Speech Writing
What do you already
know about speech
writing?
• Summarise the main points of
the speech.
• What is the speaker arguing?
• What language features do you notice in the
speech?
Simile, metaphor, repetition, list of three,
personification, etc..
A Ripe Forest
• A – Alliteration
• R _ Rhetorical Qs
• I _ Imperative
• P _ Personification
• E _ Emotive languages
• F _ Figurative language
• O_ Onomatopoeia
• R _ Repetition
• E_ Exaggeration
• S _ Statistics
• T _ Triples/ rules of three
• What type of words do the speech used and
why?
• What sort of vocabulary speaker use and
why?
• What effect the choice of vocabulary having
on the reader?
• How do the speaker persuade the audience
of their main message?
• How is it Persuasive?
• How is it persuasive to the audience?
Speech’s purpose will depend on a text, but usually
it’s either:
• To persuade, a mayor giving a speech to his town
about a new law
• To inform, e.g., an employee giving a speech at
their company about improvements that will be
made
Speech’s audience
• Read the question carefully_ it always changes!
From past papers:
• A director to employees at their company
• Students to other students
• A safari guide giving instructions to tourists
Speech’s tone
…..it depends!
Which character have you been asked to write as? What
type of personality do they have? Who are they giving
the speech to?
Most often the tone is formal or semi-formal
It’s rarely ever a very persuasive political speech,
usually more informative and factual
[Link] is the tone? Give some examples.
[Link] do you notice about my language choices?
[Link] do you notice about my punctuation?
[Link] features make the speech sound more
spoken?
Address your audience
A speech is given in spoken form to a live audience… so
talk to them.
You can open your speech with these phrases:
• Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for gathering here
today!
• Hello everyone and welcome to my talk about ….
• I’m so pleased to see such bright and smiling audience
like you!
[Link] is the tone? Give some examples.
[Link] do you notice about language choices?
[Link] do you notice about punctuation?
[Link] features make the speech sound more
spoken?
Personal Pronouns
You should use collective and personal pronouns to
speak directly to your audience and be more persuasive.
• Collective pronouns: we, our , us
• Personal pronouns: you, your, yours
Rhetorical questions
• A rhetorical question is a question that doesn’t require an answer
• They are a persuasive technique to make the audience think or to
suggest the answer to your question is so obvious it doesn’t need a
response
• What will you do in your community? What will your children in
years to come?
Repetition
• Repeat words or phrases for emphasis
• Remember a speech is meant to be read aloud;
repetition sounds great!
• I have a dream that one day all people will be
peaceful. I have a dream that one day our
society can heal itself. My dream, our dream?
We can achieve this dream together as one,
strive together as one.
Tirples
• Triples means repeating a word or a phrase three
times.
• We must fight, we must strive, we must
march on
• And what did we gain from these
reckless, endeavors, impressive?
Nothing.
Emotive Language
• You should use emotional and powerful language
• Think about your vocabulary choices
• Do you think it’s right to watch our children starve
while the rich grow fatter in their mansions? Should
we watch as innocents wither and die, the house
empty, their souls abandoned by very society, who
was charged to protect them?
Us versus them
• The speaker often evokes the image of ‘us’ versus ‘them’.
• This means the speaker and the audience are united against a
common enemy
• We, our, us Vs they, their, theirs
• But we know the power of community, of course,
working together for a common cause. They desire to
destroy, to use their hands to
