Practice Questions

It may be asked "In what respect do speeches differ from a pamphlet or magazine article?" There is an essential difference. Speech has a human element lacking in the written word, because speech is communication between the speaker and his audience face to face. This fact should be ever present to the speaker's mind both when preparing and delivering the speech. People addressed each other by word of mouth long before they wrote. Speech, therefore, is more primitive and human than written matter. Public speaking not only admits but demands characteristics which would be blemishes in compositions intended to be read. The attention of the bad audience must be held, arguments repeated, and free use made of analogies and illustrations. For this reason good speakers are often bad writers, while good writers are rarely effective speakers.
​A speech is a brief, short-lived, episodic production meant to create an immediate effect not only upon the matter it conveys but also upon the delivery which enables the speaker to influence his hearers. From this point of view, personality is the thing that counts for most. In written compositions it stands for little or nothing. The quality of the written word is the only thing that matters. The author may be repulsive but he is invisible. He looks at you only through the printed page. The speaker is judged by what he is or what he appears to be. No man can achieve wide distinction as a speaker unless he can impress an audience face to face. That is the acid test of oratory, high or low. That is how the speaker makes his reputation.

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