1. Good speakers respect language
Your meaning will be less effective if you use vague imprecise words, if your word order (syntax) is confusing, or if you clutter up your speech with junk words.

2. Meanings of Words
Denotative Meaning: the precise, literal, objective meaning, it describes the person, place, object, or idea to which the word refers
Connotative Meaning: this is more subjective, involving what the word suggests or implies; connotative meanings give words their intensity and emotional power.

3. Connotative Meanings
What might be the connotative meanings for some audience members of the following words:
Pro-choice
Pro-life
Pro-abortion
Anti-abortion
Anti-choice
Anti-life
Which words do adherents for each side of this issue prefer? Why?

4. Connotative Meanings
Which of these terms might be chosen by someone who is neutral about this tax? By someone who wants to keep the tax? By someone who wants to abolish the tax?
Inheritance Tax
Estate Tax
Death Tax

5. Watch Your Word Order!
What is wrong with the word order in the following sentences? How would you reword them?
Dean of Students promises to stop drinking on campus.
Excessive student drinking on campus must be stopped, Dean of Students vows.

6. Watch Your Word Order!
Robert Downey, Jr., entered the courtroom wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with slicked-back hair.
Robert Downey, Jr., his hair slicked back, entered the courtroom wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.

7. Watch Your Word Order!
Made of solid marble, I admired the majestic halls.
I admired the majestic halls, which were made of solid marble.
Rowing down the lake, the moon was romantic.
Rowing down the lake, he looked up at the romantic moon.

8. Watch Your Word Order!
Aged couple, lost, between Springfield and Cabool, bedding and clothing,
Bedding and clothing lost by aged couple between Springfield and Cabool. Call
We talked roughly for about twenty minutes.
We talked for roughly twenty minutes.

9. Using Language Accurately
Don’t use a word unless you are sure of its meaning (and know how to pronounce it!). If you don’t know it, look it up.
Mark Twain: “Use the right word, not its second cousin.”
Let’s try an exercise about precise, exact, accurate word choice!

10. Select the Most Appropriate Word:
Insisted, persisted, urged, persevered
I _______ her to treat her roommates more kindly.
Though he tried to prove his innocence, the district attorney _________ in believing him guilty.
Despite the difficulty of the job, she ______ until she completed it.
He _______ that gun control legislation will do little to reduce crimes of violence.

11. Select the Most Appropriate Word
I urged her to treat her roommates more kindly.
Though he tried to prove his innocence, the district attorney persisted in believing him guilty.
Despite the difficulty of the job, she persevered until she completed it.
He insisted that gun control legislation will do little to reduce crimes of violence.

12. Select the Most Appropriate Words
Guess, prediction, estimate, forecast
I just read the Wall Street Journal’s ______ for the economy next year.
Will you turn on the television and get the weather ______ for tomorrow?
It’s always a good idea to get a written ______ before taking your car in for repairs.
Chien doesn’t have the foggiest idea how many jelly beans are in the jar. He’s just making a _______.

13. Select the Most Appropriate Words
I just read the Wall Street Journal’s prediction for the economy next year.
Will you turn on the television and get the weather forecast for tomorrow?
It’s always a good idea to get a written estimate before taking your car in for repairs.
Chien doesn’t have the foggiest idea how many jelly beans are in the jar. He’s just making a guess.

14. Select the Most Appropriate Words snap, clap, slap, tap
I knew someone was following me through the woods when I heard a twig ____ behind me.
The insistent ____ of the flag against the pole increased the drama of the military funeral.
Sheila walked with so much spring in her step you could hear her feet ______ on the sidewalk.
All at once we heard a tremendous ____ of thunder.

15. Select the Most Appropriate Words
I knew someone was following me through the woods when I heard a twig snap behind me.
The insistent slap of the flag against the pole increased the drama of the military funeral.
Sheila walked with so much spring in her step you could hear her feet tap on the sidewalk.
All at once we heard a tremendous clap of thunder.

16. Select the Most Appropriate Words
Necessary, compulsory, unavoidable, irresistible
The final exam in this course is ______.
Milos tried to turn down the offer of a free Caribbean cruise, but in the end he found it simply _______.
Proper clothing is ______ to survive in the Arctic.
Because Crystal’s train was late, her failure to keep the appointment was ______.

17. Select the Most Appropriate Words
The final exam in this course is compulsory.
Milos tried to turn down the offer of a free Caribbean cruise, but in the end he found it simply irresistible.
Proper clothing is necessary to survive in the Arctic.
Because Crystal’s train was late, her failure to keep the appointment was unavoidable.

18. James J. Kilpatrick, writer
“Pay attention! Do not let the mind wander! Do not miss putts! These are the foremost rules for writers who write for publication.”
Some examples he gives of even professional writers using the wrong words:

19. Use the Right Word!
“The daughters of baby boomers are having their own kids, but getting married first is not necessarily a perquisite to becoming a mother, the report shows.”
Did the author of that report mean “perquisite?”
The word he wanted was “prerequisite.”

20. Use the Right Word! From the Jacksonville, N.C., Daily News:
“High tides from a northeast wind Wednesday only exasperated an already rapid erosion problem, town authorities said.”
What word was the writer looking for?
“exacerbated”

21. Use the Right Word! From the Charlotte, N.C., Observer:
A column on urban planning, the writer said, had failed to consider the migration of people from the physical work of agricultural life “to more sedimentary city life.”
What word did the writer want?
“sedentary”

22. Use the Right Word! A letter-writer in the Bend (Oregon) Bulletin:
“The events of September 11th are forming an inedible groove in the minds and lives of individuals, families, communities, states, and nations.”
“It’s something to chew on,” Kilpatrick commented.
The word he wants is “indelible.”

23. Use the Right Word!
From an advertisement for teachers and nurses to work with Native American students:
“Ours is a progressive district set in a culturally rich and anesthetically pleasing environment.”
What word did the writer want? “Aesthetically”

24. Use Familiar Words!
Eloquence is not achieved by overuse of long, unfamiliar, “fancy” words; eloquence is achieved by simplicity.
Complicated long words may sound pretentious or may even sound like gibberish.
Can you translate each of the following statements into clear, simple English?

25. Use Familiar Words!
My employment objective is to attain a position of maximum financial reward.
All professors at this school are expected to achieve high standards of excellence in their instructional duties.
In the eventuality of a fire, it is imperative that all persons evacuate the building without undue delay.
The burglar evaded security personnel and is no longer on the premises.

26. Use Familiar Words!
Some students were not cognizant of the fact that the professor made a modification in the assignment subsequent to the last class meeting.
It is highly likely that a nuclear accident would make the following steps superfluous, but there are no other known alternatives at this time.

27. Can You Understand This?
Is this a genuine affirmation that the utterances you anticipate communicating during the time period immediately succeeding the present shall be entirely veracious and devoid of deception, complete in all pertinent minutiae and particularities, and absent of all misleading obfuscation or superfluous and undocumentable specificities, on the authority of your allegiance and fidelity to the supreme deity?

28. Or, put more simply and clearly:
Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

29. Avoid Clutter!
Clutter is discourse that takes many more words than are necessary to express an idea.
Examples:
“It appears as if we are currently experiencing precipitation activity.”
“It’s raining.”
“We are facing a difficult crisis situation that will be troublesome to successfully resolve.”
“We have a crisis.”

30. Avoid Clutter!
Another type of verbal clutter: redundant adjectives and adverbs (unnecessary because the noun they modify already contains this information) and stringing together two or three adjectives or adverbs that have the same meaning.
“unsafe hazard;” which hazards are “safe” ones?
“intoxicating liquor”; is any liquor intoxication-proof?
From Elvis Presley’s tomb: “He became a living legend in his own time.” What’s wrong with this?
“Hot, torrid, steamy day;” do we need all three?

31. What Words Can You Do Without?
Rock music is such a big and important part of our lives today that it is extremely difficult to imagine a time when people lived without it. But there was once such a time.
The early 1950s were a time of bubble gum and soda pop—a pure and simple age. Then a new kind of music started coming on the scene like a huge tidal wave on a calm and quiet beach.

32. Omit Needless Words!
Rock music is such an important part of our lives today that it is difficult to imagine a time when people lived without it. But there was such a time. The early 1950s were a time of bubble gum and soda pop—a simple age. Then a new kind of music came on the scene like a tidal wave on a quiet beach.

33. What Words Can You Do Without?
A whole lot of young performers were appearing who were revolutionizing the shape of American popular music. Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis—the list is a long one that goes on and on. But one rock and roll performer stand out above the rest as the most original and innovative of them all. His name? Buddy Holly.

34. Omit Needless Words!
Young performers were revolutionizing American popular music. Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis—the list goes on and on. But one rock and roll performer stands out as the most innovative of them all. His name? Buddy Holly.

35. Use Language Vividly!
One way to make your language more vivid is to choose concrete words, words that refer to tangible people, places, and things.
Abstract words refer to general concepts, qualities, or attributes.
More concrete words give your language more power and help form images in the minds of your audiences.

36. Choose Concrete Words
Arrange the following sequences from MOST abstract to MOST concrete:
Building
Structure
Dining room
Housing complex
Apartment

37. Choose Concrete Words
Arrange the following sequence from MOST ABSTRACT to MOST CONCRETE:
Sports car
Vehicle
Transportation
Ferrari
Automobile

38. Choose Concrete Words
Arrange the following from MOST ABSTRACT to MOST CONCRETE:
Portrait
Creative Activity
Mona Lisa
Painting
Art

39. Alliteration
Repetition of the initial consonant sound in close or adjacent words.
Al Gore: “We should not demean our democracy with the politics of distraction, denial, and despair.”
Alliteration catches the attention of listeners and makes ideas easier to remember.

40. Can you change these phrases so that they contain alliteration?
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words
Can you change these phrases so that they contain alliteration?
I like a smidgen of margarine on my roll.
Bits of water that appear in morning are moving in a lively sort of way down the stem of the white-petaled flowers.
Wendy is very skillful at creating melodies by blowing through her pursed-up lips.
Will imbibes Jack Daniels but uses no h20.

41. Parallelism
Parallelism is the similar arrangement of a pair or series of related words, phrases, or sentences.
“I like fishing, hunting, and to swim.”
This sentence would be more effective as:
“I like fishing, hunting, and swimming.”

42. Parallelism: The similar arrangement of a pair or series of related words, phrases, or sentences
Can you reword these sentences so that they have parallel structure?
She tried to make her pastry fluffy, delicate, and full of sweetness.
Perch are inexpensive; cod are cheap; there’s really abundant trout here, but the salmon are best of all!

43. Parallelism
She pointed out to him the narrowness of the roads, the size and weight of their trailer, the speed of the traffic both oncoming and behind, and besides, the whole family’s in the car!
I love scary movies, horror stories, and going to parties on Halloween.

44. Parallelism
She revels in sweet chocolate eclairs, long moonlit walks, and listening to classical jazz.
I like to eat rich desserts, to play fast card games, and difficult riddles.
I hate filling out applications, typing up resumes, and to ask people to write letters of recommendation!

45. Repetition
Repetition is the use of the same word or set of words at the beginning or end of successive clauses or sentences.
“I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States senator. I speak as an American.” (Margaret Chase Smith)
Notice how much less effective this would be if she said:
“I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States senator. And I am also addressing you as an American.”

46. Repetition
We are a people in a quandry about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are a people in search of a national community.
--Barbara Jordan

47. Repetition We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,
we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender.
---- Winston Churchill

48. Simile and Metaphor
The simile is an explicit comparison, introduced with the words “like” or “as,” between things that are essentially different, yet have something in common.
“Walking into my grandparents’ home when I was a child was like being wrapped in a giant security blanket. “
“Air pollution is eating away at the monuments in Washington, D.C., like a giant Alka-Seltzer tablet.”

49. Similes and Metaphors
A simile helps the audience to visualize because it is fresh, interesting, colorful, vivid.
This is why you should avoid cliches, which are overused similes: “blind as a bat,” “fit as a fiddle,” “happy as a lark,” “light as a feather.”

50. Similes and Metaphors
A metaphor is an implicit comparison not introduced with the word “like” or “as,” between two things which are essentially different, yet having something in common.
“America’s cities are the windows through which the world looks at American society.”

51. Can you identify the similes & metaphors?
She dealt her pretty words like blades,
How glittering they shone!
And every one unbared a nerve
Or wantoned with a bone.

52. Fireflies
“Every person who loves the written word has known a firefly moment. It is the moment at which a single word ignites a sentence or a perfect phrase illuminates a page.”

53. Fireflies: vivid similes & metaphors
A simile from Charlotte Bronte: “as unromantic as Monday morning.”

54. Fireflies:Vivid Similes & Metaphors
H. G. Wells wrote that Queen Victoria was “like a great paperweight that sat upon men’s minds.”
Kilpatrick: “Look at photographs of the lady. Sure enough, a great paperweight.”

55. Fireflies: Vivid Similes & Metaphors
One writer described an exhibition by photographer Irving Penn of nude photographs; his subjects were full-bodied women, very different from Penn’s usual subjects, fashion models, “tall, reedlike women wearing trend-setting clothes on their wire hanger shoulders.”
Kilpatrick: “Look at wire coat hangers. Look at fashion models. What a lovely line!”

56. Fireflies: Vivid Similes & Metaphors
From a review of a production of Murder on the Orient Express in which Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot is the detective:
“Still a fussbudget and a fop, the new Poirot is a bit less formal than the priss with the anchovy mustache played by Albert Finney.”
Kilpatrick: “An anchovy mustache!”

57. Fireflies: Vivid Similes & Metaphors
Jerome D. Lamb writes about the Christmases of his childhood, recalling “snow and church and large perfect meals eaten with the good silver.”
Kilpatrick: “The good silver! Anyone who has lived with both everyday silver and ‘the good silver’ will recognize the image.”

58. Fireflies: Vivid Similes and Metaphors
A reporter described a prize-winning dog as “a dazzlingly white, 14-pound, intensely furry powder puff with sparkling black-current eyes.”
The morning after winning the prize, “he cranked the charm up to panda level as he made the rounds of the morning talk shows.”

59. Fireflies James J. Kilpatrick:
“Such vivid writing is what I have filed for years as ‘the good stuff.’ How do the writers bring it off?
They look intensely at the world around them, and they file away images that may come in handy someday. Charlotte Bronte thought about Monday mornings. Wells had looked at paperweights. Other writers had looked intensely at wire hangers, anchovies, pandas, and the good silver.
Go, now, and make fireflies of your own.”