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The Power of Repetition: Why It Matters in Public Speaking

Public speaking is an art; the ability to enrapture an audience with one's words, movements, and ideas is a talent that is difficult to master. Every seasoned speaker knows that one of the most powerful yet often overlooked tools in their arsenal is repetition. Repeating a word, phrase, or idea might seem like a cheap trick to some, but if used correctly, it can connect with an audience, drive a point home, and make the whole speech memorable. In this post, we’ll dive into the science behind why repetition is important, how to use it, and examples of strong and weak repetition. The human brain is wired to respond to patterns and familiarity. Repetition creates a pattern that our brain can latch onto and understand. Therefore, when a speaker uses repetition, it increases the audience's ability to recall and retain information, making the speech more memorable. Studies have found that repetition enhances learning and memory retention. By repeating critical points, ideas, and concepts, speakers help their audience retain what is essential long after the speech is over. Moreover, repetition works by leading the audience into a state of receptiveness. When someone hears a familiar idea or phrase again and again, they're more likely to believe it, even if it doesn't make sense. As a result, repetition can influence people's beliefs and opinions. After all, it's difficult to argue with something that you have heard ad nauseam. While this may seem manipulative, speakers can use repetition ethically to establish a connection with their audience and persuade them towards their point of view. However, repetition doesn't always work. Repetition becomes annoying when it's not done correctly. A speaker who repeats the same word or phrase too often might seem patronizing or worse come off as though they're talking down to their audience. In such situations, the repetition becomes counter-productive, and the audience might tune the speaker out entirely. To use repetition effectively, speakers need to mix it up. There are different types of repetition – exact repetition, partial repetition, synonym repetition, and conditional repetition. Speakers need to vary their repetition techniques, use different tones, emphasize or deemphasize their phrases, and change the pace and the duration to keep their audience engaged.

Strong repetition is used by speakers like Martin Luther King Jr. who repeated phrases like "I have a dream," in his iconic speech , making it one of the most memorable speeches of the 20th century. He used repetition to connect his audience emotionally to his vision, helping them see it as their own. Similarly, Barack Obama used repetition in his speeches, using the phrase "Yes, We Can" repetitively, inspiring hope and belief in the American people.

In contrast, weak repetition is overdone, overused, or misplaced. It can be dull, boring, and even annoying.

In conclusion, repetition is a powerful tool that can augment a speaker's skills, connect an audience emotionally, and convey a message effectively. The science behind repetition helps the brain recall and retain information, leading to better memorization of ideas and concepts. However, there is a right and wrong way to use repetition. Speakers must use it ethically, vary their techniques, and use different tones, speeds, and durations. They must also tailor their repetition to the audience and the context of their speech.

Strong repetition connects with people emotionally, while weak repetition can be cringe-worthy and unproductive. By mastering repetition, you can elevate your public speaking skills and leave your audience motivated, inspired, and informed.

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30+ Repetition Examples: 13 Types + How to Use It Effectively

• Updated: 03/04/24
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Repetition is a powerful literary tool and a fundamental element of good writing in a multitude of contexts.

It can be harnessed to emphasize a point, evoke an emotion, create rhythm, and even to underline themes in a piece of work.

This article will delve into the repetition definition, various types of repetition, and some common examples to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of what it is and how it can be effectively employed in your writing.

Whether you’re a seasoned writer or a novice looking to finesse your technique, this guide is designed to equip you with valuable insights to elevate your written work!

What is Repetition in Writing?

Repetition is the repeating of words, phrases, or ideas within a piece of writing.

It can be used in various forms such as repetition of single words, phrases, entire sentences, or even structures.

It is a literary technique that has been utilized by writers for centuries to emphasize and reinforce key points, evoke emotions, and create a memorable impact on readers.

Moreover, repetition is not limited to literature or creative writing, it is also frequently employed in advertising and public speaking to make a message stick with the audience.

Now that we have an understanding of what repetition is, let’s dive into some examples of how it can be effectively used in writing.

13 Types of Repetition With Examples

Repetition is a very versatile literary device and can be used in many different ways.

Here are 10 types of repetition, accompanied by examples of each:

1. Anaphora

Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases.

One of the most famous anaphora examples comes from Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream” speech:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” – Martin Luther King

Another example:

“ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…” – Charles Dickets, A Tale of Two Cities

2. Epistrophe

Epistrophe is similar to anaphora, but instead of repeating words or phrases at the beginning of clauses or sentences, it is repeated at the end.

An example can be found in this 2008 presidential victory speech:

“Because if we are willing to work for it and fight for it and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children…” – Barack Obama

3. Symploce

Symploce is the combination of anaphora and epistrophe, where a word or phrase is repeated at both the beginning and end of successive clauses or sentences.

A great example of repetition with symploce can be seen in ‘I Sing the Body Electric:’

“And if the body  does not do fully as much as  the soul ? And if the body  were not the soul, what is  the soul ?” – Walt Whitman

4. Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in a series of words. It is commonly used in poetry and creates a musical effect.

Some common alliteration examples include:

• From The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “So we b eat on, b oats against the current, b orne b ack ceaselessly into the past.”
• From Shakespeare’s Beowulf: “To f east his f ill of the f lesh of men.”

5. Assonance

Similar to alliteration, assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words.

It creates a musical quality to your tone of writing and can evoke certain emotions in readers.

A simple repetition example of assonance can be heard in the words “cr y ing t i me” , where there is a repetition of the long “i” sound between each of the words.

6. Consonance

Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds within words, rather than just at the beginning.

It adds a sense of rhythm and musicality to writing.

For example,  “ L aura ca ll ed to te ll  me that  L i l a had fa ll en i ll .”

The consonant sound “L” is repeated throughout this phrase.

6. Anadiplosis

Anadiplosis is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of one clause or sentence and then at the beginning of the next.

It creates a strong connection between ideas. For example:

“Fear leads to anger , anger leads to hate , hate leads to suffering.” – Yoda in Star Wars

7. Epanalepsis

Epanalepsis is the repetition of the same word or phrase at both the beginning and end of a clause or sentence.

It is used to create emphasis and make a point clear.

A famous example of repetition in literature in the form of epanalepsis is:

“ Blood hath brought blood , and blows answer to blows .” – William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Diacope is a type of repetition that occurs when the same word or phrase is repeated with other words in between.

It comes from the Greek word “diakopon” which means to cut through.

Some examples include:

• “To be , or not to be ” – William Shakespeare in Hamlet
• “ Bond . James Bond .” – James Bond movies
• “He’s so good at playing the guitar. It’s like he was born with a guitar in his hands.”

8. Polyptoton

Polyptoton is the repetition of words with different forms or tenses within a sentence.

It can add complexity and depth to writing. For example:

“I dreamed a dream.” – Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

9. Antistasis

Antistasis is the repetition of a word in a different sense or meaning within the same sentence.

It can create interesting wordplay and add depth to writing.

“ Nothing will come of nothing .” – Shakespeare, Hamlet

10. Antanaclasis

Antanaclasis is the repetition of a word or phrase in two different meanings. It can create clever wordplay and add depth to writing.

“Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.” Groucho Marx

In this example, the word flies has a different meaning in the context of time and the type of insects that love bananas.

“If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” -Vince Lombardi

11. Epimone

Epimone is a repeated phrase or question to emphasize an important point.

It can also be used as a rhetorical device to engage and persuade readers.

One example of repetition in the form of epimone can be seen below:

“All his brains are in the nape of his neck , Simon Dedalus says. Welts of flesh behind on him. Fat folds of neck , fat , neck , fat , neck .” – James Joyce, Ulysses

12. Epizeuxis

Epizeuxis is the repetition of the same words or phrases for emphasis and intensity.

It adds emotional weight to writing and can create a sense of urgency.

• “ Never , never , never give up.” – Winston Churchill
• “Oh Romeo , Romeo , wherefore art thou Romeo ?” – William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet.

13. Negative-Positive Restatement

Negative-positive restatement is the repetition of an idea in both a negative and positive form or with opposite meanings.

It can highlight contrasts and add depth to writing.

An example can be found in this famous speech:

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools .” – Martin Luther King

The concept is not repeated, but rather the idea is restated in a negative and positive form.

30 Repetition Examples

Now that you have an idea of different types of repetition, here are some other common examples in various contexts.

Repetition Examples in Literature

• “Because I do not hope to turn again. Because I do not hope . Because I do not hope to turn…” – T.S. Eliot in Ash Wednesday
• “I felt happy because I saw the others were happy and because I knew I should feel happy .” – David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest
• “I am Sam. Sam I am.” – Dr. Seuss in Green Eggs and Ham
• “And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” – Robert Frost in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
• “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole , filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit- hole , and that means comfort.” – The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Repetition Examples in Speeches and Politics

• “I have a dream.” – Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech
• “ Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy’s inauguration speech
• “We will fight on the beaches, we will fight on the landing grounds, we will fight in the fields and in the streets…” – Winston Churchill’s speech
• “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inaugural address
• “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America .” – Bill Clinton’s inaugural address

Repetition Examples in TV and Film

• “ Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. ” – The Godfather Part II
• “ With great power, comes great responsibility. ” – Spider-Man
• “I want the truth ! You can’t handle the truth !” – A Few Good Men (1992)
• “Are you talkin’ to me? Are you talkin’ to me?” – Taxi Driver
• “ Wax on. Wax off.” – The Karate Kid

Repetition Examples in Music

• “I want to break free. I want to break free.” – I Want to Break Free by Queen
• “I will follow you, Follow you wherever you may go” – I Will Follow You by Elvis Presley
• “Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be . Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.” – Let It Be by The Beatles
• “ I will always love you . I will always love you.” – I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston
• “The love you get is equal to the love you make.” – The End by The Beatles

How to Use Repetition Effectively in Writing

Here are some tips to use repetition effectively in your writing:

• Choose the right type of repetition: Consider the purpose and tone of your writing to decide which form of repetition will be most effective. For example, if you want to add emphasis or intensity, epizeuxis might be a good choice. If you want to create an emotional connection, using positive-negative restatement can be effective.
• Use repetition for emphasis: Repetition is a powerful tool to emphasize important ideas or create a sense of urgency in your writing. Use it sparingly and strategically for best effect.
• Create rhythm: Repetition can also add rhythm and flow to your writing, making it more engaging and memorable for readers.
• Avoid overusing repetition: Too much repetition can be monotonous and boring for readers. Make sure to use it sparingly and vary your language to keep readers engaged.
• Consider the context: Repetition may not always be appropriate in certain contexts, such as academic or formal writing. Consider the purpose of your writing and audience before using repetition.
• Edit with intention: After writing, review your work and check if the repetition adds value or if it can be replaced with other techniques to improve the overall impact of your writing.

So next time you’re writing something, remember the power of repetition and use it effectively to engage and persuade your readers.

FAQs About Repetition

Repetition in literature refers to the recurrent use of words, phrases, or structures for emphasis or to make a point. One classic example is Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” where the word “nevermore” is repeated at the end of several stanzas, creating a haunting effect and emphasizing the speaker’s despair.

A good sentence showcasing repetition could be, “She runs fast, she runs efficiently, she runs like the wind.” In this sentence, the repetition of the phrase “she runs” creates emphasis on the speed and skill with which she runs. This repetition not only stresses the point but also adds rhythm to the sentence.

One famous example of repetition is Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic speech, “I Have a Dream,” which repeats the phrase “I have a dream” multiple times for emphasis and to inspire hope in his audience. This repetition also adds rhythm and power to the speech, making it memorable and impactful.

Repetition is a common technique used in music to create rhythm, emphasize lyrics, or enhance the overall effect of a song. One popular example is the chorus of Beyonce’s hit song “Single Ladies,” where the phrase “if you like it then you should’ve put a ring on it” is repeated multiple times throughout the song. This repetition not only makes the chorus catchy and easy to remember, but it also reinforces the message of the song.

Key Takeaways for Writing Repetition

In conclusion, the use of repetition can greatly amplify the impact of your writing, whether it’s for a poem, a speech, or a song lyric.

When used judiciously, repetition can emphasize key points, evoke emotional responses, and create rhythm.

Famous writers, politicians, and musicians have employed this technique to bring their words to life and leave a lasting impression on their audience.

However, to avoid monotony, it is critical to use this tool sparingly and strategically.

Consider your purpose, audience, and overall context while applying repetition in your writing.

With the right balance, this literary device can turn your piece from ordinary to memorable!

How Can Repetition Be Used To Learn And Retain A Speech?

The Power of Repetition in Learning and Retaining a Speech

Repetition is a powerful tool that can be used to enhance the learning and retention of a speech. When we repeat information, it reinforces neural connections in our brain, making it easier for us to recall and retain that information. This is known as the “spacing effect,” which suggests that repeated exposure to information over time leads to better long-term retention.

One way repetition can be used to learn and retain a speech is through practice. By repeatedly practicing a speech, we become more familiar with the content and structure, making it easier for us to remember and deliver it confidently. This can be done through various techniques such as reading the speech aloud, recording ourselves, or even rehearsing in front of a mirror. Each repetition helps to solidify the information in our memory, making it more likely to stick.

Using Repetition Techniques to Enhance Speech Learning

Additionally, incorporating visual aids and gestures into the speech can also aid in repetition and retention. Visual aids, such as slides or props, can help reinforce key points and make them more memorable. Similarly, using gestures or body movements while delivering the speech can help create a kinesthetic connection to the information, making it easier to remember.

The Benefits of Repetition in Speech Learning

Repetition offers several benefits when it comes to learning and retaining a speech. Firstly, it helps to improve our confidence and fluency in delivering the speech. The more we repeat and practice, the more comfortable we become with the content, allowing us to speak more naturally and confidently.

Secondly, repetition aids in the internalization of the speech. By repeating the information, we move it from our short-term memory to our long-term memory, making it easier to recall and retrieve when needed. This is particularly important when delivering a speech, as it ensures that we can remember and articulate the key points effectively.

Lastly, repetition allows for refinement and improvement. Each repetition provides an opportunity to identify areas that need improvement, whether it be the flow of the speech, the clarity of certain points, or the overall delivery. By repeating and refining, we can enhance the quality of our speech and ensure that it resonates with the audience.

How can repetition be used to learn and retain a speech?

What are some effective ways to incorporate repetition into speech practice.

Some effective ways to incorporate repetition into speech practice include:

• Breaking the speech into smaller sections and practicing each section multiple times.
• Recording yourself delivering the speech and listening to it repeatedly to identify areas for improvement.
• Repeating the speech out loud while looking at the written text, gradually reducing reliance on the written script.
• Practicing in front of a mirror to observe and refine body language and facial expressions.

How does repetition help with memorization?

Can repetition make a speech sound monotonous, are there any potential drawbacks of relying too heavily on repetition in a speech, post navigation, previous post.

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Hrideep barot.

• Public Speaking , Speech Writing

All of us are very well acquainted with the speech “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. In the speech he used the phrase “I have a dream” 8 times. He does that to emphasize the importance of integrated and united America to the audience.

What if this repetition had not been there in this speech? Do you think that this speech would have been so famous? Speeches with repetition create an enormous impact on the audience.

Repetition is a literary device that very often is used in speeches or any piece of writing. It has a profound impact on the readers or audiences. It means to repeat words, phrases, or sounds to call attention to what is being repeated.

Here’s the game plan for this article.

Why are Speeches with Repetition so Impactful?

1. frequency, 2. nature of speech , 3. familiarity, 4. rule of 3.

• 1. Don't Cram Up
• 2. Don't Use Words Lazily
• 3. Don't Use Repetition More than 5-6 Times

1. It Persuades the Audience to Give the Theme Importance

Research paper by Lynn Hasher, David Goldstein, and Thomas Toppino has shown when a sentence or phrase is repeated over and over again it is considered to be the truth by the audience. This is called the illusory truth effect. This effect allows the audience to be on the same page with the speaker.

2. When we repeat words or phrases with the theme involved in them we strengthen the theme

An example could be a poem by Robert Frost, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”. The poem “and miles to go before I sleep” is repeated twice at the end. The poet wants to grab attention to death, but before death, he has responsibilities to fulfill. 

Please note: repetition along with the style of speaking and body language plays an integral role.

You can check out our articles on body language and learn about appropriate body language while delivering a speech, the link also takes you to articles that provide additional and intriguing information about body language. This information is often neglected but turns out to be crucial.  

3. It Gives Rhythm to the Speech 

Repetition is an integral part of poetry. Repetition gives rhythm or a pattern to poetry. That means with repetition in a poem or speech, the audience tries to anticipate the next words or phrases. 

The audience does that because they have seen the pattern in the poem or speech and therefore they automatically try to guess the next words. Hence making your speech interactive and interesting.    

Check out the victory speech given by Barack Obama, “ yes we can ”. 

4. Repetition helps in Learning and Recall

Research published by Frontier in Human Neuroscience has shown repetition helps in learning and increases memory performance for detailed and associative information. Repetition also helps in the recall of the information that is put in memory by association. 

New research by Carnegie Mellon University psychologists shows when you associate new information with previously known information chances of remembering the information increase. 

The human brain is designed in a way that information gets inside the memory when repeated. That’s also true for forming habits. A habit is formed when an activity is repeated over and over again for days.  

With repetition, you will be able to get your phrases or words inside the memory of the audience, and hence that will make people remember you and your speech. 

How can you Create Speeches with Repetition?

Choose the appropriate word, phrase, or sound according to your speech: 

The sound, word, or phrase for the speech which you want to repeat should be chosen such that it becomes easy for the brain to process it. 

Use smaller and simpler words and sentences to be accessible for the audience.

Let’s look at an example:

“I felt happy because I saw that the others were happy and because I knew I should feel happy, but I wasn’t really happy.” Roberto Bolano

The word “happy” is repeated here. Happy is the fundamental word we use to connect positive feelings with.  

The speech should be constructed in such a way that the repetition is spread out evenly throughout the speech. This allows the brain to process information. The clogged-up information overwhelms and confuses the audience.  

The Gettysburg address by former US president Abraham Lincoln is a good example of this.

If the topic you choose to speak about is highly emotional, then the repetition can be highly frequent. It gives a dramatic effect to the speech. But if the topic is informational then the repetition if used frequently can create awkwardness.

For highly informative speeches you can use phrases or words which convey the same meaning.  The audience is likely to respond optimistically with such an approach. In such a way the audience has an impression that you have thoroughly researched and studied the topic. 

Use repetition with objects with which the audience is familiar. Studies, as mentioned above, show when you associate new information with already known information the chances of remembering it increases. 

That is how the audience will remember your speech or the information you shared even when the speech is over. 

An example could be: 

“Almost nothing was more annoying than having our wasted time wasted on something not worth wasting” Joshua Ferris (Then We Came to the End)

This seems to be the story of every frustrated employee.  

History says when anything is presented in a group of three it looks or sounds or is sensed complete. Did you notice what I did there?

Let’s look at some examples: 

The three wise monkeys: “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”

Fire safety slogan: stop, drop and roll 

Rights in US declaration of independence: Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

Figures of speech that use repetition: 

Numerous figures of speech use repetition according to sound, words, phrases, etc. You can understand each of them with examples and that will give you an understanding about using them in a grammatically correct way. 

Things to Keep in Mind While you are Using Repetition

1. don’t cram up.

When you use repetition without proper intervals or jam up information, it gets difficult for the audience to process that information. The human brain is designed to take simple information at frequent intervals.

2. Don’t Use Words Lazily

When you repeat words and phrases over and over again without any purpose or definite meaning attached to them, the audience becomes disinterested. That happens because they think you do not have a better choice of words.

For example: 

I went to the garden, she was still there in the garden, and I came back home from the garden. 

3. Don’t Use Repetition More than 5-6 Times

Studies have shown moderate to low levels of repetition can serve as a great persuasive tactic. But when it is used more than that it serves the opposite purpose. Studies say the audience seems to disagree with arguments when repetition is used excessively.  

Nobody is born with the skills of King Martin Luther or Barack Obama. They practiced for hours to improve their oratory skills. So don’t be afraid of failures or mistakes, execute and make use of every opportunity you have. Learning from your failures will make you a good orator. 

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Definition of Repetition

Common examples of repetition, examples of repetition in movie lines, famous examples of repetition, differences between repetition of sounds.

In addition to using repeating words and phrases as a literary device, writers may use repetition of sounds as well. Overall, the repetition of sound can provide rhythm , pacing , and musicality to a work of poetry or prose. These types of repeated sounds are consonance , assonance , and alliteration .

Writing Repetition

It’s essential that writers bear in mind that their audience may experience fatigue if repetition is overused. As a literary device, repetition should be used deliberately and not just for the sake of repeating a word or phrase. However, when used properly, repetition can be an influential device in writing.

Sense of Rhythm

Create emphasis, purpose of repetition in literature, use of repetition in sentences, examples of repetition in literature, example 1: macbeth (william shakespeare).

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow , Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.

 Example 2: A Dog Has Died (Pablo Neruda; translated by Alfred Yankauer)

My dog has died. I buried him in the garden next to a rusted old machine. Some day I’ll join him right there, but now he’s gone with his shaggy coat, his bad manners and his cold nose, and I, the materialist, who never believed in any promised heaven in the sky for any human being, I believe in a heaven I’ll never enter. Yes, I believe in a heaven for all dogdom where my dog waits for my arrival waving his fan-like tail in friendship.

Neruda achieves this through the poet stating that he does not believe in a heaven for humans, but he does believe in a heaven for dogs. The fact that the poet will “never enter” this heaven for “dogdom” indicates his realization that the dog’s death means a permanent separation of their friendship. Through this repetition of heaven as a concept for dogs but not humans, the reader gains an even greater sense of the grief the poet must be experiencing. The image of the dog waiting for his human’s arrival in heaven is therefore even more heartbreaking.

Example 3: The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (Carson McCullers)

But the hearts of small children are delicate organs. A cruel beginning in this world can twist them into curious shapes. The heart of a hurt child can shrink so that forever afterward it is hard and pitted as the seed of a peach. Or again, the heart of such a child may fester and swell until it is a misery to carry within the body, easily chafed and hurt by the most ordinary things.

Synonyms of Repetition

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13.2 Using Language Effectively

Learning objectives.

• Explain what it means to use appropriate language.
• Explain what is meant by vivid language.
• Define inclusive language and explain why using it is important for public speakers.
• Explain the importance of using familiar language in public speaking.

Kimba Howard – megaphone – CC BY 2.0.

When considering how to use language effectively in your speech, consider the degree to which the language is appropriate, vivid, inclusive, and familiar. The next sections define each of these aspects of language and discuss why each is important in public speaking.

Use Appropriate Language

As with anything in life, there are positive and negative ways of using language. One of the first concepts a speaker needs to think about when looking at language use is appropriateness. By appropriate, we mean whether the language is suitable or fitting for ourselves, as the speaker; our audience; the speaking context; and the speech itself.

Appropriate for the Speaker

One of the first questions to ask yourself is whether the language you plan on using in a speech fits with your own speaking pattern. Not all language choices are appropriate for all speakers. The language you select should be suitable for you, not someone else. If you’re a first-year college student, there’s no need to force yourself to sound like an astrophysicist even if you are giving a speech on new planets. One of the biggest mistakes novice speakers make is thinking that they have to use million-dollar words because it makes them sound smarter. Actually, million-dollar words don’t tend to function well in oral communication to begin with, so using them will probably make you uncomfortable as a speaker. Also, it may be difficult for you or the audience to understand the nuances of meaning when you use such words, so using them can increase the risk of denotative or connotative misunderstandings.

Appropriate for the Audience

The second aspect of appropriateness asks whether the language you are choosing is appropriate for your specific audience. Let’s say that you’re an engineering student. If you’re giving a presentation in an engineering class, you can use language that other engineering students will know. On the other hand, if you use that engineering vocabulary in a public speaking class, many audience members will not understand you. As another example, if you are speaking about the Great Depression to an audience of young adults, you can’t assume they will know the meaning of terms like “New Deal” and “WPA,” which would be familiar to an audience of senior citizens. In other chapters of this book, we have explained the importance of audience analysis; once again, audience analysis is a key factor in choosing the language to use in a speech.

Appropriate for the Context

The next question about appropriateness is whether the language you will use is suitable or fitting for the context itself. The language you may employ if you’re addressing a student assembly in a high school auditorium will differ from the language you would use at a business meeting in a hotel ballroom. If you’re giving a speech at an outdoor rally, you cannot use the same language you would use in a classroom. Recall that the speaking context includes the occasion, the time of day, the mood of the audience, and other factors in addition to the physical location. Take the entire speaking context into consideration when you make the language choices for your speech.

Appropriate for the Topic

The fourth and final question about the appropriateness of language involves whether the language is appropriate for your specific topic. If you are speaking about the early years of The Walt Disney Company, would you want to refer to Walt Disney as a “thaumaturgic” individual (i.e., one who works wonders or miracles)? While the word “thaumaturgic” may be accurate, is it the most appropriate for the topic at hand? As another example, if your speech topic is the dual residence model of string theory, it makes sense to expect that you will use more sophisticated language than if your topic was a basic introduction to the physics of, say, sound or light waves.

Use Vivid Language

After appropriateness, the second main guideline for using language is to use vivid language. Vivid language helps your listeners create strong, distinct, clear, and memorable mental images. Good vivid language usage helps an audience member truly understand and imagine what a speaker is saying. Two common ways to make your speaking more vivid are through the use of imagery and rhythm.

Imagery is the use of language to represent objects, actions, or ideas. The goal of imagery is to help an audience member create a mental picture of what a speaker is saying. A speaker who uses imagery successfully will tap into one or more of the audience’s five basic senses (hearing, taste, touch, smell, and sight). Three common tools of imagery are concreteness, simile, and metaphor.

Concreteness

When we use language that is concrete , we attempt to help our audiences see specific realities or actual instances instead of abstract theories and ideas. The goal of concreteness is to help you, as a speaker, show your audience something instead of just telling them. Imagine you’ve decided to give a speech on the importance of freedom. You could easily stand up and talk about the philosophical work of Rudolf Steiner, who divided the ideas of freedom into freedom of thought and freedom of action. If you’re like us, even reading that sentence can make you want to go to sleep. Instead of defining what those terms mean and discussing the philosophical merits of Steiner, you could use real examples where people’s freedom to think or freedom to behave has been stifled. For example, you could talk about how Afghani women under Taliban rule have been denied access to education, and how those seeking education have risked public flogging and even execution (Iacopino & Rasekh, 1998). You could further illustrate how Afghani women under the Taliban are forced to adhere to rigid interpretations of Islamic law that functionally limit their behavior. As illustrations of the two freedoms discussed by Steiner, these examples make things more concrete for audience members and thus easier to remember. Ultimately, the goal of concreteness is to show an audience something instead of talking about it abstractly.

The second form of imagery is simile . As you probably learned in English courses, a simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared. Both aspects being compared within a simile are able to remain separate within the comparison. The following are some examples:

• The thunderous applause was like a party among the gods.
• After the revelation, she was as angry as a raccoon caught in a cage.
• Love is like a battlefield.

When we look at these two examples, you’ll see that two words have been italicized: “like” and “as.” All similes contain either “like” or “as” within the comparison. Speakers use similes to help an audience understand a specific characteristic being described within the speech. In the first example, we are connecting the type of applause being heard to something supernatural, so we can imagine that the applause was huge and enormous. Now think how you would envision the event if the simile likened the applause to a mime convention—your mental picture changes dramatically, doesn’t it?

To effectively use similes within your speech, first look for instances where you may already be finding yourself using the words “like” or “as”—for example, “his breath smelled like a fishing boat on a hot summer day.” Second, when you find situations where you are comparing two things using “like” or “as,” examine what it is that you are actually comparing. For example, maybe you’re comparing someone’s breath to the odor of a fishing vessel. Lastly, once you see what two ideas you are comparing, check the mental picture for yourself. Are you getting the kind of mental image you desire? Is the image too strong? Is the image too weak? You can always alter the image to make it stronger or weaker depending on what your aim is.

The other commonly used form of imagery is the metaphor , or a figure of speech where a term or phrase is applied to something in a nonliteral way to suggest a resemblance. In the case of a metaphor, one of the comparison items is said to be the other (even though this is realistically not possible). Let’s look at a few examples:

• Love is a battlefield .
• Upon hearing the charges, the accused clammed up and refused to speak without a lawyer.
• Every year a new crop of activists are born .

In these examples, the comparison word has been italicized. Let’s think through each of these examples. In the first one, the comparison is the same as one of our simile examples except that the word “like” is omitted—instead of being like a battlefield, the metaphor states that love is a battlefield, and it is understood that the speaker does not mean the comparison literally. In the second example, the accused “clams up,” which means that the accused refused to talk in the same way a clam’s shell is closed. In the third example, we refer to activists as “crops” that arise anew with each growing season, and we use “born” figuratively to indicate that they come into being—even though it is understood that they are not newborn infants at the time when they become activists.

To use a metaphor effectively, first determine what you are trying to describe. For example, maybe you are talking about a college catalog that offers a wide variety of courses. Second, identify what it is that you want to say about the object you are trying to describe. Depending on whether you want your audience to think of the catalog as good or bad, you’ll use different words to describe it. Lastly, identify the other object you want to compare the first one to, which should mirror the intentions in the second step. Let’s look at two possible metaphors:

• Students groped their way through the maze of courses in the catalog.
• Students feasted on the abundance of courses in the catalog.

While both of these examples evoke comparisons with the course catalog, the first example is clearly more negative and the second is more positive.

One mistake people often make in using metaphors is to make two incompatible comparisons in the same sentence or line of thought. Here is an example:

• “That’s awfully thin gruel for the right wing to hang their hats on” (Nordquist, 2009).

This is known as a mixed metaphor, and it often has an incongruous or even hilarious effect. Unless you are aiming to entertain your audience with fractured use of language, be careful to avoid mixed metaphors.

Our second guideline for effective language in a speech is to use rhythm. When most people think of rhythm, they immediately think about music. What they may not realize is that language is inherently musical; at least it can be. Rhythm refers to the patterned, recurring variance of elements of sound or speech. Whether someone is striking a drum with a stick or standing in front of a group speaking, rhythm is an important aspect of human communication. Think about your favorite public speaker. If you analyze his or her speaking pattern, you’ll notice that there is a certain cadence to the speech. While much of this cadence is a result of the nonverbal components of speaking, some of the cadence comes from the language that is chosen as well. Let’s examine four types of rhythmic language: parallelism, repetition, alliteration, and assonance.

Parallelism

When listing items in a sequence, audiences will respond more strongly when those ideas are presented in a grammatically parallel fashion, which is referred to as parallelism . For example, look at the following two examples and determine which one sounds better to you:

• “Give me liberty or I’d rather die.”
• “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Technically, you’re saying the same thing in both, but the second one has better rhythm, and this rhythm comes from the parallel construction of “give me.” The lack of parallelism in the first example makes the sentence sound disjointed and ineffective.

As we mentioned earlier in this chapter, one of the major differences between oral and written language is the use of repetition . Because speeches are communicated orally, audience members need to hear the core of the message repeated consistently. Repetition as a linguistic device is designed to help audiences become familiar with a short piece of the speech as they hear it over and over again. By repeating a phrase during a speech, you create a specific rhythm. Probably the most famous and memorable use of repetition within a speech is Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of “I have a dream” in his speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 1963 during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In that speech, Martin Luther King Jr. repeated the phrase “I have a dream” eight times to great effect.

Alliteration

Another type of rhythmic language is alliteration , or repeating two or more words in a series that begin with the same consonant. In the Harry Potter novel series, the author uses alliteration to name the four wizards who founded Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. There are two basic types of alliteration: immediate juxtaposition and nonimmediate juxtaposition. Immediate juxtaposition occurs when the consonants clearly follow one after the other—as we see in the Harry Potter example. Nonimmediate juxtaposition occurs when the consonants are repeated in nonadjacent words (e.g., “It is the p oison that we must p urge from our p olitics, the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late”) (Obama, 2008). Sometimes you can actually use examples of both immediate and nonimmediate juxtaposition within a single speech. The following example is from Bill Clinton’s acceptance speech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention: “Somewhere at this very moment, a child is b eing b orn in America. Let it be our cause to give that child a h appy h ome, a h ealthy family, and a h opeful future” (Clinton, 2005).

Assonance is similar to alliteration, but instead of relying on consonants, assonance gets its rhythm from repeating the same vowel sounds with different consonants in the stressed syllables. The phrase “how now brown cow,” which elocution students traditionally used to learn to pronounce rounded vowel sounds, is an example of assonance. While rhymes like “free as a breeze,” “mad as a hatter,” and “no pain, no gain” are examples of assonance, speakers should be wary of relying on assonance because when it is overused it can quickly turn into bad poetry.

Use Inclusive Language

Language can either inspire your listeners or turn them off very quickly. One of the fastest ways to alienate an audience is through the use of noninclusive language. Inclusive language is language that avoids placing any one group of people above or below other groups while speaking. Let’s look at some common problem areas related to language about gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disabilities.

Gender-Specific Language

The first common form of noninclusive language is language that privileges one of the sexes over the other. There are three common problem areas that speakers run into while speaking: using “he” as generic, using “man” to mean all humans, and gender typing jobs.

Generic “He”

The generic “he” happens when a speaker labels all people within a group as “he” when in reality there is a mixed sex group involved. Consider the statement, “Every morning when an officer of the law puts on his badge, he risks his life to serve and protect his fellow citizens.” In this case, we have a police officer that is labeled as male four different times in one sentence. Obviously, both male and female police officers risk their lives when they put on their badges. A better way to word the sentence would be, “Every morning when officers of the law put on their badges, they risk their lives to serve and protect their fellow citizens.” Notice that in the better sentence, we made the subject plural (“officers”) and used neutral pronouns (“they” and “their”) to avoid the generic “he.”

Use of “Man”

Traditionally, speakers of English have used terms like “man,” “mankind,” and (in casual contexts) “guys” when referring to both females and males. In the second half of the twentieth century, as society became more aware of gender bias in language, organizations like the National Council of Teachers of English developed guidelines for nonsexist language (National Council of Teachers of English, 2002). For example, instead of using the word “man,” you could refer to the “human race.” Instead of saying, “hey, guys,” you could say, “OK, everyone.” By using gender-fair language you will be able to convey your meaning just as well, and you won’t risk alienating half of your audience.

Gender-Typed Jobs

The last common area where speakers get into trouble with gender and language has to do with job titles. It is not unusual for people to assume, for example, that doctors are male and nurses are female. As a result, they may say “she is a woman doctor” or “he is a male nurse” when mentioning someone’s occupation, perhaps not realizing that the statements “she is a doctor” and “he is a nurse” already inform the listener as to the sex of the person holding that job. Speakers sometimes also use a gender-specific pronoun to refer to an occupation that has both males and females. Table 13.1 “Gender Type Jobs” lists some common gender-specific jobs titles along with more inclusive versions of those job titles.

Table 13.1 Gender Type Jobs

Ethnic Identity

Another type of inclusive language relates to the categories used to highlight an individual’s ethnic identity. Ethnic identity refers to a group an individual identifies with based on a common culture. For example, within the United States we have numerous ethnic groups, including Italian Americans, Irish Americans, Japanese Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Cuban Americans, and Mexican Americans. As with the earlier example of “male nurse,” avoid statements such as “The committee is made up of four women and a Vietnamese man.” Instead, say, “The committee is made up of four women and a man” or, if race and ethnicity are central to the discussion, “The committee is made up of three European American women, an Israeli American woman, a Brazilian American woman, and a Vietnamese American man.” In recent years, there has been a trend toward steering inclusive language away from broad terms like “Asians” and “Hispanics” because these terms are not considered precise labels for the groups they actually represent. If you want to be safe, the best thing you can do is ask a couple of people who belong to an ethnic group how they prefer to label themselves.

Sexual Orientation

Another area that can cause some problems is referred to as heterosexism. Heterosexism occurs when a speaker presumes that everyone in an audience is heterosexual or that opposite-sex relationships are the only norm. For example, a speaker might begin a speech by saying, “I am going to talk about the legal obligations you will have with your future husband or wife.” While this speech starts with the notion that everyone plans on getting married, which isn’t the case, it also assumes that everyone will label their significant others as either “husbands” or “wives.” Although some members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender/transexual community will use these terms, others prefer for more gender neutral terms like “spouse” and “partner.” Moreover, legal obligations for same-sex couples may be very different from those for heterosexual couples. Notice also that we have used the phrase “members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender/transexual community” instead of the more clinical-sounding term “homosexual.”

The last category of exclusive versus inclusive language that causes problems for some speakers relates to individuals with physical or mental disabilities. Table 13.2 “Inclusive Language for Disabilities” provides some other examples of exclusive versus inclusive language.

Table 13.2 Inclusive Language for Disabilities

Use Familiar Language

The last category related to using language appropriately simply asks you to use language that is familiar both to yourself and to your audience. If you are not comfortable with the language you are using, then you are going to be more nervous speaking, which will definitely have an impact on how your audience receives your speech. You may have a hard time speaking genuinely and sincerely if you use unfamiliar language, and this can impair your credibility. Furthermore, you want to make sure that the language you are using is familiar to your audience. If your audience cannot understand what you are saying, you will not have an effective speech.

Key Takeaways

• Using appropriate language means that a speaker’s language is suitable or fitting for themselves, as the speaker; our audience; the speaking context; and the speech itself.
• Vivid language helps listeners create mental images. It involves both imagery (e.g., concreteness, simile, and metaphor) and rhythm (e.g., parallelism, repetition, alliteration, and assonance).
• Inclusive language avoids placing any one group of people above or below other groups while speaking. As such, speakers need to think about how they refer to various groups within society.
• Using familiar language is important for a speaker because familiar language will make a speaker more comfortable, which will improve audience perceptions of the speech.
• Watch the news and find an example of someone using inappropriate language. Why did the speaker use inappropriate language? How could the speaker have prevented the use of inappropriate language?
• Watch a presidential press conference or a political speech. Identify the uses of imagery and rhythm. How did the imagery and rhythm help the speech? Can you think of other ways the speaker could have used imagery and rhythm?
• Why is inclusive language important? Write down the various groups you belong to in life; how would you want these groups to be referred to by a speaker? Share your list with a friend or classmate and see if that person reaches the same conclusions you do. If there are differences in your perceptions, why do you think those differences are present?

Clinton, W. J. (2005). My life . New York, NY: Vintage Books, p. 421.

Iacopino, V., & Rasekh, Z. (1998). The Taliban’s war on women: A health and human rights crisis in Afghanistan . Boston, MA: Physicians for Human Rights.

National Council of Teachers of English (2002). Guidelines for gender-fair use of language . Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/genderfairuseoflang .

Nordquist, R. (2009). Mixed metaphor . Retrieved from About.com at http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/mixmetterm.htm

Obama, B. (2008, January 20). The great need of the hour. Remarks delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta. Retrieved from http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/the_great_need_of_the_hour.html

Stand up, Speak out Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Repetition Definition

What is repetition? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Repetition is a literary device in which a word or phrase is repeated two or more times. Repetition occurs in so many different forms that it is usually not thought of as a single figure of speech . Instead, it's more useful to think of repetition as being a category that covers a number of more specific figures of speech, all of which use repetition in different ways.

Some additional key details about repetition:

• Figures of speech that employ repetition usually repeat single words or short phrases, but some can involve the repetition of sounds while others might involve the repetition of entire sentences.
• Repeating information has been scientifically shown to increase the likelihood of changing people's minds. The persuasive power of repetition is one of the reasons it is so common.

Repetition Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce repetition: rep-ih- tish -un

Figures of Speech that Use Repetition

There are many different figures of speech that use repetition, all in different ways. These figures of speech can vary in the things they repeat (sounds, words, phrases, etc.) as well as in the specific order in which the repeated words appear in clauses or sentences. The most common repetition figures of speech are:

• Alliteration : The repetition of the same sound in a group of words, such as the “b” sound in: “Bob brought the box of bricks to the basement.” The repeating sound must occur either in the first letter of each word, or in the stressed syllables of those words.
• Anadiplosis : Occurs when a word or group of words located at the end of one clause or sentence is repeated at or near the beginning of the following clause or sentence. This line from the novelist Henry James is an example of anadiplosis: "Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task."
• Anaphora : The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences. For example, Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech contains anaphora: "So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania..."
• Antanaclasis : A repetition of a word or phrase in which the that word or phrase means something different each time it appears. A famous example of antanaclasis is Benjamin Franklin's statement that: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
• Antimetabole : The repetition of a phrase, but with the order of words reversed. John F. Kennedy's words, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," is a famous example of antimetabole.
• Assonance : The repetition of the same vowel sound within a group of words. An example of assonance is the repetition of the "oo" sound in: "Who gave Newt and Scooter the blue tuna? It was too soon!"
• Consonance : The repetition of the same consonant sound within a group of words. An example of consonance is the repetition of the "f" sound in: "Traffic figures to be tough on July Fourth."
• Diacope : The repetition of a word or phrase with a small number of intervening words. The repetition of "unhappy" in the first line of Anna Karenina is an example of diacope, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," is an example of diacope.
• Epanalepsis : Occurs when the beginning of a clause or sentence is repeated at the end of that same clause or sentence, with words intervening. The sentence "The king is dead, long live the king!" is an example of epanalepsis.
• Epistrophe : In epistrophe, one or more words repeat at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln urged the American people to ensure that, "government of the people, by the people, for the people,shall not perish from the earth." His repetition of "the people" at the end of each clause is an example of epistrophe.
• Epizeuxis : The repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, with no words in between. When the character Kurtz in Heart of Darkness says, "The horror, the horror," that's an example of epizeuxis.
• Polysyndeton : Occurs when coordinating conjunctions—words such as "and," "or," and "but" that join other words or clauses in a sentence into relationships of equal importance—are used several times in close succession, particularly where conjunctions would normally not be present at all. For instance, the following sentence contains polysyndeton: "We ate roast beef and squash and biscuits and potatoes and corn and cheese and cherry pie."
• Polyptoton : Occurs when words that share the same root, but are not identical, are repeated. The question, "Who shall watch the watchmen?" is an example of polyptoton.
• Refrain : In a poem or song, a refrain is a line or group of lines that regularly repeat, usually at the end of a stanza in a poem or at the end of a verse in a song. In a speech or other prose writing, a refrain can refer to any phrase that repeats a number of times within the text.

Repetition Examples

Here are additional examples from literature for each of the most common figures of speech that use repetition.

Repetition Example from Literature: Alliteration

This example from lines 5-6 of the Prologue of Romeo and Juliet has two sets of alliteration, one with “f” sounds and one with “l” sounds.

F rom f orth the f atal l oins of these two f oes A pair of star-cross'd l overs take their l ife;

Repetition Example from Literature: Anadiplosis

In Lolita , the morally bankrupt Humbert Humbert defends his relationship to the young Lolita to an imagined jury. Here, he reveals that what he presented as another person's letter was actually written by him, ostensibly from memory.

What I present here is what I remember of the letter , and what I remember of the letter I remember verbatim (including that awful French.)

A tactic of his deceit involves convincing the jury of the improbable—that is, that he remembers a letter verbatim—and his use of anadiplosis as a persuasion tool reflects both his charming and incredibly slimy personality.

Repetition Example from Literature: Anaphora

In this short excerpt from The Great Gatsby , F. Scott Fitzgerald uses anaphora in a description of the apartment that Tom Buchanan keeps as a secret location for his extramarital affair. The anaphora emphasizes the smallness of this gaudy apartment, which also reflects the pettiness of the affair.

The apartment was on the top floor— a small living-room, a small dining-room, a small bedroom, and a bath.

Repetition Example from Literature: Antanaclasis

Shakespeare often used antanaclasis in his plays. For instance, in Act V of Henry V a character named Pistol promises to sneak off to England and there engage in crime:

To England will I steal, and there I'll steal.

Repetition Example from Literature: Antimetabole

The dashing trio's rallying cry in The Three Musketeers is a famous example of antimetabole. The saying has remained in circulation until today—in part because antimetabole makes it so memorable.

All for one and one for all !

Repetition Example from Literature: Assonance

In these lines from Book XII of Lattimore's translation of Homer's Iliad the assonance helps reinforce the lulling effect of the winds' sleep:

"When Zeus ... st i lls the w i nds asleep i n the sol i d dr i ft ..."

Repetition Example from Literature: Consonance

In this line from chapter 9 of Moby-Dick , the " s " and " h " sounds mirror the activity of the scene—singing—by making the prose musical.

Nearly all joined in s inging thi s h ymn, which s welled h igh about the h owling of the s torm ...

Repetition Example from Literature: Diacope

In Othello , just before he kills Desdemona in Act V, Othello utters this line that contains the repetition of diacope:

Put out the light , and then put out the light .

It's worth noting that Othello's line here is also an example of antanaclasis, as he is using "put out the light" to mean two different things.

Repetition Example from Literature: Epanalepsis

In this excerpt from a speech by Ralph Nader, the repetition of "minimum wage" underscores its role as a major concern in both his speech and his political priorities.

A minimum wage that is not a livable wage can never be a minimum wage .

Repetition Example from Literature: Epistrophe

In this example from Chapter 28 of the The Grapes of Wrath , Steinbeck's use of epistrophe in Tom Joad's farewell dialog with his mother emphasizes Joad's desire both to provide her with some reassurance and continue to be there for her:

Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there . Wherever they's a cop beaten' up a guy, I'll be there ...I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'—I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. An' when our folk eat the stuff they raise n'live in the houses they build—why, I'll be there .

Joad's repetition of his presence wherever poor people need help also emphasizes his dedication to the cause he believes in, and turns him into an almost mythological or godly presence who is always there to protect and support the downtrodden.

Repetition Example from Literature: Epizeuxis

One of the most famous examples of epizeuxis occurs in Hamlet , as Hamlet is speaking to (and mocking) Polonious in Act 2. When Polonius asks Hamlet what he's reading, Hamlet responds:

Words, words, words.

Here Hamlet both mocks what he sees as the stupidity of Polonious's question, but at the same time the repetition communicates a kind of awful weariness, in which Hamlet can't bring himself to care about the meaning of the words.

Repetition Example from Literature: Polysyndeton

Bob Dylan won the nobel prize for literature for the genius of his lyrics. His song "Masters of War" shows how polysyndeton can be used to build a specific emotion:

" And I hope that you die And your death'll come soon I will follow your casket In the pale afternoon And I'll watch while you're lowered Down to your deathbed And I'll stand over your grave 'Til I'm sure that you're dead"

Anger and disgust are palpable in the final lines of this song of protest against the politicians behind the Vietnam War. By using polysyndeton, Dylan continues to add phrase after phrase, far beyond where listeners might expect him to stop, to fully communicate the depth of his fury and his hatred for the politicians he calls the "masters of war."

Repetition Example from Literature: Polyptoton

In Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida , the character Troilus uses polyptoton three times in two lines. In all three cases, the repetition emphasizes the might of the Greeks:

The Greeks are strong and skillful to their strength , Fierce to their skill and to their fierceness valiant;

Repetition Example from Literature: Refrain

These are the first two stanzas of a song from Shakespeare's play, Twelfth Night . This poem actually contains a "double refrain," because it has two lines that repeat as refrains in each stanza.

When that I was and a little tiny boy, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, A foolish thing was but a toy, For the rain it raineth every day. But when I came to man’s estate, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, ’Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate, For the rain it raineth every day.

Why Do Writers Use Repetition?

Given the large number of figures of speech that use repetition, it stands to reason that writers use repetition for all sorts of different reasons. That said, it's possible to describe some general reasons that writers might choose to use repetition:

• Emphasis: The repetition of a word or phrase naturally serves to highlight it's importance within a text and as a thing or idea.
• Persuasion: Scientific studies have shown that simply repeating something is one of the most effective ways to convince people of its truth. Figures of speech that use repetition are common in speeches for just this reason.
• Contrast: Sometimes by repeating the same thing in slightly different contexts it is possible to illuminate contrasts. For instance, in the sentence, "What you own ends up owning you," the repetition of "own" highlights the contrast or twist in the sentence, which argues that the things you buy to improve your life can end up limiting and influencing your life choices.
• Rhythm: Repetition creates a natural rhythm, like beats of a drum, within a sentence. Repetition, then, is not just valuable for how it can allow a writer to control the meaning of sentences. It also can help a writer to affect the feel of those sentences.

Other Helpful Repetition Resources

• Wikipedia entry on repetition : A pretty basic discussion of repetition as a device.
• Youtube video on repetition : This video covers the basics of repetition.

• Alliteration
• Anadiplosis
• Antanaclasis
• Antimetabole
• Epanalepsis
• Figure of Speech
• Polysyndeton
• Deus Ex Machina
• Figurative Language
• Point of View
• Characterization
• Formal Verse

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

• 11 Tips for Giving a Great Speech

Chances are you’ll be asked to give speeches or presentations in classes at school. If you get involved in volunteer groups, brief speeches to open events or thank participants are a must. Then there are the speeches at events such as weddings, as well as speeches that you might have to give in the workplace. That amounts to the average person being required to give quite a lot of speeches, even if they don’t get involved in an area such as politics where the ability to give a good speech becomes even more important. You might also have suffered through quite a number of bad speeches from other people – whether that’s at family events where the microphone squeaks the whole way through or a school presentation where the headteacher can’t quite make the jokes work. If you don’t want to inflict the same sort of experience on others, here are our top tips for giving a great speech.

1. Practise your microphone technique

2. Keep it short

Particularly at something like a party or a wedding, no one will be unhappy if your speech runs a little short; it’ll just give them more time to investigate the canapés. If you are giving a speech for a class in school, and it’ll be assessed, you need to prioritise keeping it within the required time limits. But even under these circumstances, if you’ve been tasked – say – with giving a 10-15 minute speech, it’s usually better to come in nearer the 10 than the 15 minute mark. Put simply, even if your speech is terrible, your audience can probably tolerate it for 10 minutes. Much longer, and they’ll be struggling. This shouldn’t limit what you can cover; in the film Up , the whole of Carl and Ellie’s heartbreaking love story is told in under 12 minutes. Do you really need longer to make your points? Achieve brevity by writing out the speech you would give if you had all the time in the world, and then cut anything that seems extraneous or boring.

3. Consider what your audience wants to hear

If you are giving a speech in class because it’s your assignment, what your audience wants to hear is likely to be “the bell ringing for lunch”; you can’t help them there. But under other circumstances, consider what your audience wants to hear and what you want to say, and strive for there to be as much overlap as possible. In the context of a political speech, for instance, what you want to say might be why your party should receive votes; what your audience wants to hear is what your party would do for them, if they won power. Hopefully it should be possible to write a speech that meets both sets of needs, rather than focusing solely on whatever it is that you want to say and leaving your audience disappointed.

4. Pick a theme and stick to it

Here’s a goal for giving a speech: someone sitting near the back, who’s messing around on their phone for at least two-thirds of it and focusing mainly on how long it will be until lunch, should nonetheless be able to give a reasonably accurate answer to the question, “what was it about?” If you’re supposed to be giving a speech in defence of the nuclear deterrent, for example, both the topic and your position on it should be clearly identifiable. This means – to stick with the nuclear deterrent example – not talking for a while about jobs, and then the wider economy, and then the North-South divide, and then Scottish independence, and then Ukraine with a brief digression into South Ossetia before rounding off by squeaking out “and that’s why we should renew Trident!” seconds before you run out of time – no matter how relevant that cornucopia of topics may feel (and they are all relevant, albeit tenuously). It means that even if you do have to take a while to explain a more complex idea, you need to be concise, and bring it back to your theme as quickly as you can.

5. Speak slowly

Most people speak more quickly than they realise when they’re on stage, especially if they’re nervous. But no one will be able to follow your speech if you’re jabbering it out. Thankfully, this one is easy to fix with a little effort and practise. First of all, figure out how quickly you’re actually speaking: do a word count for your speech and then time yourself saying it. A fast speaker will speak at maybe 160 words per minute, a slow speaker at 100 wpm and an average speaker at 130 wpm. For a formal speech, you want to be speaking on the slow side. While this will vary by culture and environment, 120 wpm is a reasonable target to aim for; slow enough that everyone should be able to understand you, and fast enough that you hopefully won’t be sending them to sleep.

6. Tell a couple of jokes

This is a tricky tip because there are lots of pitfalls in the world of telling jokes. For instance, there’s the temptation to include an in-joke that three of your friends will understand and find hilarious, that is utterly baffling to everyone else in the room. Avoid this – if you include any jokes, witty references or anything along those lines, make sure they are accessible to everyone present. All the same, if you can manage a joke or two, it can be a useful way to break up a speech and retain the audience’s interest. A little self-deprecation (not too much!) or the use of classic joke formats such as “the scene was chaotic; it looked as if a bomb had hit and we didn’t know where to start on repairs – but that’s enough about the hen party…” work nicely even if you’re not very confident. Don’t turn it into a stand-up comedy sketch if you’re not a comedian, don’t wait for ages for laughter that’s not showing up, and don’t make jokes at the expense of anyone who you don’t know for sure can take it.

7. Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself if you need to

If you follow US or UK politics at all, you’ve probably heard some of these phrases recently: take back control, make America great again, long-term economic plan, son of a bus driver. Three of these have already led the party or people they’re associated with to electoral victory; the fourth remains to be seen. To take the ‘son of a bus driver’ as an example, this refers to Sadiq Khan, now Mayor of London. There can be hardly anyone in London who doesn’t know what their Mayor’s dad did for a living. Meanwhile, many of them probably can’t remember his rival Zac Goldsmith’s name, let alone anything he said during the campaign. The point is that repetition works. In pursuit of point 4, if you want people to remember your key theme, you’re going to have to say it more than once. Don’t assume that everyone will have paid attention to everything you’ve said, unless you’re in a classroom setting where they’ll get told off if they don’t.

8. Only use the visual aids you need

This tip applies to two things: PowerPoints and notes. If you can do without either (and your assignment allows it), then do. Every time you’re glancing over your notes or up at the screen, fiddling with the laptop to get the slide to move on, fighting with a video that isn’t working or struggling to read your own handwriting, is time that you’re not spending engaging with your audience. A well-written, clear speech delivered without notes is always going to be better than someone awkwardly reading aloud the bullet points on their PowerPoint slides. If you must do a presentation – for instance, because there are photos that need to be included – have as little text on it as possible, preferably none. That way, if there are people at the back who can’t really see the screen through the sea of heads in front of them, they’ll still be able to follow what you’re saying.

9. Get a friend to check for awkward mannerisms

Mannerisms that are entirely fine in normal life become awkward and strange when you’re speaking in public. Perhaps you’re inclined to fiddle with your hair or your cuffs, you rock back and forth on the balls of your feet, or you have a habit of reaching your hand to your cheek when you’re talking. No one would notice in everyday conversation, but when you’re on a stage, it’ll become all they’ll see. Some of this is easily avoidable – for instance, if you have long hair that you’re inclined to twirl or otherwise fiddle with, tie it up. For other mannerisms, get the critical friend who helped you sort out your microphone technique to tell you what they are, and do your best to suppress the more annoying ones.

10. Look around the room

Talking about eye contact usually has the effect of making normal eye contact a lot harder, and so does giving a speech. All of a sudden, you’re up on stage, and you have no idea what a normal way to look at a group of people is. Some speakers deal with this by picking a point in the middle distance and speaking to it; others by picking a particular person near to the back and addressing their entire speech at them. This is obviously no fun for that person, who probably spends the whole thing feeling extremely uncomfortable, but it’s not too weird for everyone else. Better still, though, if you can manage it, is to look slowly and steadily around the room, trying to make eye contact with a decent range of people, before returning to the middle distance for a while, rinse and repeat. This needs to be slow and steady, or you give the impression that you’ve just smelled smoke and are casting about for a fire exit before the stampede beings.

11. Don’t be scared of a good reaction

If your speech is genuinely engaging, funny, inspiring or any of the other things you might hope it would be, your audience will react to it. There might be laughter, or applause, or even a bit of cheering depending on the setting. This can be daunting because when you’re practising your speech in front of your bedroom mirror, there’s no way to prepare for it. And it’s where even the best speakers can go wrong, by launching straight into what they were going to say next without waiting for the laughter or applause to stop, or by looking painfully awkward while it’s going on. It’s a pitfall that’s mostly solved by being aware it might happen. If your audience is applauding you or otherwise reacting well, it’s OK to smile, look up, wait for them to stop and then keep going with your speech – it’s as simple as that. You could even throw in a “thank you” before you continue in the knowledge that it’s all going well. Image credits: microphones ; audience ; boy with microphone ; clock ; winding road ; enjoy a joke ; sticky notes ; 

10 Tips for Improving Your Public Speaking Skills

Few are immune to the fear of public speaking. Marjorie North offers 10 tips for speakers to calm the nerves and deliverable memorable orations.

Marjorie North

Snakes? Fine. Flying? No problem. Public speaking? Yikes! Just thinking about public speaking — routinely described as one of the greatest (and most common) fears — can make your palms sweat. But there are many ways to tackle this anxiety and learn to deliver a memorable speech.

In part one of this series,  Mastering the Basics of Communication , I shared strategies to improve how you communicate. In part two, How to Communicate More Effectively in the Workplace , I examined how to apply these techniques as you interact with colleagues and supervisors in the workplace. For the third and final part of this series, I’m providing you with public speaking tips that will help reduce your anxiety, dispel myths, and improve your performance.

Here Are My 10 Tips for Public Speaking:

1. nervousness is normal. practice and prepare.

All people feel some physiological reactions like pounding hearts and trembling hands. Do not associate these feelings with the sense that you will perform poorly or make a fool of yourself. Some nerves are good. The adrenaline rush that makes you sweat also makes you more alert and ready to give your best performance.

The best way to overcome anxiety is to prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. Take the time to go over your notes several times. Once you have become comfortable with the material, practice — a lot. Videotape yourself, or get a friend to critique your performance.

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2. Know Your Audience. Your Speech Is About Them, Not You.

Before you begin to craft your message, consider who the message is intended for. Learn as much about your listeners as you can. This will help you determine your choice of words, level of information, organization pattern, and motivational statement.

3. Organize Your Material in the Most Effective Manner to Attain Your Purpose.

Create the framework for your speech. Write down the topic, general purpose, specific purpose, central idea, and main points. Make sure to grab the audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds.

4. Watch for Feedback and Adapt to It.

Keep the focus on the audience. Gauge their reactions, adjust your message, and stay flexible. Delivering a canned speech will guarantee that you lose the attention of or confuse even the most devoted listeners.

5. Let Your Personality Come Through.

Be yourself, don’t become a talking head — in any type of communication. You will establish better credibility if your personality shines through, and your audience will trust what you have to say if they can see you as a real person.

6. Use Humor, Tell Stories, and Use Effective Language.

Inject a funny anecdote in your presentation, and you will certainly grab your audience’s attention. Audiences generally like a personal touch in a speech. A story can provide that.

7. Don’t Read Unless You Have to. Work from an Outline.

Reading from a script or slide fractures the interpersonal connection. By maintaining eye contact with the audience, you keep the focus on yourself and your message. A brief outline can serve to jog your memory and keep you on task.

8. Use Your Voice and Hands Effectively. Omit Nervous Gestures.

Nonverbal communication carries most of the message. Good delivery does not call attention to itself, but instead conveys the speaker’s ideas clearly and without distraction.

9. Grab Attention at the Beginning, and Close with a Dynamic End.

Do you enjoy hearing a speech start with “Today I’m going to talk to you about X”? Most people don’t. Instead, use a startling statistic, an interesting anecdote, or concise quotation. Conclude your speech with a summary and a strong statement that your audience is sure to remember.

10. Use Audiovisual Aids Wisely.

Too many can break the direct connection to the audience, so use them sparingly. They should enhance or clarify your content, or capture and maintain your audience’s attention.

Practice Does Not Make Perfect

Good communication is never perfect, and nobody expects you to be perfect. However, putting in the requisite time to prepare will help you deliver a better speech. You may not be able to shake your nerves entirely, but you can learn to minimize them.

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About the Author

North is a consultant for political candidates, physicians, and lawyers, and runs a private practice specializing in public speaking, and executive communication skills. Previously, she was the clinical director in the department of speech and language pathology and audiology at Northeastern University.

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Public speaking basics: Why you need to repeat yourself when you speak

Ceos and business leaders:  when you have a crucial point to make – and you need to drive it home – don’t ignore the power of repetition as one of the public speaking basics you need to master..

“Where was he going with that story?” my irritated husband complained. “He was all over the place! What was the point?”

What was the point?

I tried my best to articulate where I thought the minister was going – just to make my husband feel a little better about the time we’d just spent sitting in church, listening.

But I fell short.

I could not piece together any clear takeaways.

Why was that?

Because the minister failed to repeat himself.

Now that sounds like a bad thing.

After all, if you’ve ever had a teenager to raise (and we’ve raised three of them), you might be inclined not to repeat yourself when you deliver a speech or make a presentation.

That’s likely because that teenager you raised never ceased to remind you the moment you started to repeat yourself.

(I can’t count the number of times over the years when my youngest daughter stopped me – while I was likely on a soapbox – with a tart and saucy plea: “Mom. STOP. Please! You just said that.”)

But that is not the kind of repetition I’m talking about here.

When it comes to public speaking basics, there’s a fundamental need for repetition.

In fact, there is power in repetition.

If you believe in your message and care about your audience, you need to start repeating yourself.

You can’t just say it once .

You have to say it twice .

Three times.

And sometimes even more than that .

Let me explain what I mean.

REPETITION BENEFITS YOU, THE SPEAKER

1 – repeating a key statement or phrase reminds you to decide upfront why you are speaking in the first place.

That may sound too basic.

But believe me, it’s not.

Whether you are a leader talking to an internal audience of employees – or to an external audience of customers, suppliers or peers – you need to make this decision upfront.

That’s because this decision will drive the one main message you must have to frame your entire talk.

Your one main message is the starting point for crafting a key statement or phrase that you will repeat – in one form or another – at the right moments throughout your presentation.

The minister we heard last weekend did not decide on one main message .

And he did not craft a repeatable key statement or phrase .

And that is why he was – as my husband said – “all over the place.”

2 – Repeating a key statement or phrase motivates you to SIMPLIFY your language

Whenever I’m drafting a client’s speech , one of my public speaking basics is to carefully craft the one main message and put it in a box – front and center – on page 1 of the outline.

With one main message as a starting point, I can then simplify – boil the essence down even further – and select the precise words that bear repeating.

Something short and catchy – easy to remember.

Here are some examples of key statements and phrases from several award-winning client speeches – simple, repeatable language – based on the one main message anchoring each speech:

• “Never stop jumping”
• “Sharing, trusting and helping”
• “Keep your eyes on the prize”
• “Work better together”
• “Think different”
• “Master the fundamentals”

3 – Repeating a key statement or phrase compels you to DISCARD extraneous points that distract or detract

Once you land on the key statement or phrase to be repeated, it serves as a beacon – a way forward to help you decide what points to leave in – and what points to take out .

“Never stop jumping” became my guiding light. It helped me quickly sort through all the potential stories and points I could have made so I could easily choose the essential points that had to be made.

As a result, the speech stayed laser-focused: If employees wanted to move the company forward, they had to be bold. They had to take risks. They had to agree to “never stop jumping.”

A side note: You have some flexibility here.

The speech mentioned above had a few variations on the “never stop jumping” theme. All of them included the word “jump”:

• “One jump at a time”
• “New jumps”
• “Go ahead and jump”
• “Take a risk and make a jump”

REPETITION BENEFITS YOUR AUDIENCE

1 – repeating a key statement or phrase tells the audience “this must be important”.

Think about it: The more you hear a key statement or phrase repeated in a speech, the more your brain tells you that this statement or phrase must be something important .

And so you start to pay more attention .

Repetition helps your audience quickly sort and rank what’s most relevant while they are listening. It has the power to elevate an idea above everything else the audience is hearing. That’s why repetition is one of the public speaking basics you need to understand and apply.

Take a look at these five excerpts from a 30-minute speech.

They purposely repeat a simple phrase – “master the fundamentals” – to convince employees in the audience that they must take this step to move the organization forward.

I believe this: That your ability to master the fundamentals will free you to innovate – and contribute to our collective success.

And – as the wrights discovered – mastering the fundamentals of anything unique and different is hard work., your ability to master these fundamentals will sustain the future of this organization., … that’s your job: to create the future by continuing to innovate. but you can’t do that unless you master the fundamentals of our philosophy, our business model and our five key principles., mastering the fundamentals makes all the difference., if the wright brothers had not mastered the fundamentals of control, the airplane would have never been a safe or practical means of transportation – across the country … around the world … and into space., and if the first and second generations … had not mastered the fundamentals of our unique and different philosophy, business model and key principles – we would have never been able to create and sustain an organization where opportunity exists for everyone., 2 – repeating a key statement or phrase tells the audience “this must be true”.

Consider this fact, which often plays out in political discourse:

The more you hear a key statement or phrase repeated in a presentation, the more you begin to believe that surely this statement or phrase is true.

And so you are persuaded.

You begin to believe.

Repetition has the power to convince people that what you are saying is true.

It can help you win people over – and change the way they think or behave .

Take a look at these excerpts from another client’s speech.

The speaker five times repeated a simple key phrase – “think different” – to convince the audience that they can reduce high employee turnover in call centers by changing the way they hire.

I bet every person in this room recognizes these words from Apple’s 1997 advertising campaign, “ Think different .”

A tv commercial helped steve jobs launch one of the greatest turnarounds in business history. this commercial began by saluting a long line of revolutionaries – the “crazy ones” like albert einstein. dr. martin luther king jr. and amelia earhart. people who changed the world., think different. i believe that’s exactly what our industry needs to do – think different – about a universal challenge we all face, whether we’re a call center, contact center, order processing center or service center …, what is this so-called universal challenge we face, you know it because you’ve complained about it. you’ve suffered through it. and you’re still frustrated by it., it’s called high turnover. and it’s everywhere, “ … we see it over and over again, every single day: the more screening you do, the more likely you are to hire right – and reduce turnover. and reducing turnover improves the customer experience., so think different , more training and more technology won’t solve your turnover problem., but the right hiring will., i believe if we have any hope of moving our service centers forward – from good to great – we must change the way we hire our people., some might think it’s crazy. but others will see genius., what will you see, but more importantly – what will you do, will you think different , will you be someone crazy enough to change your world, 3 – repeating a key statement or phrase tells the audience “this must be something to remember”.

If you have an important point to make – but you don’t make it well – there’s no going back.

Instead, there’s a good chance your audience will get hopelessly and endlessly lost and confused because they cannot rewind or reread what you just said .

That is exactly what happened when my husband and I heard that minister last weekend.

Because we were hopelessly and endlessly lost, we could not remember what he said.

His message did not stick because it was not repeated.

It was not reinforced .

It was not ingrained in our memory .

So what he said was impossible to recall.

That is why repetition is such a useful tool – not only to achieve understanding but also the ability to remember .

Had we been able to recall what the minister said, we would have been able to think more about it – and perhaps more importantly – act on it later .

REPEAT AFTER ME

• Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech in 1851
• President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address on “freedom” and “peace” in 1961
• Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963
• President Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech in 2008
• Oprah Winfrey’s “Their Time is Up” speech in 2018

If you want to master public speaking basics , imitating what great speakers do makes sense.

So in spite of what your teenager may be telling you, go ahead and repeat yourself.

Say it again.

Remind your audience what’s important.

What’s true .

And what they need to remember .

After all, what you have to say bears repeating.

Do you need to create a speech or presentation that resonates? 

Work with  teresa zumwald , an  award-winning speechwriter and speech coach ., contact us  today .

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31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

What is a rhetorical device and why are they used.

As with all fields of serious and complicated human endeavor (that can be considered variously as an art, a science, a profession, or a hobby), there is a technical vocabulary associated with writing. Rhetoric is the name for the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion, and though a writer doesn’t need to know the specific labels for certain writing techniques in order to use them effectively, it is sometimes helpful to have a handy taxonomy for the ways in which words and ideas are arranged. This can help to discuss and isolate ideas that might otherwise become abstract and confusing. As with the word rhetoric itself, many of these rhetorical devices come from Greek.

Ready, set, rhetoric.

The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables

wild and woolly, threatening throngs

Syntactical inconsistency or incoherence within a sentence especially : a shift in an unfinished sentence from one syntactic construction to another

you really should have—well, what do you expect?

Repetition of a prominent and usually the last word in one phrase or clause at the beginning of the next

rely on his honor—honor such as his?

A literary technique that involves interruption of the chronological sequence of events by interjection of events or scenes of earlier occurrence : flashback

Repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect

we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground

The repetition of a word within a phrase or sentence in which the second occurrence utilizes a different and sometimes contrary meaning from the first

we must all hang together or most assuredly we shall all hang separately

The usually ironic or humorous use of words in senses opposite to the generally accepted meanings

this giant of 3 feet 4 inches

The use of a proper name to designate a member of a class (such as a Solomon for a wise ruler) OR the use of an epithet or title in place of a proper name (such as the Bard for Shakespeare)

The raising of an issue by claiming not to mention it

we won't discuss his past crimes

An expression of real or pretended doubt or uncertainty especially for rhetorical effect

to be, or not to be: that is the question

Harshness in the sound of words or phrases

An inverted relationship between the syntactic elements of parallel phrases

working hard, or hardly working?

A disjunctive conclusion inferred from a single premise

gravitation may act without contact; therefore, either some force may act without contact or gravitation is not a force

The substitution of a disagreeable, offensive, or disparaging expression for an agreeable or inoffensive one

greasy spoon is a dysphemism for the word diner

Repetition of a word or expression at the end of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect

of the people, by the people, for the people

Emphatic repetition [ this definition is taken from the 1934 edition of Webster's Unabridged dictionary ]

An interchange of two elements in a phrase or sentence from a more logical to a less logical relationship

you are lost to joy for joy is lost to you

A transposition or inversion of idiomatic word order

judge me by my size, do you?

Extravagant exaggeration

mile-high ice-cream cones

The putting or answering of an objection or argument against the speaker's contention [ this definition is taken from the 1934 edition of Webster's Unabridged dictionary ]

Understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary

not a bad singer

The presentation of a thing with underemphasis especially in order to achieve a greater effect : UNDERSTATEMENT

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them ( Metaphor vs. Simile )

drowning in money

A figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated

crown as used in lands belonging to the crown

The naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it

A combination of contradictory or incongruous words

cruel kindness

The use of more words than those necessary to denote mere sense : REDUNDANCY

I saw it with my own eyes

A figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced by "like" or "as"

cheeks like roses

The use of a word in the same grammatical relation to two adjacent words in the context with one literal and the other metaphorical in sense

she blew my nose and then she blew my mind

A figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (such as fifty sail for fifty ships ), the whole for a part (such as society for high society ), the species for the genus (such as cutthroat for assassin ), the genus for the species (such as a creature for a man ), or the name of the material for the thing made (such as boards for stage )

The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words usually in such a manner that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one

opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy

MORE TO EXPLORE: Rhetorical Devices Used in Pop Songs

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Understanding the features of a successful speech

I can understand what features are often found in successful speeches and why they are used.

Lesson details

Key learning points.

• A speech should have a clear purpose.
• A speech may use techniques such as rhetorical questions or repetition.

Common misconception

All speeches must include all of the features included in this lesson.

A good speech may include some of these features but it is not essential that all are used.

Features - Features are the parts or characteristics that make something unique.

Repetition - Repetition means doing or saying something over and over again.

Rhetorical questions - Rhetorical questions are questions that do not require an answer.

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Literary Techniques for your Speech, with Examples Analyzed

March 2, 2021 - Dom Barnard

Planned use of language has a major impact on how your speech is received by the audience. Saying the right words at the right time, and in the right way, can achieve a specific impact.

Use language to achieve impact

Careful use of language has produced many powerful speeches over the years. Here are a few literary devices you can employ for your next speech.

Rhetorical Questions

Start your next presentation with an open question. It engages the audience and gets them thinking about your speech early on. Use questions throughout and leave pauses after, letting the audience think about an answer.

Pause at the Right Moment

This adds impact to sentence just before or after the pause. This is a good literary technique to use for the key message of your speech. Don’t be afraid to wait 3-5 seconds before speaking, adding maximum impact to your words.

Messages and words are remembered best in groups of three. The power of three is used in all aspects of speaking in public and by the media. Couple words in groups of three with alliteration for maximum impact, such as “They grew up with a long, lasting, love for each other.”

Repeat the Key Point

A technique used frequently by politicians, a word needs to be said on average 5 times before the audience begins to take in what is being said.

Dramatic Contrast

Contrasting two points, such as “Ten years ago we had a reputation for excellence. Today, we are in danger of losing that reputation.”

For additional literary techniques, check out these links:

• Stylistic Devices (Rhetorical Devices, Figures of Speech)
• BBC Literary Techniques

Spend time planning which of these language techniques you will use in your speech. You can add these in after your first draft of the speech has been written.

Two great speeches analyzed

1. martin luther king – i have a dream, transcript snippet.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

Literary devices and techniques used

Anaphora  – Repetition of the “I have a dream” phrase at the beginning of each sentence.

Metonymy  – The phrase “The let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia… Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee… Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi“, King uses these well-known racist locations to enhance his point.

Hyperbole  – King uses the words ‘all’ and ‘every’ many times, exaggerating his point, “when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city”

Alliteration  – used throughout the speech, alliterations add a poetic quality to the speech, for example this sentence “judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Amplification  – King repeats many of his points a second time, with greater emphasis and explanation the second time, “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.”

Speeches which mastered literary techniques

• Martin Luther King, Jr. – I Have A Dream
• Winston Churchill – We shall fight on the beaches
• John F. Kennedy – Inaugural Address
• Margaret Thatcher – The Lady’s Not For Turning
• Barack Obama – The Audacity Of Hope
• Elizabeth Gilbert – Your Creative Genius
• J. K. Rowling – Harvard Commencement Address

For addition detail on these speeches, check out  this article  on speeches that changed the world.

2. Winston Churchill – We shall fight on the beaches

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. 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.

And if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

Anaphora  – The repetition of the phrase “we shall fight” can be seen in the transcript snippet. This adds dramatic emphases on the words he is saying in these paragraphs.

Alliteration  – Churchill uses repetition of letters to emphasize the dark time Europe was in, “I see also the dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery plodding on like a swarm of crawling locusts” and “your grisly gang who work your wicked will.”

Antistrophe  – The repetition of words at the end of successive sentences, “the love of peace, the toil for peace, the strife for peace, the pursuit of peace“.

Hypophora  – Churchill asks various questions and then answers them himself, “You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air” and “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word, it is victory”.

Rule of Three  – Churchill uses this literary technique in many of his speeches, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning” and “Never before in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many, to so few”.

Easy to use literary techniques for your next speech

Rhetoric Question

Start your next speech with a rhetoric question – “Who here has used a virtual reality headset?”

Repetition of Phrase

Repeat a key phrase around 5 times throughout the speech, the phrase should be short – “Virtual reality is changing the world”.

Use the Rule of Three

Emphasize a product or service by describing it with three words – “Our software is faster, cheaper and easier to use”. For greatest impact on your audience, combine this with alliteration.

Ask a question then immediately answer it – “How many virtual reality headsets were sold last month? Over 2 million.”

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What to Do When You’re Losing Your Audience During a Presentation

• Dorie Clark

Four tips for when the phones come out.

Effective speakers have to ensure that audiences are actually listening to their remarks. If you notice people starting to drift off, try four techniques: 1) Move around the room. You don’t want to overdo this maneuver, but used judiciously, it keeps audience members guessing where you’ll go next, which means their eyes are trained on you. 2) Speed up or slow down the pace of your remarks. When you deliberately change speed, people take note. 3) Lower your voice. So often, the impulse when people aren’t paying attention is to go louder, faster, and noisier. Go for the unexpected and get quiet. 4) Introduce a story or analogy. If your presentation has gotten too technical, citing a real-world parallel can help make your point in a way everyone can understand.

You can tell when an audience has stopped listening to you during a presentation. Phones come out, and attendees surreptitiously text underneath the table. Instead of leaning forward and nodding along with your points, they begin slouching or tapping their feet. The more brazen may even start whispering to one another.

• Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist and keynote speaker who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. Her latest book is The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World (HBR Press, 2021) and you can receive her free Long Game strategic thinking self-assessment .

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Nervous about making a speech? Life Kit can help

Nervous about making a speech life kit can help..

It can be anxiety-inducing to deliver a speech in front of an audience. NPR's Life Kit talks with a speechwriter and a speech coach to get their best tips for public speaking.

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