Developing YOUR Oral Style

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Developing YOUR Oral Style
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Elements of Oral Style Oral style is the way we
each use language to express our ideas. If we
sound bored and as if we couldnt care less
whats going on, your audience will feel the same
way.
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Oral Style

• All of your effort will be lost if you use
  inappropriate or vague language. You must
  consider the following
• Clarity
• Force
• Beauty

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Clarity
Clear word choice and clear organization is a
must.

• Word choice clear and simple!
• Word meanings be sure the meaning of the word
  is what YOU mean for it to be (the connotation).
• Word order ideas should be phrased as simply as
  possible.

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FORCE

• Refers to the intensity or energy of your
  message.
• Short, choppy sentences tend to give an urgent
  sound.
• Fluid, long sentences tend to give a more relaxed
  sound.

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Beauty

• Like an artist chooses colors for her art, you
  must choose your words carefully.
• Visual image
• Emotional element
• Sound

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Visual Image

• Paint pictures with your words.
• What you create in the minds of audience members
  can impact your effectiveness.
• Which of these two are more vivid?
• mighty giants, towering over the forest floor
• Or
• really big trees

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EmotionalElement
Sound

• Some words cause more of an emotional response
  than others.
• she died vs. she was murdered

• Harsh words, such as dark and growling, tend to
  evoke negative feelings. Soft words, such as
  lush and purring, tend to bring positive
  feelings.

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Improve Your Oral Style

• Write out parts of your speech you are likely to
  forget to rehearse from.
• Use figurative language in your presentations.
• This will make your speech more artistic, visual
  and memorable.

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Figurative Terms

• Similes include the words like or as and compare
  two things that are seemingly different it will
  make your skin soft as a bunnys tail.
• Metaphors do the same, without the words like or
  as youll sleep on a pocket of air.
• Personification is to bring to life inanimate
  objects in your speaking. The wind whispered to
  the trees.

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Stylistic Devices

• Rhythm can add appeal to your presentation.
  Rhythm helps words fit together in a musical
  style. If they can conceive it and believe it,
  they can achieve it!
• Alliteration is a repetition of beginning
  consonant sounds. Sail in to Sammys for some
  satisfying sushi.

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Rhetorical Devices

• Rhetorical Questions are to achieve a reaction
  from the audience they are not meant to be
  answered. Have you ever used drugs?

• Parallelism is arranging sentences so that words
  and phrases are similar in length and structure.
  You repeat a keyword or statement. I have a
  dream and let freedom ring are used as
  parallels.

• Antithesis involves pairing opposing words or
  ideas together. live and let die.

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Linking Ideas Clearly

• Transitions clarify the change from one thought
  to another. They close the previous point before
  beginning the next. It tells the audience you
  are moving to the next point.

• Signposts label main ideas as main ideas. My
  first point is, next, and finally.

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Previews and Summaries

• These provide listening clues, remember to
  Tell them what you are going to tell them, TELL
  THEM, then tell them what youve told them.
• Internal previews are helpful, I want you to
  consider three causes for this problem Ive just
  given you.