as in the example above.

The second is when going from attribution into a quote:

The judge said: “This is not the first time I have had to deal with this kind of case.”

 

6. Apostrophes (‘)

There are several uses for apostrophes. The most common is to show possession. It is usually used in front of an s. In this example, the printery belongs to the company:

Fire last night destroyed the company’s main printery.

 

However, when a plural noun ends with an s, the apostrophe is not normally followed by another s:

Frank’s jokes were a great success at his parents’ anniversary party.

 

In the sentence above, the jokes belonged to Frank, so we add an ‘s. However, the word parents already ends in s, so we just add an apostrophe.
Apostrophes are also used in contractions in place of missing letters or numbers:

“In the ’34 gold rush, miners couldn’t get to Bulolo quickly enough,” he said.

 

7. Quotation marks (” “)

These should mainly be used to distinguish spoken words, although some journalists use them when quoting from written reports.

8. Hyphens (-) and dashes ( – )

• Hyphens are used to pull words together, and dashes are used to separate phrases, usually for dramatic effect.
• Hyphens are used to join two or more words into one idea, for example: non-agreement, well-meant, Vice-Chancellor, mother-in-law. They are also used in some words to avoid ambiguous meaning. For example, the hyphen distinguishes between re-cover (to cover again) and recover (to get something back).
• The dash (which is given more space than a hyphen) is used to indicate a dramatic shift or a surprise phrase, as in the following example intro.
• David Paro arrived home from work yesterday to find an unwelcome gift on his verandah – three tonnes of manure.
• Do not use the dash unless it is necessary; it can get tiresome to readers.

 

9. Question marks (?)

These should only be used after a direct question, which means they usually appear within quotation marks. Examine the following combinations to see the right and wrong uses of question marks:

 

 

RIGHT: The doctor asked Mary: “When did you last give blood?” RIGHT: The doctor asked Mary when she had last given blood.

WRONG: The doctor asked Mary: “When did you last give blood.” WRONG: The doctor asked Mary when she had last given blood?

Journalists sometimes wrongly ask their readers questions, particularly in writing features. The journalist’s job is to answer readers’ questions, not leave them guessing, so avoid posing questions.

 

10. Exclamation marks (!)

You should not need these in news-writing. In novels they are inserted to signify drama. If you are a good reporter your story should do that for you. You should only use them at the end of a quote which is an exclamation or an order, for example:

Mr Paro took one look at his veranda and said: “Damn!”

 

11. Ellipsis (…)

This is a series of three dots put into quotations to show that something has been missed out:

 

“The car struck several objects … before coming to rest against a tree.”

 

Again, you should try to avoid this if at all possible, as it suggests to your reader that you are hiding something.

The ellipsis is frequently used instead of a dash in radio and television news-writing. The newsreader knows to allow an expectant pause before finishing the sentence. So in radio, we might rewrite the manure example:

 

David Paro arrived home yesterday to find an unwelcome gift on his veranda … three tonnes of manure.

 

12. Brackets ()

You should also avoid brackets in news-writing. They are meant to contain extra detail within a sentence, but are more often used by lazy journalists to avoid having to rewrite sentences correctly.
Some newspapers allow their use when explaining abbreviations, for example:

A surgeon suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has been sacked from his job in the country’s main hospital.

 

TO SUMMARISE:

Keep your language clear and simple so that your readers or listeners can understand.

Sentence structure should be simple.

Check all your work to make sure that everything you write obeys the rules of grammar and punctuation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise 1

Collective Noun

Put each of the following collective nouns in its correct place in the sentence bellow, making it plural if neccesary.

 

flock            herd  bundle            mob                suite

flight          audience           clump    bunch    crowd

gang  fleet             congregation      warm     shoal

 

1. The ________________  of the British Royal Navy was very strong in the nineteenth century.
2. Disease reduced the farmer’s ________________ from 90 to 65 cows.
3. She was attacked by a ________________ of wasps.
4. A ________________ of shouting people overturned cars, set the fire to shops and attacked the police station.
5. The Prime Minister occupied a ________________ of rooms at the hotel.
6. Some spectators in the ________________ disagreed with the referee’s decision.
7. He bought a large ________________ of bananas.
8. The priest was very sad to see his ________________ getting smaller week by week.
9. Fishing boats use modern  equipment to locate the ________________ of fish.
10. She lost her balance and fell down a________________ of steps.
11. He was the leader of a well-known ________________ of criminals.
12. We sat down in the shade of a ________________ of trees.
13. In spring ________________ of birds arrive back in Britain after spending the winter in Africa.
14. She gave a ________________ of old clothes to a charity organization.
15. The ________________ applauded the new play enthusiastically.

 

Exercise 2

each and every

1. The Olympic games are held __________ four years.
   2. In a game of tennis there are two or four players. __________ player has a racket.
   3. Sarah plays volleyball __________ Thursday morning.
   4. I tried to phone her two or three times, but__________ time there was no reply.
   5. Kate has read__________ book in the library.
   6. Our football team is playing well. We’ve won__________  game this season.
   7. There are six apartments in this building. __________ one has a balcony.
   8. I understood most of what they said but not__________ word.
   9. The book is divided in five parts and__________ of these has three sections.
   10. There’s a train to London__________ hour.

 

Exercise 3

Neither, none, each and every

1. __________ child over five has to go to school in England.
2. Although it was my birthday and not my wife’s, Mary brought a present for __________ of us.
3. “Have you got any books on holidays in Scotland ?” -“No, I’m sorry, __________ at all.”
4. __________ of these two dresses is cheap.
5. There are five secretaries in our office. __________ of them can speak at least one foreign language.
6. Jack gets up at six __________
7. __________ of the hand-bags in the shop was what I was looking for, so I didn’t buy one.
8. Jack has three brothers. __________ of them is a good football player.
9. For the people who live near London airport, __________ plane increases the danger to their health.
10. I asked both the shopkeeper and the customer, but __________ of them could tell me the way.

Exercise 4

Misplaced Modifiers

The underlined sections show the correct placement of the modifier.

1. Making only minimum wage, I nearly earned $2,000 last summer.

______________________________________________________________________

2. The bus station was located by a river which was made of red brick.

______________________________________________________________________

3. A fish was found in the Pacific Ocean that had been considered extinct.

______________________________________________________________________

4. The cowboy was thrown by the bull in a leather vest.

______________________________________________________________________

5. Sam asked me to go for a ride on the telephone.

______________________________________________________________________

6. She was making a sweater for her lover that was warm.

______________________________________________________________________

7. The results will only be known after all the votes have been counted.

______________________________________________________________________

8. The contractors needed all kinds of artists to paint the mural badly

______________________________________________________________________

9. The opera singer was upstaged by the mime with the robust voice.

______________________________________________________________________

10. Left alone in the house, the thunderstorm terrified the two small children

______________________________________________________________________

 

Exercise 5

it’s or its? – Choose the correct word.

1. What’s the time? _______ ten past twelve.
2. Put the CD in _______ place, please.
3. My hometown is famous for _______ old buildings.
4. I can’t find my budgie, I think _______ flown away.
5. Peter, _______ never too late to learn how to play the piano.
6. The wolf made _______ way close to our house.
7. _______ been raining for five hours.
8. I’m interested in Denmark and _______ people.
9. I think _______ nice to have a dog.
10. Look at the horse! _______ hurt _______ hoof.

 

Exercise 6

Punctuation marks

This exercise will test your understanding of all kinds of different punctuation marks, particularly commas, colons, semi-colons and apostrophes.

Select the correctly punctuated sentence.

1         2                 3         4         5         6         7                 8                 9         10

A.     Spain is a beautiful country; the beache’s are warm, sandy and spotlessly clean. B.     Spain is a beautiful country: the beaches are warm, sandy and spotlessly clean. C.     Spain is a beautiful country, the beaches are warm, sandy and spotlessly clean. D.    Spain is a beautiful country; the beaches are warm, sandy and spotlessly clean.   A.     The children’s books were all left in the following places: Mrs Smith’s room, Mr Powell’s office and the caretaker’s cupboard. B.     The children’s books were all left in the following places; Mrs Smith’s room, Mr Powell’s office and the caretaker’s cupboard. C.     The childrens books were all left in the following places: Mrs Smiths room, Mr Powells office and the caretakers cupboard. D.    The children’s books were all left in the following places, Mrs Smith’s room, Mr Powell’s office and the caretaker’s cupboard.   A.     She always enjoyed sweets, chocolate, marshmallows and toffee apples. B.     She always enjoyed: sweets, chocolate, marshmallows and toffee apples. C.     She always enjoyed sweets chocolate marshmallows and toffee apples. D.    She always enjoyed sweet’s, chocolate, marshmallow’s and toffee apple’s.   A.     Sarah’s uncle’s car was found without its wheels in that old derelict warehouse. B.     Sarah’s uncle’s car was found without its wheels in that old, derelict warehouse. C.     Sarahs uncles car was found without its wheels in that old, derelict warehouse. D.    Sarah’s uncle’s car was found without it’s wheels in that old, derelict warehouse.   A.     I can’t see Tim’s car, there must have been an accident. B.     I cant see Tim’s car; there must have been an accident. C.     I can’t see Tim’s car there must have been an accident. D.    I can’t see Tim’s car; there must have been an accident.   A.     Paul’s neighbours were terrible; so his brother’s friends went round to have a word. B.     Paul’s neighbours were terrible: so his brother’s friends went round to have a word. C.     Paul’s neighbours were terrible, so his brother’s friends went round to have a word. D.    Paul’s neighbours were terrible so his brother’s friends went round to have a word.   A.     Tims gran, a formidable woman, always bought him chocolate, cakes, sweets and a nice fresh apple. B.     Tim’s gran a formidable woman always bought him chocolate, cakes, sweets and a nice fresh apple. C.     Tim’s gran, a formidable woman, always bought him chocolate cakes sweets and a nice fresh apple. D.    Tim’s gran, a formidable woman, always bought him chocolate, cakes, sweets and a nice fresh apple.   A.     After stealing Tims car, the thief lost his way and ended up the chief constable’s garage. B.     After stealing Tim’s car the thief lost his way and ended up the chief constable’s garage. C.     After stealing Tim’s car, the thief lost his way and ended up the chief constable’s garage. D.    After stealing Tim’s car, the thief lost his’ way and ended up the chief constable’s garage.   A.     We decided to visit: Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy’s mountains. B.     We decided to visit Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italys mountains. C.     We decided to visit Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy’s mountains. D.    We decided to visit Spain Greece Portugal and Italy’s mountains.   A.     That tall man, Paul’s grandad, is this month’s winner. B.     That tall man Paul’s grandad is this month’s winner. C.     That tall man, Paul’s grandad, is this months winner. D.    That tall man, Pauls grandad, is this month’s winner.

 

Exercise 2

 

Put in semicolons, colons, dashes, quotation marks, Italics (use an underline), and parentheses where ever they are needed in the following sentences.

 

1. The men in question Harold Keene, Jim Peterson, and Gerald Greene deserve awards.
2. Several countries participated in the airlift Italy, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg.
3. Only one course was open to us surrender, said the ex-major, and we did.
4. Judge Carswell later to be nominated for the Supreme Court had ruled against civil rights.
5. In last week’s New Yorker, one of my favorite magazines, I enjoyed reading Leland’s article How Not to Go Camping.
6. Yes, Jim said, I’ll be home by ten.
7. There was only one thing to do study till dawn.
8. Montaigne wrote the following A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.
9. The following are the primary colors red, blue, and yellow.
10. Arriving on the 8 10 plane were Liz Brooks, my old roommate her husband and Tim, their son.
11. When the teacher commented that her spelling was poor, Lynn replied All the members of my family are poor spellers. Why not me?
12. He used the phrase you know so often that I finally said No, I don’t know.
13. The automobile dealer handled three makes of cars Volkswagens, Porsches, and Mercedes Benz.
14. Though Phil said he would arrive on the 9 19 flight, he came instead on the 10 36 flight.
15. Whoever thought said Helen that Jack would be elected class president?
16. In baseball, a show boat is a man who shows off.
17. The minister quoted Isaiah 5 21 in last Sunday’s sermon.
18. There was a very interesting article entitled The New Rage for Folk Singing in last Sunday’s New York Times newspaper.

 

 

1. SPEECH

 

Good speakers respect language and how it works. Words are the tools of speaker’s craft. They have special uses, just like tools of ay other profession. As a speaker, you should be aware of the meanings of words and know how to use language accurately, clearly, vividly, and appropriately.

 

MEANING OF WORDS

Words have two kinds or meanings—denotative and connotative. Denotative meaning is precise, literal, and objective. It simply describes the object, person, place, idea, or event to which the word refers. One way to think of a word’s denotative meaning is as its dictionary definition.  For example, denotatively, the noun “school” means “a place, institution, or building where instruction is given.”

Connotative meaning is more variable, figurative, and subjective. It is whatever the word suggests or implies. Connotative meaning includes all the feelings, associations, and emotions that a word touches off in different people. For instance, for some people,“school” might connote personal growth. Childhood friends, and a special teacher. For others, it might connote frustration, discipline, and boring homework assignments

Speakers, like poets, often use connotation to enrich their meaning. For example:

 

Terrorists neither listen to reason nor engage in reasoning with others. Their aim is to generate fear—to frighten people into submission. They measure success by the magnitude of the fear they generate through brutal, savage acts of violence. Terrorist are prepared to kill to further whatever cause they claim to be pursuing. And the heinousness of these murders is accentuated by the fact that terrorists murder without passion. They murder with cool deliberation and deliberate planning. They are utterly amoral.

 

The underlined words in this passage have powerful connotations that are almost certain to produce a strong emotional revulsion to terrorism.

Here is another version of the same statement—this time using words with a different set of connotations:

 

Terrorists do not seek to negotiate with their opponents. They seek vuctory by using political and psychological pressure, including acts of violence that may endanger the lives of some people. To the terrorist, ultimate objectives are nore important that the means used to achieve them.

 

Which one do you think is preferable?

 

USING LANGUAGE ACCURATELY

Using language accurately is as vital to a speaker as using numbers accurately is to an accountant. Never use a word unless you are sure of its meaning. If you are not sure, look up the word in a dictionary. As you prepare your speeches, as yourself constantly, “ What do I really want to say? What do I really mean?” Choose words hat are precise and accurate.

If you look in a thesaurus, you’ll find the following words given as synonims:

 

approve                  praise                       admire                    respect

 

all mean roughly the same thing—to hold a favorabble opinion of someone or something. But all these words have different shades of emaning. See if you can fill in the best word to complete each of the sentence below:

 

1. Everyone in the class decided it was important to __________ each other’s right to voice her or his opinion.
2. Often the most encouraging thing you can do for a child is to __________ his or her creative efforts.
3. It’s up to the manager to __________ the company’s new sales plan.
4. One cannot help but __________ the dedication of Olympic athletes who train for years to capture a gold medal.

 

USING LANGUAGE CLEARLY

Using language clearly allows listeners to grasp your meaning immediately. You can ensure this by using words that are known to the average person and require no specialized background; by choosing concrete words in preference to more abstract ones; and by eliminating verbal clutter.

Concrete words refer to tangible objects—people, places, and things, they differ from abstract words, which refer to general concepts, qualities, or attributes. “Carrot,” “pencil,” “nose,” and “door” are concrete words. “Humility,” “science,” and “philosophy” are abstract words. Usually the more specific a word,the more concrete it is.

 

 

 

Let say you are talking about golf. Here are some phrases and words you might use:

 

physical activity                  abstract/general

sports

golf

professional golf

Tiger Woods                          concrete words

 

 

When you make a speech, keep you language lean and lively, beware of using several words where one or two will fo. Watch out for redundant adjectives and advers. Inexperienced speakers (and writers) tend to string together two or three synonymous adjectives, such as “a learned and educated person,” or “a hot, steamy, torrid day.”

Here is a part of a student speech that has been revised to eliminate clutter:

 

Sitting Bull was one of the most important and significant of all Native

 

American leaders. He was born in the year of 1831 near Grand River, in an area

present-day

that is now part of the state of South Dakota. A fearless and courageous warrior, he

was

ended up being elected chief of the Hunkpapa Sioux in 1867. In the following years,

 

he also attracted a large and numerous following among the tribes of the Cheyenne

today

and Arapaho. He is best known to people in this day and age for his instrumental

defeating

role in helping to lead the deafeat of General Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn

forced

in 1867. Although eventually required against his will to live his life on the Standing

 

Rock Reservation in South Dakota, he never surrendered to anyone his dignity or

 

his personal devotion to the Sioux way of life.

 

USING LANGUAGE VIVIDLY

Using language vividly helps bring your speech to life. One way to make your language more vivid is through imagery by using concrete language, simile, and metaphor.

 

Simile is an explicit comparison between things that are essentially different yet have something in common; it always contains the words “like” or “as.”

 

 

Examples:

 

fresh as daisy

fit as a fiddle

strong as an ox

blind as a bat

hungry as a bear

busy as a bee

big as a mountain

happy as a lark

light as a feather

dull as dishwater

 

 

 

 

 

Metaphor is an implicit comparison between things that are different yet have something in common; it does not contain the words “like” or “as.”

Examples:

 

America’s cities are the windows through which the world looks at American society. (Henry Cisneros)

 

With globalization, the same sea washes all humankind. We are all in the same boat. There are no safe lands. (Kofi Annan)

 

Another way to make your speeches vivid is by exploiting the rhythm of language. Four devices for creating rhythm are parallelism, repetition, alliteration, and antithesis.

Parallelism is the similar arrangement of a pair of series of related words, phrases, or sentences.

Example:

Rich and poor, intelligent and ignorant, wise and foolish, virtuous and vicious, man and woman—it is never the same, each soul must depend wholly on itself. (Elizabeth Cady Stanton)

 

We defeated communism. We defeated facism. We defeated them on the field of battle, and we defeated them on the field of ideas. (Colin Powell)

 

Repetition is the use of the same word or set of words at the beginning or end of successive clauses or sentences.

Example:

When you see your street, see my street. When you see your house, see my house. When you see your children, see my children. (Whitney Young, Jr.)

 

We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail. (George W. Bush)

 

 

 

Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant sounds of close or adjoining words.

Example:

Peace is essential for progress, but progress is no less for peace. (Liaquat Ali Khan)

 

In a nation faounded on teh promise of human dignity, our colleges, our communities, our country should chalenge hatred wherever we find it. (Hillary Rodham Clinton)

 

Antithesis is the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, usually in parallel structure.

Example:

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. (John F. Kennedy)

Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on wat happens at the White House, but what happens inside your house. (Barbara Bush)

 

 

USING LANGUAGE APPROPRIATELY

Using language appropriately means adapting to the particular occasion, audience and topic at hand. It also means developing your own language style instead of trying to copy someone else’s. if your language is appropriate in all respects, your speech is much more likely to succeed.

 

You will also be more likely to succeed if you use inclusive language in your speeches. Although the subject o inclusive language is complex and controversial, a number of inclusive usages have become so widely accepted that no aspiring speaker can afford to ignore them. They include avoiding the generic “he,” dropping the use of “man” when referring to both men and women, refraining from stereotyping jobs and social roles by gender, avoiding identifying personal traits that are unrelated to the topic, and using names that groups use to identify themselves.

Examples:

Ineffective:                             If a large comet struck the Earth, it could destroy all of mankind.

More effective:   If a large comet struck the Earth, it could destroy all of human life.

 

Ineffective:                             Each time a surgeon walks into the operating room, he risks being sued for malpractice.

More effective:                     Each time a surgeon walks into the operating room, he or she risks being sued for malpractice.

 

 

 

REVIEW QUESTION

Answer the following questions!

1. How does language help shape our sense of reality?
2. What is the difference between denotative and connotative meaning? How might you use each to convey your message more effectively?
3. What are the four criteria for using language effectively in your speeches?
4. What are three things you should do you use language clearly in your speeches?
5. What are two ways to bring your speeches to live with vivid, unanimated language?
6. What does it mean to say you should use language appropriately in your speeches?
7. Why is it important for a public speaker to use inclusive language? What are five usages of inclusive language which have become so widely accepted that no speaker can afford to ignore them?

 

Exercises for Critical Thinking

1. Arrange each of the sequences below in order, from the most abstract word to the most concrete word.
2. Housing complex, building, dining room, structure, apartment
3. Mona Lisa, art, painting, creative activity, portrait
4. Automobile, vehicle, Ferrari, transportation, sports car
5. Rewrite each of the following sentences using clear, familiar words.
6. My employment objective is to attain a position of maximum financial reward.
7. All professors at this school are expected to achieve high standards of excellence in their instructional duties.
8. In the eventuality of a fire, it is imperative that all persons evacuate the building without undue delay.
9. Each of the statements below use one or more of the following stylistic devices: metaphor, simile, parallelism, repetition, alliteration, antithesis. Identify the device (or devices) used in each statement.
10. “We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our failure. We a people in search of a national community.” (Barbara Jordan)
11. “The vice presidency is the sand trap of American politics. It’s near the prize, and designed to be limiting.” (Howard Fineman)
12. “We should not demean our democracy with the politics of distraction, denial, and despair.” (Al Gore)
13. “America is not like a blanket—one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt—many patches, many sizes, and woven and held together a common thread.” (Jesse Jackson)
14. Analyze Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dreams” below. Identify the methods King uses to make his language clear, vivid, and appropriate. Look particularly at King’s use of familiar words, concrete words, imagery, and rhythm.

I Have a Dream

By The Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr.

Aug. 28, 1963

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.