Utilitarianism chapter 2

Sierra wants to give a speech about sports. She has some great ideas about the role of sports in modern society and has done the research to make her points. But she has a problem: There is serious competition for her speech—sports! Sports, in-person and televised, are exciting, and she knows that 's why people like sports so much. But that means they won't be interested in a bunch of dry arguments and data about sports. So Sierra has a public speaking challenge: How can she give a sports talk that will be nearly as exciting as the real thing? Sierra has to make the right choices about verbal style.

Overview

Speakers often worry about the way they say words— which is important (note that delivery is the subject of the next chapter). But the words you choose to say are just as, or more, important. In ordinary life, we don't think about our words too much; we just talk. Yet, when we want our words to have impact, we should choose them carefully. In addition, we have to take responsibility for our words, and words sometimes can be hurtful or offensive. In a public speaking situation, when we expect people to remember our words and take them seriously, we will have to spend more time thinking about them and choosing them.

MindTap®

Start with a warm-up activity about Sierra 's speech, and review the chapter 's Learning Objectives.

INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS STYLE, AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Now that you have figured out the basic thrust of what you want to say and how you want to organize and support it, the next challenge is to figure out exactly how to express the ideas you want to convey—in other words, the considerations of Style , the wording choices you will make to achieve the goals of your speech.

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style Word choices made to achieve the goals of a speech.

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MindTap®

Read, highlight, and take notes online.

This chapter will give you a set of stylistic techniques for making word choices that you can integrate into your speeches. We can't tell you how to phrase everything in your speech, because so much about phrasing is unique to you as a speaker and to the audience you are addressing. But we can offer a number of tried-and-true stylistic forms that have been used effectively in great speeches. In the next chapter, we'll complete our discussion of delivery by discussing the nonverbal parts of speaking; of course, there is sense in which that is a kind of “style,” but for this chapter (and this book), “style” means the choice of words and use of language.

Style exploits one of the most powerful features of language—that there are many different ways of saying the same thing. For instance, you could say, “It 's hot outside, and I'm tired.” Or you might say, “It 's an oven outside, and I'm beat.” Or perhaps you like more formal expressions: “Oh, this insufferable heat—it 's left me feeling fatigued.” If you try, you probably could come up with dozens of different ways of saying the same thing.

Expressing your thoughts in words is an art of making choices. You have choices about how you say what you want to say, and these choices are important because different choices can convey different impressions about your topic. Striking just the right verbal style for your topic and the occasion will help you achieve your speaking goals. Perhaps you want to evoke a straightforward informational tone; perhaps you want to convey some particularly significant material in a playful and even artful way. Whatever you want to achieve, the style you choose matters. 1