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The 4 types of speeches

Informative, demonstrative, persuasive and special occasion.

By:  Susan Dugdale  | Last modified: 01-31-2024

There are four main types of speeches or types of public speaking.

• Demonstrative
• Special occasion or Entertaining

To harness their power a speaker needs to be proficient in all of them: to understand which speech type to use when, and how to use it for maximum effectiveness.

What's on this page:

An overview of each speech type, how it's used, writing guidelines and speech examples:

• informative
• demonstrative
• special occasion/entertaining
• how, and why, speech types overlap

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Informative speeches

An informative speech does as its name suggests: informs. It provides information about a topic. The topic could be a place, a person, an animal, a plant, an object, an event, or a process.

The informative speech is primarily explanatory and educational.

Its purpose is not to persuade or influence opinion one way or the other. It is to provide sufficient relevant material, (with references to verifiable facts, accounts, studies and/or statistics), for the audience to have learned something. 

What they think, feel, or do about the information after they've learned it, is up to them.

This type of speech is frequently used for giving reports, lectures and, sometimes for training purposes. 

Examples of informative speech topics:

• the number, price and type of dwellings that have sold in a particular suburb over the last 3 months
• the history of the tooth brush
• how trees improves air quality in urban areas
• a brief biography of Bob Dylan
• the main characteristics of Maine Coon cats
• the 1945 US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• the number of, and the work of local philanthropic institutions
• the weather over the summer months
• the history of companion planting 
• how to set up a new password
• how to work a washing machine

Click this link if you'd like more informative topic suggestions .  You'll find hundreds of them.

And this link to find out more about the 4 types of informative speeches : definition, description, demonstration and explanation. (Each with an example outline and topic suggestions.)  

Demonstration, demonstrative or 'how to' speeches

A demonstration speech is an extension of an informative process speech. It's a 'how to' speech, combining informing with demonstrating.

The topic process, (what the speech is about), could either be demonstrated live or shown using visual aids.

The goal of a demonstrative speech is to teach a complete process step by step.

It's found everywhere, all over the world: in corporate and vocational training rooms, school classrooms, university lecture theatres, homes, cafes... anywhere where people are either refreshing or updating their skills. Or learning new ones.

Knowing to how give a good demonstration or 'how to' speech is a very valuable skill to have, one appreciated by everybody.

Examples of 'how to' speech topics are:

• how to braid long hair
• how to change a car tire
• how to fold table napkins
• how to use the Heimlich maneuver
• how to apply for a Federal grant
• how to fill out a voting form
• how to deal with customer complaints
• how to close a sale
• how to give medicine to your cat without being scratched to bits! 

Resources for demonstration speeches

1 . How to write a demonstration speech   Guidelines and suggestions covering:

• choosing the best topic : one aligning with your own interests, the audience's, the setting for the speech and the time available to you
• how to plan, prepare and deliver your speech - step by step guidelines for sequencing and organizing your material plus a printable blank demonstration speech outline for you to download and complete  
• suggestions to help with delivery and rehearsal . Demonstration speeches can so easily lurch sideways into embarrassment. For example: forgetting a step while demonstrating a cake recipe which means it won't turn out as you want it to. Or not checking you've got everything you need to deliver your speech at the venue and finding out too late, the very public and hard way, that the lead on your laptop will not reach the only available wall socket. Result. You cannot show your images.

2.  Demonstration speech sample outline   This is a fully completed outline of a demonstration speech. The topic is 'how to leave an effective voice mail message' and  the sample covers the entire step by step sequence needed to do that.

There's a blank printable version of the outline template to download if you wish and a YouTube link to a recording of the speech.

3.  Demonstration speech topics   4 pages of 'how to' speech topic suggestions, all of them suitable for middle school and up.

Persuasive speeches

The goal of a persuasive speech is to convince an audience to accept, or at the very least listen to and consider, the speaker's point of view.

To be successful the speaker must skillfully blend information about the topic, their opinion, reasons to support it and their desired course of action, with an understanding of how best to reach their audience.

Everyday examples of persuasive speeches

Common usages of persuasive speeches are:

• what we say when being interviewed for a job
• presenting a sales pitch to a customer
• political speeches - politicians lobbying for votes,
• values or issue driven speeches e.g., a call to boycott a product on particular grounds, a call to support varying human rights issues: the right to have an abortion, the right to vote, the right to breathe clean air, the right to have access to affordable housing and, so on.

Models of the persuasive process

The most frequently cited model we have for effective persuasion is thousands of years old.  Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, 384–322 BC , explained it as being supported by three pillars: ethos, pathos and logos. 

Briefly, ethos is the reliability and credibility of the speaker. How qualified or experienced are they talk on the topic? Are they trustworthy? Should we believe them? Why?

Pathos is the passion, emotion or feeling you, the speaker, bring to the topic. It's the choice of language you use to trigger an emotional connection linking yourself, your topic and the audience together, in a way that supports your speech purpose.

(We see the echo of Pathos in words like empathy: the ability to understand and share the feels of another, or pathetic: to arouse feelings of pity through being vulnerable and sad.)

Logos is related to logic. Is the information we are being presented logical and rational? Is it verifiable? How is it supported? By studies, by articles, by endorsement from suitably qualified and recognized people?

To successfully persuade all three are needed. For more please see this excellent article:  Ethos, Pathos, Logos: 3 Pillars of Public Speaking and Persuasion 

Monroe's Motivated Sequence of persuasion

Another much more recent model is Monroe's Motivated Sequence based on the psychology of persuasion.

It consists of five consecutive steps: attention, need, satisfaction, visualization and action and was developed in the 1930s by American Alan H Monroe, a lecturer in communications at Purdue University. The pattern is used extensively in advertising, social welfare and health campaigns.

Resources for persuasive speeches

1.   How to write a persuasive speech Step by step guidelines covering:

• speech topic selection
• setting speech goals
• audience analysis
• empathy and evidence
• balance and obstacles
• 4 structural patterns to choose from

2. A persuasive speech sample outline using Monroe's Motivated Sequence

3. An example persuasive speech written using Monroe's Motivated Sequence  

4.  Persuasive speech topics : 1032+ topic suggestions which includes 105 fun persuasive ideas , like the one below.☺ 

Special occasion or entertaining speeches

The range of these speeches is vast: from a call 'to say a few words' to delivering a lengthy formal address.

This is the territory where speeches to mark farewells, thanksgiving, awards, birthdays, Christmas, weddings, engagements and anniversaries dwell, along with welcome, introduction and thank you speeches, tributes, eulogies and commencement addresses. 

In short, any speech, either impromptu or painstakingly crafted, given to acknowledge a person, an achievement, or an event belongs here.

You'll find preparation guidelines, as well as examples of many special occasion speeches on my site.

Resources for special occasion speeches

How to prepare:

• an acceptance speech , with an example acceptance speech 
• a birthday speech , with ongoing links to example 18th, 40th and 50th birthday speeches
• an office party Christmas speech , a template with an example speech
• an engagement party toast , with 5 examples
• a eulogy or funeral speech , with a printable eulogy planner and access to 70+ eulogy examples
• a farewell speech , with an example (a farewell speech to colleagues)
• a golden (50th) wedding anniversary speech , with an example speech from a husband to his wife
• an impromptu speech , techniques and templates for impromptu speaking, examples of one minute impromptu speeches with a printable outline planner, plus impromptu speech topics for practice
• an introduction speech for a guest speaker , with an example
• an introduction speech for yourself , with an example
• a maid of honor speech for your sister , a template, with an example
• a retirement speech , with an example from a teacher leaving to her students and colleagues
• a student council speech , a template, with an example student council president, secretary and treasurer speech
• a Thanksgiving speech , a template, with an example toast
• a thank you speech , a template, with an example speech expressing thanks for an award, also a business thank you speech template
• a tribute (commemorative) speech , with a template and an example speech
• a welcome speech for an event , a template, an example welcome speech for a conference, plus a printable welcome speech planner
• a welcome speech for new comers to a church , a template with an example speech
• a welcome speech for a new member to the family , a template with an example

Speech types often overlap

Because speakers and their speeches are unique, (different content, purposes, and audiences...), the four types often overlap. While a speech is generally based on one principal type it might also have a few of the features belonging to any of the others. 

For example, a speech may be mainly informative but to add interest, the speaker has used elements like a demonstration of some sort, persuasive language and the brand of familiar humor common in a special occasion speech where everybody knows each other well.

The result is an informative 'plus' type of speech. A hybrid! It's a speech that could easily be given by a long serving in-house company trainer to introduce and explain a new work process to employees.  

Related pages:

• how to write a good speech . This is a thorough step by step walk through, with examples, of the general speech writing process. It's a great place to start if you're new to writing speeches. You'll get an excellent foundation to build on.
• how to plan a speech - an overview of ALL the things that need to be considered before preparing an outline, with examples
• how to outline a speech - an overview, with examples, showing how to structure a speech, with a free printable blank speech outline template to download
• how to make and use cue cards  - note cards for extemporaneous speeches 
• how to use props (visual aids)    

And for those who would like their speeches written for them:

• commission me to write for you

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How to write a speech that your audience remembers

Whether in a work meeting or at an investor panel, you might give a speech at some point. And no matter how excited you are about the opportunity, the experience can be nerve-wracking . 

But feeling butterflies doesn’t mean you can’t give a great speech. With the proper preparation and a clear outline, apprehensive public speakers and natural wordsmiths alike can write and present a compelling message. Here’s how to write a good speech you’ll be proud to deliver.

What is good speech writing?

Good speech writing is the art of crafting words and ideas into a compelling, coherent, and memorable message that resonates with the audience. Here are some key elements of great speech writing:

• It begins with clearly understanding the speech's purpose and the audience it seeks to engage. 
• A well-written speech clearly conveys its central message, ensuring that the audience understands and retains the key points. 
• It is structured thoughtfully, with a captivating opening, a well-organized body, and a conclusion that reinforces the main message. 
• Good speech writing embraces the power of engaging content, weaving in stories, examples, and relatable anecdotes to connect with the audience on both intellectual and emotional levels. 

Ultimately, it is the combination of these elements, along with the authenticity and delivery of the speaker , that transforms words on a page into a powerful and impactful spoken narrative.

What makes a good speech?

A great speech includes several key qualities, but three fundamental elements make a speech truly effective:

Clarity and purpose

Remembering the audience, cohesive structure.

While other important factors make a speech a home run, these three elements are essential for writing an effective speech.

The main elements of a good speech

The main elements of a speech typically include:

• Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for your speech and grabs the audience's attention. It should include a hook or attention-grabbing opening, introduce the topic, and provide an overview of what will be covered.
• Opening/captivating statement: This is a strong statement that immediately engages the audience and creates curiosity about the speech topics.
• Thesis statement/central idea: The thesis statement or central idea is a concise statement that summarizes the main point or argument of your speech. It serves as a roadmap for the audience to understand what your speech is about.
• Body: The body of the speech is where you elaborate on your main points or arguments. Each point is typically supported by evidence, examples, statistics, or anecdotes. The body should be organized logically and coherently, with smooth transitions between the main points.
• Supporting evidence: This includes facts, data, research findings, expert opinions, or personal stories that support and strengthen your main points. Well-chosen and credible evidence enhances the persuasive power of your speech.
• Transitions: Transitions are phrases or statements that connect different parts of your speech, guiding the audience from one idea to the next. Effective transitions signal the shifts in topics or ideas and help maintain a smooth flow throughout the speech.
• Counterarguments and rebuttals (if applicable): If your speech involves addressing opposing viewpoints or counterarguments, you should acknowledge and address them. Presenting counterarguments makes your speech more persuasive and demonstrates critical thinking.
• Conclusion: The conclusion is the final part of your speech and should bring your message to a satisfying close. Summarize your main points, restate your thesis statement, and leave the audience with a memorable closing thought or call to action.
• Closing statement: This is the final statement that leaves a lasting impression and reinforces the main message of your speech. It can be a call to action, a thought-provoking question, a powerful quote, or a memorable anecdote.
• Delivery and presentation: How you deliver your speech is also an essential element to consider. Pay attention to your tone, body language, eye contact , voice modulation, and timing. Practice and rehearse your speech, and try using the 7-38-55 rule to ensure confident and effective delivery.

While the order and emphasis of these elements may vary depending on the type of speech and audience, these elements provide a framework for organizing and delivering a successful speech.

How to structure a good speech

You know what message you want to transmit, who you’re delivering it to, and even how you want to say it. But you need to know how to start, develop, and close a speech before writing it. 

Think of a speech like an essay. It should have an introduction, conclusion, and body sections in between. This places ideas in a logical order that the audience can better understand and follow them. Learning how to make a speech with an outline gives your storytelling the scaffolding it needs to get its point across.

Here’s a general speech structure to guide your writing process:

• Explanation 1
• Explanation 2
• Explanation 3

How to write a compelling speech opener

Some research shows that engaged audiences pay attention for only 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Other estimates are even lower, citing that people stop listening intently in fewer than 10 minutes . If you make a good first impression at the beginning of your speech, you have a better chance of interesting your audience through the middle when attention spans fade. 

Implementing the INTRO model can help grab and keep your audience’s attention as soon as you start speaking. This acronym stands for interest, need, timing, roadmap, and objectives, and it represents the key points you should hit in an opening. 

Here’s what to include for each of these points: 

• Interest : Introduce yourself or your topic concisely and speak with confidence . Write a compelling opening statement using relevant data or an anecdote that the audience can relate to.
• Needs : The audience is listening to you because they have something to learn. If you’re pitching a new app idea to a panel of investors, those potential partners want to discover more about your product and what they can earn from it. Read the room and gently remind them of the purpose of your speech. 
• Timing : When appropriate, let your audience know how long you’ll speak. This lets listeners set expectations and keep tabs on their own attention span. If a weary audience member knows you’ll talk for 40 minutes, they can better manage their energy as that time goes on. 
• Routemap : Give a brief overview of the three main points you’ll cover in your speech. If an audience member’s attention starts to drop off and they miss a few sentences, they can more easily get their bearings if they know the general outline of the presentation.
• Objectives : Tell the audience what you hope to achieve, encouraging them to listen to the end for the payout. 

Writing the middle of a speech

The body of your speech is the most information-dense section. Facts, visual aids, PowerPoints — all this information meets an audience with a waning attention span. Sticking to the speech structure gives your message focus and keeps you from going off track, making everything you say as useful as possible.

Limit the middle of your speech to three points, and support them with no more than three explanations. Following this model organizes your thoughts and prevents you from offering more information than the audience can retain. 

Using this section of the speech to make your presentation interactive can add interest and engage your audience. Try including a video or demonstration to break the monotony. A quick poll or survey also keeps the audience on their toes. 

Wrapping the speech up

To you, restating your points at the end can feel repetitive and dull. You’ve practiced countless times and heard it all before. But repetition aids memory and learning , helping your audience retain what you’ve told them. Use your speech’s conclusion to summarize the main points with a few short sentences.

Try to end on a memorable note, like posing a motivational quote or a thoughtful question the audience can contemplate once they leave. In proposal or pitch-style speeches, consider landing on a call to action (CTA) that invites your audience to take the next step.

How to write a good speech

If public speaking gives you the jitters, you’re not alone. Roughly 80% of the population feels nervous before giving a speech, and another 10% percent experiences intense anxiety and sometimes even panic. 

The fear of failure can cause procrastination and can cause you to put off your speechwriting process until the last minute. Finding the right words takes time and preparation, and if you’re already feeling nervous, starting from a blank page might seem even harder.

But putting in the effort despite your stress is worth it. Presenting a speech you worked hard on fosters authenticity and connects you to the subject matter, which can help your audience understand your points better. Human connection is all about honesty and vulnerability, and if you want to connect to the people you’re speaking to, they should see that in you.

1. Identify your objectives and target audience

Before diving into the writing process, find healthy coping strategies to help you stop worrying . Then you can define your speech’s purpose, think about your target audience, and start identifying your objectives. Here are some questions to ask yourself and ground your thinking : 

• What purpose do I want my speech to achieve? 
• What would it mean to me if I achieved the speech’s purpose?
• What audience am I writing for? 
• What do I know about my audience? 
• What values do I want to transmit? 
• If the audience remembers one take-home message, what should it be? 
• What do I want my audience to feel, think, or do after I finish speaking? 
• What parts of my message could be confusing and require further explanation?

2. Know your audience

Understanding your audience is crucial for tailoring your speech effectively. Consider the demographics of your audience, their interests, and their expectations. For instance, if you're addressing a group of healthcare professionals, you'll want to use medical terminology and data that resonate with them. Conversely, if your audience is a group of young students, you'd adjust your content to be more relatable to their experiences and interests. 

3. Choose a clear message

Your message should be the central idea that you want your audience to take away from your speech. Let's say you're giving a speech on climate change. Your clear message might be something like, "Individual actions can make a significant impact on mitigating climate change." Throughout your speech, all your points and examples should support this central message, reinforcing it for your audience.

4. Structure your speech

Organizing your speech properly keeps your audience engaged and helps them follow your ideas. The introduction should grab your audience's attention and introduce the topic. For example, if you're discussing space exploration, you could start with a fascinating fact about a recent space mission. In the body, you'd present your main points logically, such as the history of space exploration, its scientific significance, and future prospects. Finally, in the conclusion, you'd summarize your key points and reiterate the importance of space exploration in advancing human knowledge.

5. Use engaging content for clarity

Engaging content includes stories, anecdotes, statistics, and examples that illustrate your main points. For instance, if you're giving a speech about the importance of reading, you might share a personal story about how a particular book changed your perspective. You could also include statistics on the benefits of reading, such as improved cognitive abilities and empathy.

6. Maintain clarity and simplicity

It's essential to communicate your ideas clearly. Avoid using overly technical jargon or complex language that might confuse your audience. For example, if you're discussing a medical breakthrough with a non-medical audience, explain complex terms in simple, understandable language.

7. Practice and rehearse

Practice is key to delivering a great speech. Rehearse multiple times to refine your delivery, timing, and tone. Consider using a mirror or recording yourself to observe your body language and gestures. For instance, if you're giving a motivational speech, practice your gestures and expressions to convey enthusiasm and confidence.

8. Consider nonverbal communication

Your body language, tone of voice, and gestures should align with your message . If you're delivering a speech on leadership, maintain strong eye contact to convey authority and connection with your audience. A steady pace and varied tone can also enhance your speech's impact.

9. Engage your audience

Engaging your audience keeps them interested and attentive. Encourage interaction by asking thought-provoking questions or sharing relatable anecdotes. If you're giving a speech on teamwork, ask the audience to recall a time when teamwork led to a successful outcome, fostering engagement and connection.

10. Prepare for Q&A

Anticipate potential questions or objections your audience might have and prepare concise, well-informed responses. If you're delivering a speech on a controversial topic, such as healthcare reform, be ready to address common concerns, like the impact on healthcare costs or access to services, during the Q&A session.

By following these steps and incorporating examples that align with your specific speech topic and purpose, you can craft and deliver a compelling and impactful speech that resonates with your audience.

Tools for writing a great speech

There are several helpful tools available for speechwriting, both technological and communication-related. Here are a few examples:

• Word processing software: Tools like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or other word processors provide a user-friendly environment for writing and editing speeches. They offer features like spell-checking, grammar correction, formatting options, and easy revision tracking.
• Presentation software: Software such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides is useful when creating visual aids to accompany your speech. These tools allow you to create engaging slideshows with text, images, charts, and videos to enhance your presentation.
• Speechwriting Templates: Online platforms or software offer pre-designed templates specifically for speechwriting. These templates provide guidance on structuring your speech and may include prompts for different sections like introductions, main points, and conclusions.
• Rhetorical devices and figures of speech: Rhetorical tools such as metaphors, similes, alliteration, and parallelism can add impact and persuasion to your speech. Resources like books, websites, or academic papers detailing various rhetorical devices can help you incorporate them effectively.
• Speechwriting apps: Mobile apps designed specifically for speechwriting can be helpful in organizing your thoughts, creating outlines, and composing a speech. These apps often provide features like voice recording, note-taking, and virtual prompts to keep you on track.
• Grammar and style checkers: Online tools or plugins like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor help improve the clarity and readability of your speech by checking for grammar, spelling, and style errors. They provide suggestions for sentence structure, word choice, and overall tone.
• Thesaurus and dictionary: Online or offline resources such as thesauruses and dictionaries help expand your vocabulary and find alternative words or phrases to express your ideas more effectively. They can also clarify meanings or provide context for unfamiliar terms.
• Online speechwriting communities: Joining online forums or communities focused on speechwriting can be beneficial for getting feedback, sharing ideas, and learning from experienced speechwriters. It's an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and improve your public speaking skills through collaboration.

Remember, while these tools can assist in the speechwriting process, it's essential to use them thoughtfully and adapt them to your specific needs and style. The most important aspect of speechwriting remains the creativity, authenticity, and connection with your audience that you bring to your speech.

5 tips for writing a speech

Behind every great speech is an excellent idea and a speaker who refined it. But a successful speech is about more than the initial words on the page, and there are a few more things you can do to help it land.

Here are five more tips for writing and practicing your speech:

1. Structure first, write second

If you start the writing process before organizing your thoughts, you may have to re-order, cut, and scrap the sentences you worked hard on. Save yourself some time by using a speech structure, like the one above, to order your talking points first. This can also help you identify unclear points or moments that disrupt your flow.

2. Do your homework

Data strengthens your argument with a scientific edge. Research your topic with an eye for attention-grabbing statistics, or look for findings you can use to support each point. If you’re pitching a product or service, pull information from company metrics that demonstrate past or potential successes. 

Audience members will likely have questions, so learn all talking points inside and out. If you tell investors that your product will provide 12% returns, for example, come prepared with projections that support that statement.

3. Sound like yourself

Memorable speakers have distinct voices. Think of Martin Luther King Jr’s urgent, inspiring timbre or Oprah’s empathetic, personal tone . Establish your voice — one that aligns with your personality and values — and stick with it. If you’re a motivational speaker, keep your tone upbeat to inspire your audience . If you’re the CEO of a startup, try sounding assured but approachable. 

4. Practice

As you practice a speech, you become more confident , gain a better handle on the material, and learn the outline so well that unexpected questions are less likely to trip you up. Practice in front of a colleague or friend for honest feedback about what you could change, and speak in front of the mirror to tweak your nonverbal communication and body language .

5. Remember to breathe

When you’re stressed, you breathe more rapidly . It can be challenging to talk normally when you can’t regulate your breath. Before your presentation, try some mindful breathing exercises so that when the day comes, you already have strategies that will calm you down and remain present . This can also help you control your voice and avoid speaking too quickly.

How to ghostwrite a great speech for someone else

Ghostwriting a speech requires a unique set of skills, as you're essentially writing a piece that will be delivered by someone else. Here are some tips on how to effectively ghostwrite a speech:

• Understand the speaker's voice and style : Begin by thoroughly understanding the speaker's personality, speaking style, and preferences. This includes their tone, humor, and any personal anecdotes they may want to include.
• Interview the speaker : Have a detailed conversation with the speaker to gather information about their speech's purpose, target audience, key messages, and any specific points they want to emphasize. Ask for personal stories or examples they may want to include.
• Research thoroughly : Research the topic to ensure you have a strong foundation of knowledge. This helps you craft a well-informed and credible speech.
• Create an outline : Develop a clear outline that includes the introduction, main points, supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Share this outline with the speaker for their input and approval.
• Write in the speaker's voice : While crafting the speech, maintain the speaker's voice and style. Use language and phrasing that feel natural to them. If they have a particular way of expressing ideas, incorporate that into the speech.
• Craft a captivating opening : Begin the speech with a compelling opening that grabs the audience's attention. This could be a relevant quote, an interesting fact, a personal anecdote, or a thought-provoking question.
• Organize content logically : Ensure the speech flows logically, with each point building on the previous one. Use transitions to guide the audience from one idea to the next smoothly.
• Incorporate engaging stories and examples : Include anecdotes, stories, and real-life examples that illustrate key points and make the speech relatable and memorable.
• Edit and revise : Edit the speech carefully for clarity, grammar, and coherence. Ensure the speech is the right length and aligns with the speaker's time constraints.
• Seek feedback : Share drafts of the speech with the speaker for their feedback and revisions. They may have specific changes or additions they'd like to make.
• Practice delivery : If possible, work with the speaker on their delivery. Practice the speech together, allowing the speaker to become familiar with the content and your writing style.
• Maintain confidentiality : As a ghostwriter, it's essential to respect the confidentiality and anonymity of the work. Do not disclose that you wrote the speech unless you have the speaker's permission to do so.
• Be flexible : Be open to making changes and revisions as per the speaker's preferences. Your goal is to make them look good and effectively convey their message.
• Meet deadlines : Stick to agreed-upon deadlines for drafts and revisions. Punctuality and reliability are essential in ghostwriting.
• Provide support : Support the speaker during their preparation and rehearsal process. This can include helping with cue cards, speech notes, or any other materials they need.

Remember that successful ghostwriting is about capturing the essence of the speaker while delivering a well-structured and engaging speech. Collaboration, communication, and adaptability are key to achieving this.

Give your best speech yet

Learn how to make a speech that’ll hold an audience’s attention by structuring your thoughts and practicing frequently. Put the effort into writing and preparing your content, and aim to improve your breathing, eye contact , and body language as you practice. The more you work on your speech, the more confident you’ll become.

The energy you invest in writing an effective speech will help your audience remember and connect to every concept. Remember: some life-changing philosophies have come from good speeches, so give your words a chance to resonate with others. You might even change their thinking.

Elevate your communication skills

Unlock the power of clear and persuasive communication. Our coaches can guide you to build strong relationships and succeed in both personal and professional life.

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

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What this handout is about

This handout will help you create an effective speech by establishing the purpose of your speech and making it easily understandable. It will also help you to analyze your audience and keep the audience interested.

What’s different about a speech?

Writing for public speaking isn’t so different from other types of writing. You want to engage your audience’s attention, convey your ideas in a logical manner and use reliable evidence to support your point. But the conditions for public speaking favor some writing qualities over others. When you write a speech, your audience is made up of listeners. They have only one chance to comprehend the information as you read it, so your speech must be well-organized and easily understood. In addition, the content of the speech and your delivery must fit the audience.

What’s your purpose?

People have gathered to hear you speak on a specific issue, and they expect to get something out of it immediately. And you, the speaker, hope to have an immediate effect on your audience. The purpose of your speech is to get the response you want. Most speeches invite audiences to react in one of three ways: feeling, thinking, or acting. For example, eulogies encourage emotional response from the audience; college lectures stimulate listeners to think about a topic from a different perspective; protest speeches in the Pit recommend actions the audience can take.

As you establish your purpose, ask yourself these questions:

• What do you want the audience to learn or do?
• If you are making an argument, why do you want them to agree with you?
• If they already agree with you, why are you giving the speech?
• How can your audience benefit from what you have to say?

Audience analysis

If your purpose is to get a certain response from your audience, you must consider who they are (or who you’re pretending they are). If you can identify ways to connect with your listeners, you can make your speech interesting and useful.

As you think of ways to appeal to your audience, ask yourself:

• What do they have in common? Age? Interests? Ethnicity? Gender?
• Do they know as much about your topic as you, or will you be introducing them to new ideas?
• Why are these people listening to you? What are they looking for?
• What level of detail will be effective for them?
• What tone will be most effective in conveying your message?
• What might offend or alienate them?

For more help, see our handout on audience .

Creating an effective introduction

Get their attention, otherwise known as “the hook”.

Think about how you can relate to these listeners and get them to relate to you or your topic. Appealing to your audience on a personal level captures their attention and concern, increasing the chances of a successful speech. Speakers often begin with anecdotes to hook their audience’s attention. Other methods include presenting shocking statistics, asking direct questions of the audience, or enlisting audience participation.

Establish context and/or motive

Explain why your topic is important. Consider your purpose and how you came to speak to this audience. You may also want to connect the material to related or larger issues as well, especially those that may be important to your audience.

Get to the point

Tell your listeners your thesis right away and explain how you will support it. Don’t spend as much time developing your introductory paragraph and leading up to the thesis statement as you would in a research paper for a course. Moving from the intro into the body of the speech quickly will help keep your audience interested. You may be tempted to create suspense by keeping the audience guessing about your thesis until the end, then springing the implications of your discussion on them. But if you do so, they will most likely become bored or confused.

For more help, see our handout on introductions .

Making your speech easy to understand

Repeat crucial points and buzzwords.

Especially in longer speeches, it’s a good idea to keep reminding your audience of the main points you’ve made. For example, you could link an earlier main point or key term as you transition into or wrap up a new point. You could also address the relationship between earlier points and new points through discussion within a body paragraph. Using buzzwords or key terms throughout your paper is also a good idea. If your thesis says you’re going to expose unethical behavior of medical insurance companies, make sure the use of “ethics” recurs instead of switching to “immoral” or simply “wrong.” Repetition of key terms makes it easier for your audience to take in and connect information.

Incorporate previews and summaries into the speech

For example:

“I’m here today to talk to you about three issues that threaten our educational system: First, … Second, … Third,”

“I’ve talked to you today about such and such.”

These kinds of verbal cues permit the people in the audience to put together the pieces of your speech without thinking too hard, so they can spend more time paying attention to its content.

Use especially strong transitions

This will help your listeners see how new information relates to what they’ve heard so far. If you set up a counterargument in one paragraph so you can demolish it in the next, begin the demolition by saying something like,

“But this argument makes no sense when you consider that . . . .”

If you’re providing additional information to support your main point, you could say,

“Another fact that supports my main point is . . . .”

Helping your audience listen

Rely on shorter, simpler sentence structures.

Don’t get too complicated when you’re asking an audience to remember everything you say. Avoid using too many subordinate clauses, and place subjects and verbs close together.

Too complicated:

The product, which was invented in 1908 by Orville Z. McGillicuddy in Des Moines, Iowa, and which was on store shelves approximately one year later, still sells well.

Easier to understand:

Orville Z. McGillicuddy invented the product in 1908 and introduced it into stores shortly afterward. Almost a century later, the product still sells well.

Limit pronoun use

Listeners may have a hard time remembering or figuring out what “it,” “they,” or “this” refers to. Be specific by using a key noun instead of unclear pronouns.

Pronoun problem:

The U.S. government has failed to protect us from the scourge of so-called reality television, which exploits sex, violence, and petty conflict, and calls it human nature. This cannot continue.

Why the last sentence is unclear: “This” what? The government’s failure? Reality TV? Human nature?

More specific:

The U.S. government has failed to protect us from the scourge of so-called reality television, which exploits sex, violence, and petty conflict, and calls it human nature. This failure cannot continue.

Keeping audience interest

Incorporate the rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos, and logos.

When arguing a point, using ethos, pathos, and logos can help convince your audience to believe you and make your argument stronger. Ethos refers to an appeal to your audience by establishing your authenticity and trustworthiness as a speaker. If you employ pathos, you appeal to your audience’s emotions. Using logos includes the support of hard facts, statistics, and logical argumentation. The most effective speeches usually present a combination these rhetorical strategies.

Use statistics and quotations sparingly

Include only the most striking factual material to support your perspective, things that would likely stick in the listeners’ minds long after you’ve finished speaking. Otherwise, you run the risk of overwhelming your listeners with too much information.

Watch your tone

Be careful not to talk over the heads of your audience. On the other hand, don’t be condescending either. And as for grabbing their attention, yelling, cursing, using inappropriate humor, or brandishing a potentially offensive prop (say, autopsy photos) will only make the audience tune you out.

Creating an effective conclusion

Restate your main points, but don’t repeat them.

“I asked earlier why we should care about the rain forest. Now I hope it’s clear that . . .” “Remember how Mrs. Smith couldn’t afford her prescriptions? Under our plan, . . .”

Call to action

Speeches often close with an appeal to the audience to take action based on their new knowledge or understanding. If you do this, be sure the action you recommend is specific and realistic. For example, although your audience may not be able to affect foreign policy directly, they can vote or work for candidates whose foreign policy views they support. Relating the purpose of your speech to their lives not only creates a connection with your audience, but also reiterates the importance of your topic to them in particular or “the bigger picture.”

Practicing for effective presentation

Once you’ve completed a draft, read your speech to a friend or in front of a mirror. When you’ve finished reading, ask the following questions:

• Which pieces of information are clearest?
• Where did I connect with the audience?
• Where might listeners lose the thread of my argument or description?
• Where might listeners become bored?
• Where did I have trouble speaking clearly and/or emphatically?
• Did I stay within my time limit?

Other resources

• Toastmasters International is a nonprofit group that provides communication and leadership training.
• Allyn & Bacon Publishing’s Essence of Public Speaking Series is an extensive treatment of speech writing and delivery, including books on using humor, motivating your audience, word choice and presentation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Boone, Louis E., David L. Kurtz, and Judy R. Block. 1997. Contemporary Business Communication . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Ehrlich, Henry. 1994. Writing Effective Speeches . New York: Marlowe.

Lamb, Sandra E. 1998. How to Write It: A Complete Guide to Everything You’ll Ever Write . Berkeley: Ten Speed Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Speech Structure: The Complete OBC Guide

What makes a great speech? The content, of course, but also the structure. All great speakers overlay their content on a well-known structure. 

Your speech structure is the glue that binds your points together. Without it, you cannot really have the impact you desire to have on the audience.

The beauty of this is that a good structure is so subtle it is almost invisible. Its effectiveness is only evident in its impact.

Speech writing can be intimidating for some, however, we have incorporated plenty of speech examples to get a complete understanding. We aim to explain a proper structure that can be applied to any of your speeches.

There are four things you need to keep in mind about this:

Table of Contents

What is the purpose of your speech?

Can too much content be harmful, who is the audience, informative speech, persuasive speech, argumentative speech, demonstration speech, humorous speech, strong statement, visual prop or demonstration, personal anecdote, problem or strong statement, summary on writing your introduction:, credibility, cause and effect:, problems and solutions:, lucky number three, summary on writing your body:, call to action, inspirational, key takeaway, summary of writing your conclusion:, meta description:, picking the right topic.

The content of a speech can largely determine how the audience receives it. For this, you will need to accurately assess who is going to be listening to your speech. There are some questions you need to ask before sitting down to write this speech.

Do you intend to introduce a concept or argue on a controversial topic? Is your purpose of imparting knowledge or guiding the audience through a demonstration? It is essential to have your intentions cleared; otherwise, you can risk creating a speech with no direction.

We understand that as daunting as speaking can be, it is, at the same time, fascinating. When you pick a topic that you are passionate about, it is easy to find yourself packing the speech with all kinds of information. However, in doing so, you can overwhelm your audience.

There is such a thing as too much information. You need to make sure that whatever information you do include is impactful and influential. Aim for something short but memorable. Pick one takeaway message and gear your speech towards that objective.

While it is vital to pick a topic that interests you, it is equally important to make sure that it can grab the audience’s attention. What is the target demographic for your speech? What is the setting for this speech? Is it a particularly controversial topic?

This is important because as humans, most people are likely to be more interested in your presentation if it benefits them somehow. At the same time, you have to consider the setting.

For instance: an office setting would not be the right setting for a controversial social speech. If your speech includes demonstration and requires volunteers, you need to ensure that this is an audience willing to participate.  

Do you understand the various types of speeches?

Before you pen down your presentation, stop to wonder whether you understand the different types of speeches. Understanding what kind of speech you are going for can help you better structure it for maximum efficiency:

An informative speech intends to explain complex topics to your audience by providing engaging information. This can include objects, events, procedures, and more. It is better if you pick a topic that you are interested in so that your enthusiasm shines through.

When you give an informative speech, you are merely trying to educate your audiences about a particular topic. You refrain from becoming too argumentative as it might come across too strong for your listeners. If this is the type of speech you intend to give, you can check out 100 Informative Speech Topics and Ideas to make your job easier. 

A persuasive speech intends to convince the audiences of your viewpoint. It uses compelling points to sway the listener’s opinions. The primary purpose of this type of speech is to affect the audiences’ thought process and persuade them to think about changing how they feel about a topic.

Some examples of a persuasive speech can be a politician’s speech, an animal activist’s speech, and so on. As you can see, the goal here is to persuade and obtain something ultimately. A politician might want to sway your vote in their favor, whereas ani activist has a cause that they’d like to advocate for.

If this is the type of speech you intend to give, you can check out 237 Easy Persuasive Speech Topics and Guide to better plan your speech.

An argumentative speech is more or less a persuasive speech. However, a persuasive speech does not always have to be argumentative. The purpose of an argumentative is to alter how the audience views a subject. 

Changing the audience’s opinion is not an easy job. This is why you need to not only pick a persuasive topic but also believe in it. You need a strong claim along with irrefutable points to support it. 

The best argumentative speeches utilize issues relating to current events. You can see this in the media in the form of mostly social, ethical, political, or religious arguments. Your arguments should make use of logic and realistic examples. Some examples of this type of speech can be: Dress codes shouldn’t be mandatory, Space exploration is a waste of money, etc.

If you’d like to see more topic ideas for an argumentative speech, you can browse the 200 Argumentative Speech Topics and ideas: A Complete Guide . 

A demonstration speech, true to its name, demonstrates to the audience how something works. This type of presentation is more common for high school or college students. It makes use of props and useful body language to properly guide the audience through an activity.

This type of speech can fall under informative speech as you are informing the listeners on a task. While this type of speech is considered a basic speech, it is an excellent way to practice your expository speaking.

If this is the type of speech you’d like to give, here’s a list of 279 Demonstration Speech Topics and Ideas: A Complete Guide , so that you can better perfect your speech.

A humorous speech is the perfect light-hearted solution for adding a fun twist to your speech. This type of presentation aims to entertain the audience. A humorous speech can incorporate any of the above examples. It is, thus, very versatile. And what’s more? You get to have just as much fun delivering it!  

The thing to keep in mind with this kind of speech is that you need to pick a proper topic. You intend to garner a joyful response to its best not to pick a sensitive topic. To help you out, you can browse the 300 Funny Speech Topics to Tickle Some Funny Bones! to structure your humorous speech.

Writing the Introduction (Opening)

The introduction of your speech is vital to the success of your speech. It is what sets the tone of your entire speech. It determines whether or not you grab the attention of the listeners. You will get only one chance to charm your audience and make sure they follow the rest of your speech.

So, how can you make this happen? There are a few different ways you can approach this:

Asking a question is an excellent way to grab your audience’s attention. It piques their curiosity and ensures that they will listen to get an answer to said question. The question can be either rhetorical or literal. For instance, “Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to live in a world without technology?” or “Have you ever felt broken-hearted?”.

Either the audience resonates with your question, or it generates curiosity. This is also a great way to get some audience participation. If you say, “With a show of hands, how many of us here have tried to change our habits and failed?” you can not only garner interest but also physically get the audience invested in your speech.

A question is a great way to get your listeners thinking about your topic while introducing your topic, all in a matter of seconds!

A strong statement is also an excellent way to create a compelling introduction. You must know Martin Luther King’s iconic, “I have a dream.” The intensity that radiates from that sentence immediately captures an audiences’ attention and creates a commanding presence.

Similarly, an excellent example of this type of opening is from Larry Smith’s speech. “I want to discuss with you this afternoon why you’re going to fail to have a great career.” This immediately generates intrigue and curiosity. That’s what you’re going for.

This statement does not have to just be cold facts. It can be a part of a personal story as well. For instance, the statement “Last week, I found out that my childhood friend got in a car accident” is bound to create a powerful silence. If your speech has such a strong emotive statement, you can use it in your introduction to engage your audience better.

Another helpful tip that goes with a strong statement in silence. Give your listener’s a chance to absorb the statement that you have put in front of them with a couple of seconds of silence before diving in further.

A prop can be a fantastic addition to your speech. Not only does it help emphasize your point, but it also helps the audience stay focused on your speech. Props are especially good for a demonstrative speech. Or you can simply incorporate demonstrations as part of your speech.

Body language speaks much louder than words can for us humans. This is why using colorful bags, a deck of cards, colored papers, etc. can be so effective as an opener for your speech. Once, I attended a speech where the speaker brought a heavy bag and simply set it on the table, talking about the bag. The audience was hooked, waiting eagerly till the end to find out what was in the bag.

A quotation can be the perfect way to capture your audience’s attention. It also helps set a tone for the speech that is to come. The quote you pick can be a well-known saying such as “They say all that glitters is not gold, well I beg to differ.” Doing so, you can ignite curiosity.

Similarly, you can also quote a person or a publication and tie it to your speech. For instance, for a motivational speech, you can take the example of someone like Bill Gates- “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” When you use a quote from a big name, you will definitely get people wanting to hear and learn more.

Humor is always a great tool to have in your arsenal. A good icebreaker can warm the listeners up to you and make them more receptive to the rest of your speech. Humor is a very endearing trait for a skilled speaker. Some ideas for your opening can be:

“It’s the funniest thing. As I was coming up to the stage, I began thinking we actually have quite a lot in common. None of us have a clue about what I’m going to say!”

“I know we are all busy, and I want to honor your time. So I will make sure to be accurate and brief, no matter long it takes me.”

The great thing about using humor is that it works on your audience subconsciously. You seem at ease with yourself and radiate confidence. You have to remember that for humor to be effective; it has to be effortless. If you seem unsure about your lines, the audience is sure to pick up on it.

A strong statistic will always add validity to your speeches. Presenting the audience with irrefutable facts backed up by a strong source is a surefire way to gain credibility. It can also add gravity to the scale of the issue that you want to draw attention to. 

However, it is easy to overdo things when it comes to numbers. It can be tempting to add strong statistics to the rest of your speech as well. But remember, the strongest points are ones that linger in an audience’s mind. If you give them too many numbers, none of them will stick out in their heads, and they are bound to feel lost.

Some examples can be: “Look to your right. Now, look to your left. One in three women and one in four women are known to have suffered physical violence. A statement like this not only ignites awareness but also physically makes your listener feel involved in your speech.

An anecdote is a short story taken from your life itself. The story usually adds to the theme of your story. Short and light-hearted anecdotes can add a lot of enthusiasm and charm to your speech. However, you don’t have to make them humorous. Even more, touching stories can be equally, if not more engaging.

When used correctly, a personal anecdote makes for the perfect introduction that draws your listeners towards your central message. Not only does it create empathy, but it also sparks interest. If you don’t have a personal anecdote itself, you can go for a third-person anecdote that speaks to you as well.

Opening with a problem can make for a strong opening. This method generates interest and keeps the audience listening with the promise of an upcoming solution. Try to aim for a problem that caters to a wider demographic for a higher relatability.

Problems that relate to current events can have a better draw. For instance: “Why should remote working be implemented even after quarantine?”

In a similar vein, a powerful statement can be an excellent way to capture your audience’s attention. A statement, when paired with silence, can make for an effective tool. Example: “The top 20% of our society makes 80% of all the money. Would you like to be part of this 20%? If so, I’m going to give you some pointers on how you can align yourself in that direction. Does that sound like something you might be interested in?”

• Your opening plays a big role in whether or not you can grab your listener’s attention straight off the bat.
• Give your audience a reason to pay attention by clearly stating the purpose of your speech.
• If you are giving a speech regarding a field you have some experience with, remember to establish credibility early on.
• Give a short highlight reel of your main points.
• Quotations or powerful statements are a great way to catch the audience’s attention.
• Including current events or statistics will make your speech seem more relevant to a wider range of listeners.
• Asking a question will get your audience more involved and add intrigue to the rest of your presentation.

Structuring your content (Body)

The body of your speech will hold all of your main points. Since this is the longest section of your speech, you need to ensure that it is interesting enough to keep everyone’s attention. Depending on the objective of your speech, you will need to add examples, opinions, and facts to back up your points. What helps during this time is proper organization.

Here are some things you want to keep in mind while drafting the body of your speech:

No matter how much you believe in your point, you still need to give your audience a credible reason to take your word for it. This can be done by adding examples, detailed descriptions, statistics, and so on. Always remember to credit the source when using a statistic. You can also add a strong testimonial to add a touch of personalized support if that applies to your objective.

Transitions

When you have a lot of content packed into your speech, transitions become vital to the effectiveness of your speech. You can consider these as points of a refresh in your speech. Here, the audience can reengage and follow along more attentively. 

The best transitions are always invisible. They can seamlessly add flow to your speech without giving any indication of such to your audience. There are many ways to incorporate this into your speech. 

Some examples can be:

A connective transition is where you reiterate a previous point and introduce a connecting point. The way this method works is that it rehashes an important aspect while relating it to what’s next.

The most effective way to use this is in a problem/solution module. This is where you begin by stating a problem and transition towards a solution.

Example: Now that we’ve understood the various negative effects of junk food, let me tell you how we can plan a better diet to combat obesity.

When you do this, you are providing a summary of the problem and swiftly leading them towards a solution. If you jump straight to the next section, it can feel rushed. Besides, pauses are another important element of speech delivery.

Keywords, as the name suggests, have a certain draw to them. These are words that are central to the theme of your speech. Repetition is a very effective tool in conveying your message. 

For instance: If your speech is about the scarcity of running water in rural communities, you can draw attention by repeating the factors that cause this issue. Doing so will also let you explain in better detail these factors while keeping your audience hooked to the main theme.

Content Approach

Depending on your speech, there are various ways to approach how you frame your content. We all know that content is king; however, without the right approach, it’s easy for your message to get lost along the way. This is why it’s so important to keep your subject matter relevant and interesting. Make sure the content is as compact and concise as you can make it. Some of the methods by which you can ensure this is as follows:

Cause and effect is a great way to present your ideas. This method works best for explaining events and consequences or results. Make sure to include all the appropriate details to add emphasis. The element of ‘what’s next’ is what keeps the audience hooked to your speech. As you unfold a cause and follow it with the effects, it will feel both interesting as well as rewarding to your audience.  

Problem and solution is a speech method as old as time. But it is so because of its reliability. This approach works best for a motivational speech. This type of speech intends to address a problem and offer a systematic solution that benefits the listeners. It is also a common approach for pushing an audience to buy into a service or product. You pose a problem and then offer a solution, including a whole package. Make sure the solution you offer is versatile so that it applies to a wider range of people, thereby increasing appeal.

A narrative approach is excellent for anybody who wants to sharpen their storytelling skills. The important ingredients for a narrative speech are chronology and a simple organization pattern. Typically, any story will have a beginning, middle, and end. Going in order, with smooth transitions will make your story easy to follow. 

This type of speech is most effective for presenting events, life lessons, experiences, rituals, and personal beliefs. Try to stick to the core of the story without too many unnecessary details. Just because a narrative includes storytelling does not mean it can’t have an end goal. For instance: a personal experience of failure might be a great story of caution for the listeners.

The most important thing for a successful narrative speech is build-up. You want your audience to be invested, to care about what comes next, to raise the stakes so that when you provide the conclusion, it is that much more effective. You must always ask yourself, “What do I want the audience to remember after this speech?”.

The best way to write this would be to outline a sketch of events that are relevant to your narrative. After that, you can think about the best way to escalate the stakes. Remember that eye contact is an important visual medium in a narrative speech. It will help your audience connect better to your story.

The number three is impactful. Even the general structure of a speech is divided into three parts: Opening, Body, and Conclusion. When you want to make a point that people remember, you should consider splitting it into three, where the first two act as a build-up while your final point brings the unexpected impact.

The best thing about this method is that you can apply it to just about any kind of speech. This, in fact, adds more structure to your speech and makes it more easily digestible. The key ingredient here becomes balance and transition. Make sure you focus on all three elements of your story equally, so it does not feel rushed. Add in a seamless transition to make your story structure seem effortless.  

• Make sure you have designed your content to suit your audience.
• Divide your body into easily digestible sections so that your main points come across clearly.
• Stress on keywords and clever repetitions to drive your point home.
• Work on your transitions to establish clear sections but a seamless switch to keep your listeners hooked.
• When using facts or statistics, always back it up with a credible source.

Closing your speech (Conclusion)

The conclusion is vital to the success of your speech. This is the parting thought that you will be leaving your audience with, so you have to make sure that it’s a good one. The conclusion is where you reiterate your key point. This is why there is so much importance put on a conclusion to be powerful enough to stay in your memory.

Here are some possible ways you can approach your conclusion:

A call-to-action refers to a statement or material that intends to encourage the listener or viewer to take the initiative. It can also be considered as instruction as it usually directs the audience towards something. 

The most effective way to approach this is to manage both your energy as well as your tempo. While it is essential to maintain a clear and well-enunciated speech throughout, when you reach a conclusion, you are going to want to speed up just a little bit. 

What this does is add a sense of urgency to the message that you are giving. Similarly, higher energy makes the audience resonate and respond equally. They will associate this high energy with your message and remember your speech for longer.

Some examples of this can be: “As we can see, the effects of depression can be life-threatening. So I encourage each and every one of you to go home today and reach out to your friends, talk to them and open up a platform where they know they can come to talk to you for anything. Because you’d rather hear their problems than hear about their death.”

For speeches that are over 5-6 minutes long, the audience can sometimes lose track of the earlier points. This is why it is necessary to summarize your main points before you leave the stage. You don’t have to take them through the entire story, but make sure you include the keywords that trigger in them the memory of that portion. 

You can do this by saying something along the lines of “Let me briefly run you through what we discussed” or “So, we talked about three main things today.” This not only does a great job of reiterating and reconfirming your main points but also signals to the audience that you are drawing towards the end of your presentation.

Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.

Even though you might be well familiarized with your speech, it is safe to assume that most of the audience is hearing it for the first time. For this reason, you need to drive your point home by essentially drilling it into their minds. Now, you can’t simply repeat the central theme over and over as that isn’t an effective strategy. But there can be an art to repetition as well.

You should aim to rephrase and reinforce your central idea as you conclude your speech. Don’t go for a word-for-word repetition, but aim to reframe your key themes and arguments. Paraphrasing, in this way, makes sure that you capture the essence of your speech without running the risk of boring your listeners with identical sentences.

We don’t even need to look too far for examples of this method. In Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, he used this method of repetition paired with a rising momentum to create impact. Repetition works best when it is subtle and works on the listeners subconsciously.

Ending your speech on a light note is a great way to brighten moods and make sure the audience remembers your message. Your joke can also be a good way to repeat your central message. If you do decide to end with a humorous story, remember to carve out more time for it. Make sure your conclusion doesn’t distract from your main message.

Some people tend to get too excited and give away the upcoming punchline. Remember that the most effective humor approach is one you don’t see coming. How you can add the subtlety to your conclusion is by following this formula:

Set up – pause – Build up – pause – Punchline

Motivational conclusions are always an upbeat way to close your speech. You will be leaving the stage on high energy that is sure to be contagious. This also ensures that your audience will be taking a piece of your conclusion with them, making sure that it is not only memorable but also useful.

There are many ways to approach an inspirational closing. You can go with an anecdote, a quote, a poem, and so on. The purpose is to give a push, to add strength, to ignite a can-do attitude. 

The trick to a powerful inspirational speech is emotion. Humans are excellent at empathizing. If you can adequately emote throughout your story, adding drama into your storytelling, then it is bound to have a more substantial effect. Vocal variety can also be an excellent element for this. Alter your tempo to weave excitement into your story. You can also use smart pauses to add more intrigue. 

Your facial expressions play a significant role in how the audience receives your speech. Whether it is a sad or happy story, make sure that your face conveys it. It can be addictive to have the audience’s attention like this, but don’t get too greedy. Remember to end on your highest note, leaving a lasting impression. 

There are many types of speeches out there. For instance: you might think that a humorous speech is just that: humorous. But think again. All the best speeches have at least one key takeaway.

A takeaway message is quite similar to an inspirational conclusion. The question you have to ask yourself is this: What is the purpose of my speech? Even if you’ve got a fantastic anecdotal story to share, you have to remember that the audience will always wonder what they are getting from the speech. That will be your takeaway.

For an effective conclusion, you have to step back and overview your speech. From your introduction to the body, what is the message you are trying to convey? Make sure your conclusion reflects it. For example: if your speech is about a drowning story, you can probably try to include what you could’ve done and how the audience can avoid being in a similar situation.

A call-back is a fun twist to add to your conclusion. There is a reason why a circle is one of the most pleasing shapes; it gives you a sense of completion. Even if you aren’t aware of it, it works on your mind subliminally. An effective way to conduct this method is to find a way to tie your ending to your introduction.

You can understand a call-back as a reference. It doesn’t have to be limited to just the introduction; you can reference the body of your speech as well. This not only makes for a great repetition tool but also adds a feeling of completion into your presentation.

However, you should pick something that the audience can connect to. This helps create a special and unique bond as if it were an inside joke just between you two. 

• Signal your audience when you’re drawing to your conclusion.
• Add trigger transitions like “In conclusion,” “In summary,” “That brings us towards the end,” and so on.
• Try to end on a high note with something memorable.
• Write your conclusion last so that it complements your introduction.
• Try to paraphrase your words without repeating the same words over and over.
• Your audience is more likely to remember your speech if you end with something useful to them or with a call to action.
• Leave on an attention-grabbing note. 

Wrapping Up:

A speech typically has one of four purposes: to inform, to entertain, to instruct, or to persuade. To deliver an effective speech, you need to first make sure you understand what your objective is. Then, you can follow our guidelines to construct a solid structure and deliver a well-rounded and impactful presentation. Now that you know how to create an effective speech structure, you are ready to dominate the stage!  

The best speech structures are invisible and effective. Learn the tips and tricks to deliver the perfect opening, body, and conclusion and wow the stage.

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10.1: What are the Different Types of Speeches?

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• Page ID 106477

• Lisa Coleman, Thomas King, & William Turner
• Southwest Tennessee Community College

Learning Objectives

• Discuss the three main types of speeches.
• Discuss the importance of differentiating between the three.

Speeches have traditionally been seen to have one of three broad purposes: to inform, to persuade, and— Well, to be honest, different words are used for the third kind of speech purpose: to inspire, to amuse, to please, to delight, or to entertain. We will just use “to inspire” as the overall term here.

Your instructor will most likely assign you an informative and persuasive speech, and then perhaps one more. The third one might be a special occasion speech, such as a tribute (commemorative), an after-dinner speech, a toast, or a eulogy. These four types of speeches fit into the category of “to inspire” or “to entertain.”  It should be understood that these three purposes are not necessarily exclusive of the others. A speech designed to be persuasive can also be informative and entertaining, even if neither of those is the main purpose.  To further demonstrate this, look at the examples below in Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\).

Some of the topics listed above could fall into another category depending on how the speaker approached the topic, or they could contain elements of both. For example, you may have to inform your audience about your topic in one main point before you can persuade them, or you may include some entertaining elements in an informative or persuasive speech to help make the content more engaging for the audience. There should not be elements of persuasion included in an informative speech, since persuading is contrary to the objective approach that defines an informative speech. In any case, while there may be some overlap between topics, most speeches can be placed into one of the categories based on the overall content of the speech.

Tucker, Barbara; Barton, Kristin; Burger, Amy; Drye, Jerry; Hunsicker, Cathy; Mendes, Amy; and LeHew, Matthew, "Exploring Public Speaking: 4th Edition" (2019). Communication Open Textbooks . 1. https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/communication-textbooks/1  - CC BY-NC 2.0

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Speech Writing

• Updated on  
• Jan 16, 2024

The power of good, inspiring, motivating, and thought-provoking speeches can never be overlooked. If we retrospect, a good speech has not only won people’s hearts but also has been a verbal tool to conquer nations. For centuries, many leaders have used this instrument to charm audiences with their powerful speeches. Apart from vocalizing your speech perfectly, the words you choose in a speech carry immense weight, and practising speech writing begins with our school life. Speech writing is an important part of the English syllabus for Class 12th, Class 11th, and Class 8th to 10th. This blog brings you the Speech Writing format, samples, examples, tips, and tricks!

This Blog Includes:

What is speech writing, speech in english language writing, how do you begin an english-language speech, introduction, how to write a speech, speech writing samples, example of a great speech, english speech topics, practice time.

Must Read: Story Writing Format for Class 9 & 10

Speech writing is the art of using proper grammar and expression to convey a thought or message to a reader. Speech writing isn’t all that distinct from other types of narrative writing. However, students should be aware of certain distinct punctuation and writing style techniques. While writing the ideal speech might be challenging, sticking to the appropriate speech writing structure will ensure that you never fall short.

“There are three things to aim at in public speaking: first, to get into your subject, then to get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience.”- Alexander Gregg

The English language includes eight parts of speech i.e. nouns , pronouns , verbs , adjectives 410 , adverbs , prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

• Noun- A noun is a word that describes anything, such as an animal, a person, a place, or an emotion. Nouns are the building blocks for most sentences.
• Pronoun – Pronouns are words that can be used in place of nouns. They are used so that we don’t have to repeat words. This makes our writing and speaking much more natural.
• Verb – A verb is a term that implies activity or ‘doing.’ These are very vital for your children’s grammar studies, as a sentence cannot be complete without a verb.
• Adjective – An adjective is a term that describes something. An adjective is frequently used before a noun to add extra information or description.
• Prepositions- A preposition is a term that expresses the location or timing of something in relation to something else.
• Conjunction- Because every language has its own set of conjunctions, English conjunctions differ from those found in other languages. They’re typically used as a connecting word between two statements, concepts, or ideas.
• Interjections- Interjections are words that are used to describe a strong emotion or a sudden feeling.

Relevant Read: Speech on the Importance of English

The way you start your English speech can set the tone for the remainder of it. This semester, there are a variety of options for you to begin presentations in your classes. For example, try some of these engaging speech in English language starters.

• Rhetorical questions : A rhetorical question is a figure of speech that uses a question to convey a point rather than asking for a response. The answer to a rhetorical question may be clear, yet the questioner asks it to emphasize the point. Rhetorical questions may be a good method for students to start their English speeches. This method of introducing your material might be appealing to the viewers and encourage them to consider how they personally relate to your issue.
• Statistics: When making an instructive or persuasive speech in an English class, statistics can help to strengthen the speaker’s authority and understanding of the subject. To get your point over quickly and create an emotional response, try using an unexpected statistic or fact that will resonate with the audience.
• Set up an imaginary scene: Create an imaginary situation in your audience’s thoughts if you want to persuade them to agree with you with your speech. This method of starting your speech assists each member of the audience in visualizing a fantastic scenario that you wish to see come true.

Relevant Read: Reported Speech Rules With Exercises

Format of Speech Writing

Here is the format of Speech Writing:

• Introduction : Greet the audience, tell them about yourself and further introduce the topic.
• Body : Present the topic in an elaborate way, explaining its key features, pros and cons, if any and the like.
• Conclusion : Summary of your speech, wrap up the topic and leave your audience with a compelling reminder to think about!

Let’s further understand each element of the format of Speech Writing in further detail:

After the greetings, the Introduction has to be attention-getting. Quickly get people’s attention. The goal of a speech is to engage the audience and persuade them to think or act in your favour. The introduction must effectively include: 

• A brief preview of your topic. 
• Define the outlines of your speech. (For example, I’ll be talking about…First..Second…Third)
• Begin with a story, quote, fact, joke, or observation in the room. It shouldn’t be longer than 3-4 lines. (For Example: “Mahatma Gandhi said once…”, or “This topic reminds me of an incident/story…”)

This part is also important because that’s when your audience decides if the speech is worth their time. Keep your introduction factual, interesting, and convincing.

It is the most important part of any speech. You should provide a number of reasons and arguments to convince the audience to agree with you.

Handling objections is an important aspect of speech composition. There is no time for questions or concerns since a speech is a monologue. Any concerns that may occur during the speech will be addressed by a powerful speech. As a result, you’ll be able to respond to questions as they come in from the crowd. To make speech simpler you can prepare a flow chart of the details in a systematic way.

For example: If your speech is about waste management; distribute information and arrange it according to subparagraphs for your reference. It could include:

• What is Waste Management?
• Major techniques used to manage waste
• Advantages of Waste Management  
• Importance of Waste Management 

The conclusion should be something that the audience takes with them. It could be a reminder, a collective call to action, a summary of your speech, or a story. For example: “It is upon us to choose the fate of our home, the earth by choosing to begin waste management at our personal spaces.”

After concluding, add a few lines of gratitude to the audience for their time.

For example: “Thank you for being a wonderful audience and lending me your time. Hope this speech gave you something to take away.”

Practice Your Speech Writing with these English Speech topics for students !

A good speech is well-timed, informative, and thought-provoking. Here are the tips for writing a good school speech:

Speech Sandwich of Public Speaking

The introduction and conclusion must be crisp. People psychologically follow the primacy effect (tendency to remember the first part of the list/speech) and recency effect (tendency to recall the last part of the list/speech). 

Use Concrete Facts

Make sure you thoroughly research your topic. Including facts appeals to the audience and makes your speech stronger. How much waste is managed? Give names of organisations and provide numerical data in one line.

Use Rhetorical Strategies and Humour

Include one or two open-ended or thought-provoking questions.  For Example: “Would we want our future generation to face trouble due to global warming?” Also, make good use of humour and convenient jokes that engages your audience and keeps them listening.

Check Out: Message Writing

Know your Audience and Plan Accordingly

This is essential before writing your speech. To whom is it directed? The categorised audience on the basis of –

• Knowledge of the Topic (familiar or unfamiliar)

Use the information to formulate the speech accordingly, use information that they will understand, and a sentence that they can retain.

Timing Yourself is Important

An important aspect of your speech is to time yourself.  Don’t write a speech that exceeds your word limit. Here’s how can decide the right timing for your speech writing:

• A one-minute speech roughly requires around 130-150 words
• A two-minute speech requires roughly around 250-300 words

Recommended Read: Letter Writing

Speech Writing Examples

Here are some examples to help you understand how to write a good speech. Read these to prepare for your next speech:

Write a speech to be delivered in the school assembly as Rahul/ Rubaina of Delhi Public School emphasises the importance of cleanliness, implying that the level of cleanliness represents the character of its residents. (150-200 words)

“Cleanliness is next to godliness,” said the great John Wesley. Hello, respected principal, instructors, and good friends. Today, I, Rahul/Rubaina, stand in front of you all to emphasise the significance of cleanliness.

Cleanliness is the condition or attribute of being or remaining clean. Everyone must learn about cleaning, hygiene, sanitation, and the different diseases that are produced by unsanitary circumstances. It is essential for physical well-being and the maintenance of a healthy atmosphere at home and at school. A filthy atmosphere invites a large number of mosquitos to grow and spread dangerous diseases. On the other side, poor personal cleanliness causes a variety of skin disorders as well as lowered immunity.

Habits formed at a young age become ingrained in one’s personality. Even if we teach our children to wash their hands before and after meals, brush their teeth and bathe on a regular basis, we are unconcerned about keeping public places clean. On October 2, 2014, the Indian Prime Minister began the “Swachh Bharat” programme to offer sanitation amenities to every family, including toilets, solid and liquid waste disposal systems, village cleanliness, and safe and appropriate drinking water supplies. Teachers and children in schools are actively participating in the ‘Clean India Campaign’ with zeal and excitement.

Good health ensures a healthy mind, which leads to better overall productivity, higher living standards, and economic development. It will improve India’s international standing. As a result, a clean environment is a green environment with fewer illnesses. Thus, cleanliness is defined as a symbol of mental purity.

Thank you very much.

Relevant Read: Speech on Corruption

You are Sahil/Sanya, the school’s Head Girl/Head Boy. You are greatly troubled by the increasing instances of aggressive behaviour among your students. You decide to speak about it during the morning assembly. Create a speech about “School Discipline.” (150 – 200 words)

INDISCIPLINE IN SCHOOLS,

It has been reported that the frequency of fights and incidences of bullying in our school has increased dramatically in the previous several months. Good morning to everyone present. Today, I, Sahil/Sanya, your head boy/girl, am here to shed light on the serious topic of “Increased Indiscipline in Schools.”

It has come to light that instructor disobedience, bullying, confrontations with students, truancy, and insults are becoming more widespread. Furthermore, there have been reports of parents noticing a shift in their children’s attitudes. As a result, many children are suffering emotionally, psychologically, and physically. The impact of this mindset on children at a young age is devastating and irreversible.

Not to mention the harm done to the school’s property. Theft of chalk, scribbling on desks, walls and lavatory doors, destruction of CCTV cameras and so forth. We are merely depriving ourselves of the comforts granted to us by doing so.

Following numerous meetings, it was determined that the main reasons for the problem were a lack of sufficient guidance, excessive use of social media, and peer pressure. The council is working to make things better. Everyone is required to take life skills classes. Counselling, motivating, and instilling friendly ideals will be part of the curriculum. Seminars for parents and students will be held on a regular basis.

A counsellor is being made available to help you all discuss your sentiments, grudges, and personal problems. We are doing everything we can and expect you to do the same.

So, let us work together to create an environment in which we encourage, motivate, assist, and be nice to one another because we are good and civilised humans capable of a great deal of love.

Relevant Read: How to Write a Speech on Discipline?

The current increase in incidences of violent student misbehaviour is cause for alarm for everyone. Students who learn how to manage their anger can help to alleviate the situation. Write a 150-200-word speech about the topic to be delivered at the school’s morning assembly. (10)

HOW TO CONTROL ANGER

Honourable Principal, Respected Teachers, and Dear Friends, I’d like to share a few “Ways to Manage Anger” with you today.

The growing intolerance among the younger generation, which is resulting in violence against teachers, is cause for severe concern. The guru-shishya parampara is losing its lustre. Aggressive behaviour in students can be provoked by a variety of factors, including self-defence, stressful circumstance, over-stimulation, or a lack of adult supervision.

It has become imperative to address the situation. Life skills workshops will be included in the curriculum. Teachers should be trained to deal with such stubborn and confrontational behaviours. Meditation and deep breathing are very beneficial and should be practised every morning. Students should be taught to count to ten before reacting angrily. Sessions on anger control and its importance must also be held.

Remember that Anger is one letter away from danger. It becomes much more crucial to be able to control one’s rage. It’s never too late to start, as a wise man once said.

“Every minute you stay angry, you lose sixty seconds of peace of mind.”

Relevant Read: English Speech Topics for Students

Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I Have A Dream’ is one of his most famous speeches. Its impact has lasted through generations. The speech is written by utilising the techniques above. Here are some examples:

“still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” – emotive Language

“In a sense, we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check” – personalising the speech

“to stand up for freedom together” – a call to action.

Importantly, this is an example of how the listener comes first while drafting a speech. The language chosen appeals to a specific sort of audience and was widely utilised in 1963 when the speech was delivered.

• The Best Day of My Life
• Social Media: Bane or Boon?
• Pros and Cons of Online Learning
• Benefits of Yoga
• If I had a Superpower
• I wish I were ______
• Environment Conservation
• Women Should Rule the World!
• The Best Lesson I Have Learned
• Paperbacks vs E-books
• How to Tackle a Bad Habit?
• My Favorite Pastime/Hobby
• Understanding Feminism
• Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): Is it real or not?
• Importance of Reading
• Importance of Books in Our Life
• My Favorite Fictional Character
• Introverts vs Extroverts
• Lessons to Learn from Sports
• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Also Read: How to Ace IELTS Writing Section?

Ans. Speech writing is the process of communicating a notion or message to a reader by employing proper punctuation and expression. Speech writing is similar to other types of narrative writing. However, students should be aware of some different punctuation and writing structure techniques.

Ans. Before beginning with the speech, choose an important topic. Create an outline; rehearse your speech, and adjust the outline based on comments from the rehearsal. This five-step strategy for speech planning serves as the foundation for both lessons and learning activities.

Ans. Writing down a speech is vital since it helps you better comprehend the issue, organises your thoughts, prevents errors in your speech, allows you to get more comfortable with it, and improves its overall quality.

Speech writing and public speaking are effective and influential. Hope this blog helped you know the various tips for writing the speech people would want to hear. If you need help in making the right career choices at any phase of your academic and professional journey, our Leverage Edu experts are here to guide you. Sign up for a free session now!

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Speech Writing: Introduction with Examples

What is a speech.

• A speech is a formal address delivered to an audience.
• It always has a purpose. It aims to convey the purpose with logically connected ideas.
• Speech writing is a method of telling a thought or message to a reader using correct punctuation and expressions.

While writing a speech we should concentrate on the three ‘ C’ s.

Your speech should be clear, concise, and consistent .

• Clear: The speech should be simple and easy to understand.
• Concise: It should not be too long. Generally, the word limit is 150-200 words. But it may vary.
• Consistent: The speech should be logically in order.

Let’s see the format of speech writing.

It contains two parts.

Title: Give a good title to the topic while writing a speech.

Content: The content section is divided into 3 subparts.

• Introduction

1. INTRODUCTION:

Start greeting the audience with the phrases like:

• Respected Sir/Ma’am
• Dear students
• Good morning, everyone

Share your personal introduction in one or two lines.

Then write in brief what is the theme of the speech.

• Explain the topic in detail.
• Be clear and specific about your thoughts.
• We can use 3 techniques while writing a speech.

Advantage & Disadvantage

Cause & Effect

Problem & Solution

Let’s learn them in detail.

Advantages & Disadvantages:

• Tell the advantages and disadvantages of the thing.
• Example: If the topic is ‘online education’, you can write its benefits and side effects.

Cause & Effect:

• Write why it is happening or the cause of the thing given in the speech.
• What is its effect on society?
• Example: If the topic is ‘ pollution ’, you can write its cause and effect on the earth.

Problem & Solution:

• Discuss the problem and write the proper solution to it.
• Write the need for that thing in your daily life.

3. CONCLUSION:

• Conclude the speech by giving an overall view or summary.
• Add the specific action you want the audience to do right away.

Some important things you must keep in mind while writing a speech.

• Figure out the primary point of the speech.
• Identify the audience who will listen to the speech.
• Give proper support and structure to the speech.
• Make sure to use correct punctuation while writing.

Sample of Speech:

Good morning respected principal sir, all the teachers, and my dear friends.

Today we have gathered here to celebrate the Teachers’ Day.

First, I would like to wish all my respected teachers a very happy Teachers’ Day. Thank you for being

our backbone and support. Teachers play a big role in building the character of students. They give

us knowledge and help in achieving our dreams. They are our guiding spirits and role models.

Teachers help in building the character of students. Teachers plays an important role in the education

of students, society, and country.

On behalf of all students, I would like to thank all the teachers for their tireless efforts they make to give us knowledge and shape our future.

Another Example of Speech :

Write a speech on “Importance of Education” which you will deliver in your school.

Good morning respected teachers and my dear friends.

      I am Linda studying from grade 3.

The topic of my speech is ‘Importance of Education’. I would let you know all about the value of education and its contribution to our lives.

      Education helps us to remove doubt and fear of challenges in our lives. We can say it is a tool that keeps us happy and give courage to fight in difficult situations. We need education to make ourselves confident and to be aware of equality. It makes us self -dependent. Education shape us for the future challenges in life. It helps you to earn money to fulfill the basic need of life.

If we are not properly educated, we may face challenges in some situations. Education is not about gaining knowledge only; it means learning the ways to be happy and social life.

      My dear friends, education is like a healthy food that nourishes us both internally and externally. It gives us confidence by developing our personality. We should help others as well as ourselves to be educated and contribute to the development of the society.

      Thank you!!!

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Going back in history, a powerful speech backed up many significant events. Such speeches were delivered by people with speech-giving skills of the highest order. 

Public speaking is an art, and to master it, the speaker should have a clear objective in mind. The presenter has to understand and tailor the speech to the nature of the audience. 

That being said, having a clear objective and purpose of speech in mind makes the speech writing process simpler and more manageable.

But the question comes to mind: “ How many types of speeches are there? ”

Worry not, as in this blog, we will understand the different types of speeches with examples. At the end, there are some handy tips for you to ease your speech-writing process!

Carry on reading!

• 1. What are The Different Types of Speeches in English?
• 2. Types of Speeches According to the Purpose
• 3. Types of Speeches According to the Delivery
• 4. Types of Speeches According to Special Occasion
• 5. Other Types of Speeches
• 6. Tips to Conduct Effective Research for Your Speech

What are The Different Types of Speeches in English?

Although there is a variety of speech types, we generally look at speeches in three different ways. 

• Types of speeches according to the purpose
• Types of speeches according to the delivery
• Types of speeches according to special occasion

Apart from the above types, there are some other types of speeches as well, which we will address later!

Now, let’s set sail for the types of speeches according to the purpose.

Types of Speeches According to the Purpose

Each and every speech has a specific purpose, i.e., some are delivered to entertain the audience, and others might be delivered to inform the audience. 

When a speaker delivers a speech, he has a clear purpose in his mind for why he wants to convey this message to the audience.

The principal purpose of delivering a speech falls into four basic categories:

1. Informative Speech

When a speaker tries to inform a particular group or audience about a particular subject, they’re delivering an informative speech. The sole aim of an informative speech is to educate the audience on a topic. 

The presenter may make use of facts and statistics to deliver an impactful informative speech. Such speeches deliver new information on a specific place, person, issue, or occasion by describing, explaining, and defining.

These are some common types of informative speeches:

• Explanatory Speech : Delivered to clarify a complex topic, process, or concept by breaking it down into understandable elements, making it easier for the audience to grasp.
• Descriptive Speech : It is a kind of informative speech that creates an accurate picture of a certain individual, place, or thing in the mind of the audience. 
• Definition Speech : A definition speech provides clear explanations of terms, concepts, or ideas, allowing the audience to understand the meaning of the subject.

Possible scenarios of informative speeches could be:

• A CEO’s reporting on the company's financial performance for the past month, highlighting revenue, expenses, and net profit.

Here is a more detailed example of a compelling informative speech and a sample speech for students:

Informative Speech Example

Speech Example for Students

2. Persuasive Speech

In a persuasive speech , the speaker aims to persuade the audience with their opinion. Using persuasive language, the orator tries to reinforce the listeners' perspectives, or feelings about a particular subject.

Including factual evidence is necessary in a persuasive speech. With concrete details, there is a higher chance of persuading the audience to agree with what you make claims about. 

This genre of speech is the hardest because it is difficult to convince people of anything. And it becomes more difficult if you ask them to challenge their current belief and think out of that perspective. 

Some common persuasive speech types are:

• Policy Persuasion: Urges for specific actions or policies, aiming to influence the audience's decision-making.
• Value Persuasion: Seeks to modify or fortify the audience's beliefs, values, or attitudes about a particular theme or topic.
• Fact Persuasion: Focuses on presenting facts and evidence to persuade the audience to accept a certain point of view.

An example of a persuasive speech could be:

• Encouraging the audience to vote in the upcoming election to have a say in shaping our community's future.

Here is a complete example of a persuasive speech:

Persuasive Speech Example

3. Entertaining Speech

Have you ever been to an employee’s promotional party or even a standup comedy session? If the speaker managed to entertain you or make you laugh, they delivered an entertaining speech!

In the most simple words, entertainment speeches are intended to entertain the audience. The basic purpose of such kinds of speeches is to provide pleasure and enjoyment that make the audience laugh. 

Although this speech is meant to make the audience laugh and enjoy the occasion, it should have a lighter moment as well. 

Here are some types of entertaining speeches:

• Humorous Speech: Makes use of humor, jokes, and comedy to amuse and entertain the audience. 
• Storytelling Speech: Aims to engage the listeners by sharing a relatable story to convey a message or illustrate a point. Quite often, the presenter uses vivid details and emotions. 
• Roast or Toast: In such a speech, an individual is targeted and teased with the help of humor in a lighthearted way. In a toast, the speaker celebrates or honors someone’s success, typically on a positive note. 

Let’s see what an example of an entertaining speech could be:

• A standup comedy session in your college, organized by some society members!

For a detailed insight on entertaining speeches, take a look at this example:

Entertaining Speech Example

4. Demonstrative Speech

Also known as a how-to speech, a demonstrative speech is given to demonstrate the working of a particular thing. Typically, a demonstrative speech makes use of visual aids for a clear understanding. 

A little detail to notice is that you shouldn’t confuse a demonstrative speech with an informative speech. Although both types of speeches provide new information to the audience, demonstrative speeches demonstrate how to do or perform something. 

Here are some types of demonstrative speech:

• Process Demonstrative Speech: Guides the audience through a series of steps or a sequence of actions to achieve a specific outcome or create something. 
• Object Demonstrative Speech: Provides detailed information about a specific object, focusing on its characteristics, features, and uses. 
• Activity Demonstrative Speech: Demonstrates how to perform a particular activity or task, offering practical instructions and insights to the audience. 

See this accurate example of a demonstrative speech topic:

• Cooking a classic spaghetti carbonara, step by step, for a delicious Italian meal.

For a more in-depth demonstrative speech, see the example below: 

Demonstrative Speech Example

Head over to our demonstrative speech ideas blog if you need great ideas for your next demonstrative speech!

Well, we just covered what are the types of speeches according to the purpose. Now we will jump to different speech types according to their delivery!

Types of Speeches According to the Delivery

The easiest way to start your speech is not always the best one. A substantial amount of work goes into the preparation of delivering a compelling message. So, when you are asked to deliver a speech, get familiar with the type of speech and your target audience.

Always think of the delivery method that is suitable for delivering a particular message. There are four ways that can help you understand how to balance the formality while delivering the speech.

1. Impromptu Speaking

Consider yourself in an urgent situation where you’re asked to deliver a brief presentation on your semester project updates. You’ve been urgently contacted by your supervisor, and you’ve not even prepared the presentation. 

Obviously, you will present your project without any preparation.

Well, that’s when you’ll deliver an impromptu speech without any prior planning. In short, an impromptu speech is the presentation of a brief and concise message without preparation.

Here is a great example of a well-written impromptu speech:

Impromptu Speech Example

Visit our impromptu speech topics blog to get amazing ideas!

2. Extemporaneous Speaking

Extemporaneous speaking is the opposite of impromptu speaking, as it’s planned, well-prepared, and rehearsed properly. It is a perfect balance as it allows the speaker to use notes and give time to prepare well to deliver the speech.

Extemporaneous speeches are not meant to be memorized, and as a result, the delivery is quite natural and follows a conversational style. 

See this example of a comprehensive extemporaneous speech:

Extemporaneous Speech Example

3. Manuscript Speaking

It is the word-for-word iteration of a written message. The speaker keeps his attention on the printed page while delivering a manuscript message. Such speeches work well where the exact repetition of original words is required, i.e., reading the organization’s mission statement. 

This is the easiest type of public speaking, but it is not as effective as others. The audience might lose their interest soon, as the speaker is just reading the manuscript. 

Take a look at this compelling example of a manuscript speech for a better understanding:

Manuscript Speech Example

4. Memorized Speaking

When a speaker has to deliver a speech relying on their memory, without the use of any notes, they’re delivering a memorized speech. The spokesperson must thoroughly research the speech until they can recite it from memory. 

Memorized speaking is performed in situations where precision, effective delivery, and a positive engagement with the audience are required. Most commonly, this speaking style is practiced in formal speeches, academic competitions, theatrical performances, etc. 

For an even better understanding, see this example of memorized speech:

Memorized Speech Example

5. Oratorical Speech

Oratorical speech is a subcategory of memorized speaking. Although oratorical literally means “ relating to the art of speech giving ”, oratorical speaking is a very specific type of speech. 

Such speeches are often quite long and formal. They’re typically known for their eloquence, use of persuasive and rhetorical style of delivery. To deliver an impactful speech, the speaker has to perform a high degree of practice and memorization. 

Below is a great example of a comprehensive oratorical speech:

Oratorical Speech Example

Types of Speeches According to Special Occasion

Special occasion speeches are intended to entertain or commemorate the audience. They have no set format and are designed to fit the particular occasion. The special occasion could be a birthday party, a graduation ceremony, or someone’s funeral. 

Here are eight common types of special occasion speeches:

1. Introduction Speech

The introduction speeches are given to introduce the speaker who is going to give a speech. It is given to inspire or persuade the audience to listen to that speaker. It is generally small and brief speeches. 

2. Presentation Speech

These speeches are usually given at award ceremonies, where an individual presents an award or prize to a person.  The main purpose of the presentation speech is to provide recognition of the recipient’s accomplishments.

A toast is a brief tribute to a particular person or an event. The toasts are given on a special occasion to honor or acknowledge someone. It is given to express best wishes to someone for the future.  

A roast is a kind of toast where the speaker praises and humorously pokes the person being honored. It might be given to a person who has achieved noteworthy success or moving away. It contains administration, appreciation, comedic insult, or tribute to someone.

5. Acceptance

These types of speeches are given by the person who has just received a prize or an award. Acceptance speech allows the recipient to show humility and grace for the award and say a few words of appreciation.

6. Commemorative Speech

These types of speeches are given at conventions, conferences, or graduation ceremonies. The commemorative speech is the summary of the central message around which the whole meeting or conference revolves.

7. Farewell Speech

Farewell speeches are like keynote addresses. These speeches are usually given at graduation ceremonies, or when someone leaves an organization, or at farewell parties. It is celebratory in nature and emphasizes looking ahead to the future.

Eulogies are given at funeral and memorial ceremonies to praise the person who has just died. The basic purpose is to reflect the audience’s emotions and offer condolences to the dead person’s relatives.

Below is a special occasion speech example:

Special Occasion Speech Example

Other Types of Speeches

Here are some different types of speeches that are quite common.

• Motivational Speech Being a special kind of speech, a motivational speech motivates the audience to pursue their betterment. The speaker uses strong and impactful words to encourage the listeners to push themselves to do something better

Want to know some great motivational speech ideas ? Head over to our blog! ?

• Forensic Speech Forensic speech is practiced in a competitive setting, where students take part in speech competitions. The speakers delivering a forensic speech are typically judged on their presentation, argumentation, communication skills, etc.

Debate Speech Debate speeches typically follow a certain set of rules and take place in a debating event. We can say that debate speech is a form of persuasive speech but includes plenty of facts and figures. 

In a debate speech, you only have to back your claims with plenty of strong facts, but your aim is not to convince the audience to support you. 

Tips to Conduct Effective Research for Your Speech

To make sure you research and deliver your speech in the best way possible, take a look at the tips mentioned below:

• Research Your Audience : Understand their opinions and thoughts and identify the best way to reach and engage them.
• Consider the Occasion or Location : Tailor your speech to the specific setting or event
• Focus on Your Expertise : Concentrate on your area of knowledge and gather comprehensive information on your topic
• Stay on Topic: Avoid getting off track and maintain a clear focus on your specific subject
• Present Balanced Evidence: Provide a balanced set of evidence for the audience to draw their own conclusions
• Keep It Concise: Avoid overwhelming the audience with excessive information. Just focus on delivering key points and takeaways effectively.
• Be Yourself: Convey passion and enthusiasm for your topic and connect with the audience on a personal level.
• Use Visual Aids: Make the speech more engaging by incorporating visual elements
• Use Reliable Sources: Utilize trustworthy and credible sources for data and statistics
• Properly Cite Sources: Build trust and credibility by citing your sources appropriately

In conclusion , for the various types of speeches, you have to tailor your preparation accordingly. With an abundance of speech types out there, one can get confused between them.

That’s why in this blog, we covered various types of speeches, covering all the essential details about each one. With the included examples, you can have an idea about how to pen down and deliver a wonderful speech.

If you require assistance with crafting any speech, feel free to reach out to our professional essay writing service . Our writers are exceptionally skilled, providing top-quality services 24/7.

Don't hesitate, buy speech and secure support from our top essay writers!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the various speech style categories.

The various speech styles include:

• Formal style
• Frozen style
• Casual style
• Consultative style

Can you explain the difference between informative and persuasive speeches?

Informative speeches aim to educate or provide information to the audience. Persuasive speeches aim to convince or persuade the audience to adopt a specific viewpoint or take action.

What is an oratory or rhetorical speech?

 Oratory speeches are characterized by eloquence and persuasive language. They often use rhetorical devices and are designed to inspire or move the audience emotionally.

What is an acceptance speech?

An acceptance speech is given when someone receives an award or recognition. It expresses gratitude and often includes acknowledgments and thanks.

How do I choose the right type of speech for a specific occasion?

The choice depends on the event's purpose, the nature of the audience, and the goals of the speech. Consider what you want to achieve and the message you want to convey.

How do you adapt your speech style for a formal versus a casual setting?

In a formal setting, use more structured language and adhere to conventions. In a casual setting, you can be more relaxed and conversational.

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Speech Writing and Types of Speeches

• July 28, 2023

Table of Contents:

Introduction, what is speech writing, different kinds of speech writing, entertaining speech,  informative speech, demonstrative speech, persuasive speech, debate speech, essential elements and detailed insights.

Many important things in human history can be traced to that well-written and well-delivered speech. As long as they are well thought out, speeches can move countries or touch hearts. This is why we should all try to get good at making and speech writing.

But “speech” is often too broad and general of a word. That’s why in this blog post, we will look at what speech writing is and the different kinds of speeches.

Speech writing is the art of writing a clear, concise, and easy-to-understand speech. For more insights into effective writing, explore 8 Tips for Writing Short Film Scripts That Connect. It is a way to communicate your ideas to an audience in a persuasive, informative, or entertaining way.

When writing a speech, it is important to consider the purpose of the speech, the audience, and the topic. The speech should be tailored to the audience’s needs and interests. It should also be well-organized and easy to follow.

Many different types of speeches can be written, including informative, persuasive, and entertaining speeches. Discover more about the art of narrative in Fiction vs. Non-Fiction . Each type of speech has its purpose and should be written accordingly.

Even though the main goal of a speech is to get the point across, we can still divide them into 4 main types: entertaining, informing, demonstrating, debating and persuading.

Although you don’t need to always write a speech yourself, you can hire a ghostwriter or a speech writing services provider to do it for you. But even then, you must know these different types of speeches to understand what you are delivering better.

Entertaining speeches are fun and funny speeches that make people laugh. They are often used at special events, like weddings, awards ceremonies, and birthday parties. For more on creating memorable events.

Entertaining speeches use humor, stories, and personal experiences to entertain the audience, much like the engaging tales found in Most Prestigious Book Awards . They are usually less formal than other types of speeches and often use slang and informal language.

Some examples of entertaining speeches include:

• The acceptance speech at an awards ceremony
• The principal gave the speech at a school assembly

Entertaining speeches can be a great way to break the ice at a party or to make people feel more comfortable. They can also be a way to share personal stories and connect with the audience personally.

Informative speeches are used to teach people about something. They differ from persuasive speeches because they do not try to convince people. They want people to believe or do something, but they simply provide information.

You have often seen your teachers give these types of speeches in schools. Often, they are used in businesses and other organizations as They can be about any topic, like how to improve your branding and publicity or sales, etc.

But they are usually about something new (like a change in numbers in business), (innovative processes) or unfamiliar.

You must research and gather information about your topic to write an informative speech, and for guidance on gathering and organizing your thoughts, consider How to Write a Personal Statement . You also need to organize your information in a way that is easy for the audience to understand.

When you give an informative speech, it is important to be clear and concise. You should avoid jargon or technical terms the audience may not understand. You should also use visuals, such as charts and graphs, to help illustrate your points.

Here are some examples of informative speeches:

• A teacher giving a lecture on the solar system
• A doctor giving a presentation on a new medical treatment
• A business leader giving a speech about the company’s new product

Informative speeches can be a great way to share information and knowledge. They can also be a way to help people learn new things and to expand their understanding of the world.

A demonstrative speech is a speech that teaches people how to do something. For more on teaching and explaining complex ideas, check out How to Write Non-Fiction Book . It differs from an informative speech because it provides information and shows people how to do something.

Demonstrative speeches often use visuals, such as props or demonstrations, to help the audience understand the process. They can also be very interactive, with the speaker asking the audience to participate in the demonstration.

Some examples of demonstrative speeches include:

• A cooking class where the instructor shows the audience how to make a dish.
• A workshop on how to change a tire.
• A speech by a software engineer who demonstrates how to use a new piece of software.

Demonstrative speeches can be a great way to teach people new skills. They can also be a lot of fun, and they can help people to learn in a more hands-on way.

Have you ever listened to a TED talk and felt like you must do everything to succeed or change or life today? Well, then, you must be aware of this type of speech.

Persuasive speeches are used to convince people to believe or do something. They are different from other types of speech writings because they are trying to change the audience’s mind.

Persuasive speeches can be either logical or emotional. Logical persuasive speeches use facts and evidence to show the audience why the speaker’s point of view is correct.

Emotional persuasive speeches use stories, humor, or other emotional appeals to get the audience to feel a certain way.

Some examples of persuasive speeches include:

• A political speech
• A commercial advertisement

Persuasive speeches can be very effective but can also be very difficult to write. The speaker needs to understand the audience’s point of view and then use logic or emotion to change their mind.

This is a different kind of speech writing not used by anyone or everyone.

Debate speeches are similar to persuasive speeches. These speeches are not for publicity, but evidence and logic are used to support a claim. However, debate speeches are different in not convincing the audience to agree with the speaker’s point of view. Instead, they try to justify the speaker’s stance on a particular issue.

Debate speeches are often improvised because it is impossible to anticipate all of the arguments that the other debaters might make. For honing such skills, Comedy Writing Services can offer unique perspectives and techniques. This makes debate speeches a great way to develop critical thinking skills and public speaking skills.

Many types of speech writings can be given, each with its purpose. The most common types of speech writing are informative, demonstrative, persuasive, and debate speeches.

Speech writing and giving can be a challenging but rewarding experiences. Following these tips, you can write effective speeches to inform, entertain, and persuade your audience.

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12.2 Types of Outlines

Learning objectives.

• Define three types of outlines: working outline, full-sentence outline, and speaking outline.
• Identify the advantages of using notecards to present your speaking outline.

Dave Gray – Blank index card – CC BY 2.0.

When we discuss outlining, we are actually focusing on a series of outlines instead of a single one. Outlines are designed to evolve throughout your speech preparation process, so this section will discuss how you progress from a working outline to a full-sentence outline and, finally, a speaking outline. We will also discuss how using notecards for your speaking outline can be helpful to you as a speaker.

Working Outline

A working outline is an outline you use for developing your speech. It undergoes many changes on its way to completion. This is the outline where you lay out the basic structure of your speech. You must have a general and specific purpose; an introduction, including a grabber; and a concrete, specific thesis statement and preview. You also need three main points, a conclusion, and a list of references.

One strategy for beginning your working outline is to begin by typing in your labels for each of the elements. Later you can fill in the content.

When you look ahead to the full-sentence outline, you will notice that each of the three main points moves from the general to the particular. Specifically, each main point is a claim, followed by particular information that supports that claim so that the audience will perceive its validity. For example, for a speech about coal mining safety, your first main point might focus on the idea that coal mining is a hazardous occupation. You might begin by making a very general claim, such as “Coal mining is one of the most hazardous occupations in the United States,” and then become more specific by providing statistics, authoritative quotations, or examples to support your primary claim.

A working outline allows you to work out the kinks in your message. For instance, let’s say you’ve made the claim that coal mining is a hazardous occupation but you cannot find authoritative evidence as support. Now you must reexamine that main point to assess its validity. You might have to change that main point in order to be able to support it. If you do so, however, you must make sure the new main point is a logical part of the thesis statement–three main points–conclusion sequence.

The working outline shouldn’t be thought of a “rough copy,” but as a careful step in the development of your message. It will take time to develop. Here is an example of a working outline:

Name : Anomaly May McGillicuddy

Topic : Smart dust

General Purpose : To inform

Specific Purpose : To inform a group of science students about the potential of smart dust

Main Ideas :

• Smart dust is an assembly of microcomputers.
• Smart dust can be used by the military—no, no—smart dust could be an enormous asset in covert military operations. (That’s better because it is more clear and precise.)
• Smart dust could also have applications to daily life.

Introduction : (Grabber) (fill in later)

(Thesis Statement) Thus far, researchers hypothesize that smart dust could be used for everything from tracking patients in hospitals to early warnings of natural disasters and defending against bioterrorism.

(Preview) Today, I’m going to explain what smart dust is and the various applications smart dust has in the near future. To help us understand the small of it all, we will first examine what smart dust is and how it works. We will then examine some military applications of smart dust. And we will end by discussing some nonmilitary applications of smart dust.

(Transition) (fill in later)

Main Point I : Dr. Kris Pister, a professor in the robotics lab at the University of California at Berkeley, originally conceived the idea of smart dust in 1998 as part of a project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

• (supporting point)

Main Point II : Because smart dust was originally conceptualized under a grant from DARPA, military uses of smart dust have been widely theorized and examined.

Main Point III : According to the smart dust project website, smart dust could quickly become a common part of our daily lives.

Conclusion : (Bring your message “full circle” and create a psychologically satisfying closure.)

This stage of preparation turns out to be a good place to go back and examine whether all the main points are directly related to the thesis statement and to each other. If so, your message has a strong potential for unity of focus. But if the relationship of one of the main points is weak, this is the time to strengthen it. It will be more difficult later for two reasons: first, the sheer amount of text on your pages will make the visual task more difficult, and second, it becomes increasingly difficult to change things in which you have a large investment in time and thought.

You can see that this working outline can lay a strong foundation for the rest of your message. Its organization is visually apparent. Once you are confident in the internal unity of your basic message, you can begin filling in the supporting points in descending detail—that is, from the general (main points) to the particular (supporting points) and then to greater detail. The outline makes it visually apparent where information fits. You only need to assess your supporting points to be sure they’re authoritative and directly relevant to the main points they should support.

Sometimes transitions seem troublesome, and that’s not surprising. We often omit them when we have informal conversations. Our conversation partners understand what we mean because of our gestures and vocal strategies. However, others might not understand what we mean, but think they do, and so we might never know whether they understood us. Even when we include transitions, we don’t generally identify them as transitions. In a speech, however, we need to use effective transitions as a gateway from one main point to the next. The listener needs to know when a speaker is moving from one main point to the next.

In the next type of outline, the full-sentence outline, take a look at the transitions and see how they make the listener aware of the shifting focus to the next main point.

Full-Sentence Outline

Your full-sentence outline should contain full sentences only. There are several reasons why this kind of outline is important. First, you have a full plan of everything you intend to say to your audience, so that you will not have to struggle with wordings or examples. Second, you have a clear idea of how much time it will take to present your speech. Third, it contributes a fundamental ingredient of good preparation, part of your ethical responsibility to your audience. This is how a full-sentence outline looks:

Name: Anomaly May McGillicuddy

Specific Purpose : To inform a group of science students about the potential of smart dust.

• Smart dust could be an enormous asset in covert military operations.

Introduction : (Grabber) In 2002, famed science fiction writer, Michael Crichton, released his book Prey , which was about a swarm of nanomachines that were feeding off living tissue. The nanomachines were solar powered, self-sufficient, and intelligent. Most disturbingly, the nanomachines could work together as a swarm as it took over and killed its prey in its need for new resources. The technology for this level of sophistication in nanotechnology is surprisingly more science fact than science fiction. In 2000, three professors of electrical engineering and computer Science at the University of California at Berkeley, Kahn, Katz, and Pister, hypothesized in the Journal of Communications and Networks that wireless networks of tiny microelectromechanical sensors, or MEMS; robots; or devices could detect phenomena including light, temperature, or vibration. By 2004, Fortune Magazine listed “smart dust” as the first in their “Top 10 Tech Trends to Bet On.”

(Thesis Statement) Thus far researchers hypothesized that smart dust could be used for everything from tracking patients in hospitals to early warnings of natural disasters and as a defense against bioterrorism.

(Transition) To help us understand smart dust, we will begin by first examining what smart dust is.

• According to a 2001 article written by Bret Warneke, Matt Last, Brian Liebowitz, and Kris Pister titled “Smart Dust: Communicating with a Cubic-Millimeter Computer” published in Computer , Pister’s goal was to build a device that contained a built-in sensor, communication device, and a small computer that could be integrated into a cubic millimeter package.

For comparison purposes, Doug Steel, in a 2005 white paper titled “Smart Dust” written for C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, noted that a single grain of rice has a volume of five cubic millimeters.

• Each individual piece of dust, called a mote, would then have the ability to interact with other motes and supercomputers.
• As Steve Lohr wrote in the January 30, 2010, edition of the New York Times in an article titled “Smart Dust? Not Quite, But We’re Getting There,” smart dust could eventually consist of “Tiny digital sensors, strewn around the glove, gathering all sorts of information and communicating with powerful computer networks to monitor, measure, and understand the physical world in new ways.”

(Transition) Now that we’ve examined what smart dust is, let’s switch gears and talk about some of the military applications for smart dust.

• Major Scott Dickson, in a Blue Horizons paper written for the US Air Force Center for Strategy and Technology’s Air War College, sees smart dust as helping the military in battlespace awareness, homeland security, and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) identification.
• Furthermore, Major Dickson also believes it may be possible to create smart dust that has the ability to defeat communications jamming equipment created by foreign governments, which could help the US military not only communicate among itself, but could also increase communications with civilians in military combat zones.
• According to a 2010 article written by Jessica Griggs in new Scientist , one of the first benefits of smart dust could be an early defense warning for space storms and other debris that could be catastrophic.

(Transition) Now that we’ve explored some of the military benefits of smart dust, let’s switch gears and see how smart dust may be able to have an impact on our daily lives.

• Steve Lohr, in his 2010 New York Times article, wrote, “The applications for sensor-based computing, experts say, include buildings that manage their own energy use, bridges that sense motion and metal fatigue to tell engineers they need repairs, cars that track traffic patterns and report potholes, and fruit and vegetable shipments that tell grocers when they ripen and begin to spoil.”
• Theoretically, we could all be injected with smart dust, which relays information to our physicians and detects adverse changes to our body instantly.
• Smart dust could detect the microscopic formations of center cells or alert us when we’ve been infected by a bacterium or virus, which could speed up treatment and prolong all of our lives.

(Transition) Today, we’ve explored what smart dust is, how smart dust could be utilized by the US military, and how smart dust could impact all of our lives in the near future.

Conclusion : While smart dust is quickly transferring from science fiction to science fact, experts agree that the full potential of smart dust will probably not occur until 2025. Smart dust is definitely in our near future, but swarms of smart dust eating people as was depicted in Michael Crichton’s 2002 novel, Prey , isn’t reality. However, as with any technological advance, there are definite ethical considerations and worries related to smart dust. Even Dr. Kris Pister’s smart dust project website admits that as smart dust becomes more readily available, one of the trade-offs will be privacy. Pister responds to these critiques by saying, “As an engineer, or a scientist, or a hair stylist, everyone needs to evaluate what they do in terms of its positive and negative effect. If I thought that the negatives of working on this project were greater than or even comparable to the positives, I wouldn’t be working on it. As it turns out, I think that the potential benefits of this technology far outweigh the risks to personal privacy.”

Crichton, M. (2002). Prey . New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Dickson, S. (2007, April). Enabling battlespace persistent surveillance: the firm, function, and future of smart dust (Blue Horizons Paper, Center for Strategy and Technology, USAF Air War College). Retrieved from USAF Air War College website: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cst/bh_dickson.pdf

Griggs, J. (2010, February 6). Smart dust to provide solar early warning defense. New Scientist, 205 (2746), 22.

Kahn, J. M., Katz, R. H., & Pister, K. S. J. (2000). Emerging challenges: Mobile networking for “smart dust.” Journal of Communications and Networks, 2 , 188–196.

Lohr, S. (2010, January 30). Smart dust? Not quite, but we’re getting there. New York Times . Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Pister, K., Kahn, J., & Boser, B. (n.d.). Smart dust: Autonomous sensing and communication at the cubic millimeter. Retrieved from http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/SmartDust

Steel, D. (2005, March). Smart dust: UH ISRC technology briefing. Retrieved from http://www.uhisrc.com

Vogelstein, F., Boyle, M., Lewis, P., Kirkpatrick, D., Lashinsky, A.,…Chen, C. (2004, February 23). 10 tech trends to bet on. Fortune, 149 (4), 74–88.

Warneke, B., Last, M., Liebowitz, B., & Pister, K. S. J. (2001). Smart dust: Communicating with a cubic millimeter computer. Computer, 31 , 44–51.

When you prepare your full-sentence outline carefully, it may take as much as 1 ½ hours to complete the first part of the outline from your name at the top through the introduction. When you’ve completed that part, take a break and do something else. When you return to the outline, you should be able to complete your draft in another 1 ½ hours. After that, you only need to do a detailed check for completeness, accuracy, relevance, balance, omitted words, and consistency. If you find errors, instead of being frustrated, be glad you can catch these errors before you’re standing up in front of your audience.

You will notice that the various parts of your speech, for instance, the transition and main points, are labeled. There are compelling reasons for these labels. First, as you develop your message, you will sometimes find it necessary to go back and look at your wording in another part of the outline. Your labels help you find particular passages easily. Second, the labels work as a checklist so that you can make sure you’ve included everything you intended to. Third, it helps you prepare your speaking outline.

You’ll also notice the full references at the end of the outline. They match the citations within the outline. Sometimes while preparing a speech, a speaker finds it important to go back to an original source to be sure the message will be accurate. If you type in your references as you develop your speech rather than afterward, they will be a convenience to you if they are complete and accurate.

Don’t think of the references as busywork or drudgery. Although they’re more time consuming than text, they are good practice for the more advanced academic work you will do in the immediate future.

Speaking Outline

Your full-sentence outline prepares you to present a clear and well-organized message, but your speaking outline will include far less detail. Whenever possible, you will use key words and phrases, but in some instances, an extended quotation will need to be fully written on your speaking outline.

Resist the temptation to use your full-sentence outline as your speaking outline. The temptation is real for at least two reasons. First, once you feel that you’ve carefully crafted every sequence of words in your speech, you might not want to sacrifice quality when you shift to vocal presentation. Second, if you feel anxiety about how well you will do in front of an audience, you may want to use your full-sentence outline as a “safety net.” In our experience, however, if you have your full-sentence outline with you, you will end up reading, rather than speaking, to your audience. The subject of reading to your audience will be taken up in Chapter 14 “Delivering the Speech” on speech delivery. For now, it is enough to know you shouldn’t read, but instead, use carefully prepared notecards.

Your speech has five main components: introduction, main point one, main point two, main point three, and the conclusion. Therefore we strongly recommend the use of five notecards: one for each of those five components. There are extenuating circumstances that might call for additional cards, but begin with five cards only.

How will five notecards suffice in helping you produce a complete, rich delivery? Why can’t you use the full-sentence outline you labored so hard to write? First, the presence of your full-sentence outline will make it appear that you don’t know the content of your speech. Second, the temptation to read the speech directly from the full-sentence outline is nearly overwhelming; even if you resist this temptation, you will find yourself struggling to remember the words on the page rather than speaking extemporaneously. Third, sheets of paper are noisier and more awkward than cards. Fourth, it’s easier to lose your place using the full outline. Finally, cards just look better. Carefully prepared cards, together with practice, will help you more than you might think.

Plan to use five cards. Use 4 × 6 cards. The smaller 3 × 5 cards are too small to provide space for a visually organized set of notes. With five cards, you will have one card for the introduction, one card for each of the three main points, and one card for the conclusion. You should number your cards and write on one side only. Numbering is helpful if you happen to drop your cards, and writing on only one side means that the audience is not distracted by your handwritten notes and reminders to yourself while you are speaking. Each card should contain key words and key phrases but not full sentences.

Some speeches will include direct or extended quotations from expert sources. Some of these quotations might be highly technical or difficult to memorize for other reasons, but they must be presented correctly. This is a circumstance in which you could include an extra card in the sequence of notecards. This is the one time you may read fully from a card. If your quotation is important and the exact wording is crucial, your audience will understand that.

How will notecards be sufficient? When they are carefully written, your practice will reveal that they will work. If, during practice, you find that one of your cards doesn’t work well enough, you can rewrite that card.

Using a set of carefully prepared, sparingly worded cards will help you resist the temptation to rely on overhead transparencies or PowerPoint slides to get you through the presentation. Although they will never provide the exact word sequence of your full-sentence outline, they should keep you organized during the speech.

The “trick” to selecting the phrases and quotations for your cards is to identify the labels that will trigger a recall sequence. For instance, if the phrase “more science fact” brings to mind the connection to science fiction and the differences between the real developments and the fictive events of Crichton’s novel Prey , that phrase on your card will support you through a fairly extended part of your introduction.

You must discover what works for you and then select those words that tend to jog your recall. Having identified what works, make a preliminary set of no more than five cards written on one side only, and practice with them. Revise and refine them as you would an outline.

The following is a hypothetical set of cards for the smart dust speech:

Introduction : 2002, Prey , swarm nanomachines feed on living tissue.

Kahn, Katz, and Pister, U C Berkeley engineering and computer sci. profs. hyp.

Microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices could detect light, temp, or vib.

Thesis Statement : Researchers hyp that s.d. could track patients, warn of natural disaster, act as defense against bioterrorism.

Prev .: What smart dust is and how it works, military aps, nonmilitary aps.

Transition : To help understand, first, what smart dust is.

I. Dr. Kris Pister, prof robotics lab UC Berkeley conceived the idea in 1998 in a proj. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

• 2001 article by Bret Warneke et al titled “Smart Dust: Communicating with a Cubic-Millimeter Computer” publ. in Computer , Pister wanted sensors, comm. devices, and computer in a cubic millimeter package.

Doug Steel of CT Bauer College of Bus at Houston noted grain of rice = 5 cm.

• Each mote could interact w/ others.
• (see extended quotation, next card)

Quotation : Steve Lohr, NYT Jan 30 2005, “Smart Dust? Not Quite, but We’re Getting There.” Smart dust could eventually consist of “Tiny digital sensors, strewn around the globe, gathering all sorts of information and communicating with powerful computer networks to monitor, measure, and understand the physical world in new ways.”

II. Orig conceptualized under DARPA, military uses theor. and examined.

Smart Dust website, battlefield surveill., treaty monitor., transp. monitor., + scud hunting.

benefit, surveill.

• Maj. Scott Dickson, Blue Horizons Paper for Ctr for Strat and Tech for USAF air war college, sees s.d. as help for battlespace awareness, homeland security, and WMD ID.
• could also defeat comm. jamming equipt by communicating among itself and w/ civilians in combat zones.
• 2010 article Jessica Griggs New Scientist , early defense, storms and debris.

Transition : Switch gears to daily lives.

III. s.d. project website: s.d. could become common in daily life.

Pasting particles for virtual computer keyboard to inventory control poss.

• Steve Lohr, 2010, NYT, “The applications for sensor-based computing, experts say, include buildings that manage their own energy use, bridges that sense motion and metal fatigue to tell engineers they need repairs, cars that track traffic patterns and report potholes, and fruit and vegetable shipments that tell grocers when they ripen and begin to spoil.”

Medically, accdng to SD project website, help disabled.

• interface w/ computers

injected, cd. relay info to docs and detect body changes instantly

• cancer cells, bacteria or virus, speed up treatment, and so on.

Transition : We expl. What SD is, how SD cd be used military, and how SD cd impact our lives.

Conclusion : Transf fiction to fact, experts agree potential 2025. Michael Crichton’s Prey isn’t reality, but in developing SD as fact, there are ethical considerations. Pister: privacy.

Dr. Kris Pister: “As an engineer, or a scientist, or a hair stylist, everyone needs to evaluate what they do in terms of its positive and negative effect. If I thought that the negatives of working on this project were larger or even comparable to the positives, I wouldn’t be working on it. As it turns out, I think that the potential benefits of this technology far far outweigh the risks to personal privacy.”

Using a set of cards similar to this could help you get through an impressive set of specialized information. But what if you lose your place during a speech? With a set of cards, it will take less time to refind it than with a full-sentence outline. You will not be rustling sheets of paper, and because your cards are written on one side only, you can keep them in order without flipping them back and forth to check both sides.

What if you go blank? Take a few seconds to recall what you’ve said and how it leads to your next points. There may be several seconds of silence in the middle of your speech, and it may seem like minutes to you, but you can regain your footing most easily with a small set of well-prepared cards.

Under no circumstances should you ever attempt to put your entire speech on cards in little tiny writing. You will end up reading a sequence of words to your audience instead of telling them your message.

Key Takeaways

• Working outlines help you with speech logic, development, and planning.
• The full-sentence outline develops the full detail of the message.
• The speaking outline helps you stay organized in front of the audience without reading to them.
• Using notecards for your speaking outline helps with delivery and makes it easier to find information if you lose your place or draw a blank.
• With respect to your speech topic, what words need to be defined?
• Define what you mean by the terms you will use.
• How does your definition compare with those of experts?

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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The 5 Different Types of Speech Styles

Human beings have different ways of communicating . No two people speak the same (and nor should they). In fact, if you’ve paid any attention to people’s speeches around you, you might have already noticed that they vary from speaker to speaker, according to the context. Those variations aren’t merely coincidental. 

The 5 Different Types of Speech Styles (Table)

Martin Joos, a famous german linguist and professor, was the first one to organize the speeches according to their variations, having come up with five speech styles, depending on their degree of formality: 

1. Frozen Style (or Fixed speech)

A speech style is characterized by the use of certain grammar and vocabulary particular to a certain field, one in which the speaker is inserted. The language in this speech style is very formal and static, making it one of the highest forms of speech styles. It’s usually done in a format where the speaker talks and the audience listens without actually being given the space to respond. 

Application: It’s generally reserved for formal settings such as important ceremonies (for instance, a ceremony at the royal palace or one in which a country’s president is present), weddings, funerals, etc. 

Examples: a presidential speech, an anthem, and a school creed.

2. Formal Style

This style, just like the previous one, is also characterized by a formal (agreed upon and even documented) vocabulary and choice of words, yet it’s more universal as it doesn’t necessarily require expertise in any field and it’s not as rigid as the frozen style. 

The language in this speech is respectful and rejects the use of slang, contractions, ellipses and qualifying modal adverbials. Oftentimes the speaker must plan the sentences before delivering them. 

Application: Although it’s often used in writing, it also applies to speaking, especially to medium to large-sized groups. It’s also the type of speech that should be used when communicating with strangers and others such as older people, elders, professionals, and figures of authority. 

Examples: meetings (corporate or other formal meetings), court, class, interview, speech, or presentation. 

3. Consultative Style 

The third level of communication it’s a style characterized by a semi-formal vocabulary, often unplanned and reliant on the listener ’s responses and overall participation. 

Application: any type of two-way communication, dialogue, whether between two people or more, where there’s no intimacy or any acquaintanceship. 

Examples: group discussions, teacher-student communication, expert-apprentice, communication between work colleagues or even between employer-employee, and talking to a stranger. 

4. Casual Style (or Informal Style) 

As the name says, this style is characterized by its casualty, with a flexible and informal vocabulary that may include slang. It’s usually unplanned, pretty relaxed, and reliant on the fluid back and forth between those involved, without any particular order. 

Application: used between people with a sense of familiarity and a relatively close relationship, whether in a group or in a one-on-one scenario.

Examples: chats with friends and family, casual phone calls, or text messages. 

5. Intimate Style

This is the speech style that’s reserved for people who have a really close connection. It’s casual and relaxed and goes beyond words, as it incorporates nonverbal communication and even personal language codes, such as terms of endearment and expressions whose meaning are only understood by the participants, besides slang. 

Application: used between people who share an intimate bond. 

Examples: chats between best friends, boyfriend and girlfriend, siblings and other family members, whether in messages, phone calls, or personally.  

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What Makes a Great Presenter? 9 Key Qualities to Look for!

An Easy Guide to All 15 Types of Speech

4 factors that influence speech styles.

Although knowing the definition and some examples of situations in which each speech style might apply is helpful, there are four important factors that are key in speech styles. These factors help the speakers understand when it is appropriate to use one style instead of the other. They are: 

1. The Setting 

The setting is essentially the context in which the speech shall take place. It’s probably the most important factor to be considered when choosing which speech style to use as nothing could be more harmful than applying the wrong speech style to the wrong setting. 

Although it’s a factor that’s exhausted and diverse,  to make things simple for you, I’ve divided them in three main categories: 

• Formal Settings:  
• Casual Settings: 

In these settings, people are more relaxed and less uptight than in formal settings. Since there’s a degree of familiarity between those speaking, even though people are not necessarily intimate, the speaker can apply either consultative or casual speech styles. Some examples of these settings include weddings, company or team meetings, and school classes. 

• Informal Settings: 

These settings are more open than casual ones as there are almost no rules to how people should interact. Everyone in it either has a deep degree of familiarity or intimacy. The styles of speeches that are used in these settings are Casual and Intimate. A few examples of these settings are family and friends gatherings, private conversations, etc. 

Misreading the setting can be really embarrassing and have devastating consequences. If, for instance, you make inappropriate jokes in a work meeting or use slang words, you could be perceived as unprofessional and disrespectful, and that could cost you your job. 

2. The Participants  

Your audience, the people to whom your speech is directed, or the people you interact with are decisive factors when choosing your speech style. 

To put it simply: 

• Reserve Frozen and Formal styles for people whom you respect and are not intimate or even familiar with ,  either because of their position in society or because of their position in relation to you. These can be authority figures or even superiors in your workplace and strangers.
• Use Consultative and Casual speech styles with people who, even though they are familiar to you (either because you both know each other or interact often), still owe them a certain level of respect . These can be people in your workplace such as your colleagues and business partners, people in school, elders and older family members, neighbors, acquaintances and even strangers . 
• Feel free to use Intimate speech styles with anyone who you share an intimate bond with . These can be your friends and your immediate and extended family members .

3. The Topic 

Speech styles can give appropriate weight to serious topics, just as they can help alleviate the heaviness of certain topics. There’s no specific rule of which style to use with each topic, actually, when it comes to topics, the choice should be more intuitive and keep in mind the other factors. 

For example, sometimes, when making a presentation about a serious topic at a conference, you might want to mix formal speech with a more consultative or casual speech by sliding in a joke or two in between your presentation, as this helps lighten up the mood. 

4. The Purpose of The Discourse or Conversation 

The purpose of your discourse is your main motivation for speaking.  Just like with the topic, when it comes to choosing the speech style taking into account the purpose, the choice is mostly intuitive and keeps in mind the other factors. 

You should remember never to mix a business-centered discussion, where the purpose is mostly professional and formal, with a mainly informal speech of speaking. 

Speaker Styles

• Content-rich speaker:  

A content-rich speaker is one whose aim is to use the speech to inform. He is factual and very objective and focused on providing all the information the audience or receptor of the message needs.

A man speaking in a presentation could be an example of this, or even a lawyer defending a case in court. 

• Funny or humorous speakers:

As the name already suggests, this type of speaker uses humor as a tool to help them deliver their message. Even when delivering facts, they make jokes to lighten things up and break the tension. 

Stand-up comedians are a great example of this type of speaker. 

• Storyteller: 

This type of speaker usually relies on the story format to deliver his message; whether it’s factual or not is not relevant as long as the main message behind the story is relevant to the receptor. 

Usually, the type of speaker is not fixed in each speech style; one person can be many types of speakers depending on the speech style that they are using and keeping in mind the factors that influence the choice of the speech style. 

Make sure you weigh all factors equally before choosing a speech style. You don’t want to be THAT person bringing up an intimate subject to a friend in front of a group of strangers during a business meeting where the subject has nothing to do with whatever you’re talking about.

What’s The Importance of Speech Styles In Communication 

Using and knowing speech styles is the key to effective communication. Choosing the right way to communicate in different settings and with different people is what separates a good communicator from a bad communicator. 

Knowing the speech styles and the rules that apply to each of them saves you from embarrassment and positions you as someone of principles and respectful, especially in formal and conservative settings. 

Besides that, people tend to gravitate more towards and get influenced by good communicators; therefore, learning something new in that area and improving the quality of your speech and presentations will only benefit you. 

Further Readings

Speech Styles- ELCOMBLUS

Types of Speech Styles | PDF | Sentence (Linguistics) | Cognitive Science- SCRIBD

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The Presentation of Speech, Writing and Thought

• First Online: 04 October 2023

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• Jane Lugea 3 &
• Brian Walker 4  

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In this chapter, we turn our attention to the presentation of speech, thought and writing in a text—or Discourse Presentation as it is also known. The presentation of what characters or other people said, wrote or thought is an essential component of both fiction and non-fiction. The model of Discourse Presentation we describe in this chapter is based on Short ( Language and Literature 21:18–32, 2012), which is a development of the original model introduced by Leech and Short ( Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose. Longman, 2007 [1981]). In this chapter, we first explain what is meant by Discourse Presentation and then describe the model using examples mainly drawn from the HUM19UK corpus of nineteenth-century novels. We then demonstrate one way in which corpus methods can be used in the analysis of speech, writing and thought in prose fiction.

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Figurative Language

Figurative Language Definition

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

Figurative language is language that contains or uses figures of speech . When people use the term "figurative language," however, they often do so in a slightly narrower way. In this narrower definition, figurative language refers to language that uses words in ways that deviate from their literal interpretation to achieve a more complex or powerful effect. This view of figurative language focuses on the use of figures of speech that play with the meaning of words, such as metaphor , simile , personification , and hyperbole .

Some additional key details about figurative language:

• Figurative language is common in all sorts of writing, as well as in spoken language.
• Figurative language refers to language that contains figures of speech, while figures of speech are the particular techniques. If figurative speech is like a dance routine, figures of speech are like the various moves that make up the routine.
• It's a common misconception that imagery, or vivid descriptive language, is a kind of figurative language. In fact, writers can use figurative language as one tool to help create imagery, but imagery does not have to use figurative language.

Figurative Language Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce figurative language: fig -yer-uh-tiv lang -gwij

Figures of Speech and Figurative Language

To fully understand figurative language, it's helpful to have a basic understanding of figures of speech. More specifically, it's helpful to understand the two main types of figures of speech: tropes and schemes .

• Tropes are figures of speech that play with and shift the expected and literal meaning of words.
• Schemes are figures of speech that involve a change from the typical mechanics of a sentence, such as the order, pattern, or arrangement of words.

Put even more simply: tropes play with the meaning of words, while schemes play with the structure of words, phrases, and sentences.

The Different Things People Mean When They Say Figurative Language

When people say figurative language, they don't always mean the precise same thing. Here are the three different ways people usually talk about figurative language:

• Dictionary definition of figurative language: According to the dictionary, figurative language is simply any language that contains or uses figures of speech. This definition would mean that figurative language includes the use of both tropes and schemes.
• Much more common real world use of figurative language: However, when people (including teachers) refer to figurative language, they usually mean language that plays with the literal meaning of words. This definition sees figurative language as language that primarily involves the use of tropes.
• Another common real world use of figurative language: Some people define figurative language as including figures of speech that play with meaning as well as a few other common schemes that affect the rhythm and sound of text, such as alliteration and assonance .

What does all that boil down to for you? If you hear someone talking about figurative language, you can usually safely assume they are referring to language that uses figures of speech to play with the meaning of words and, perhaps, with the way that language sounds or feels.

Common Types of Figurative Language

There are many, many types of figures of speech that can be involved in figurative language. Some of the most common are:

• Metaphor : A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unrelated things by stating that one thing is another thing, even though this isn't literally true. For example, the phrase "her lips are a blooming rose" obviously doesn't literally mean what it says—it's a metaphor that makes a comparison between the red beauty and promise of a blooming rose with that of the lips of the woman being described.
• Simile : A simile, like a metaphor, makes a comparison between two unrelated things. However, instead of stating that one thing is another thing (as in metaphor), a simile states that one thing is like another thing. An example of a simile would be to say "they fought like cats and dogs."
• Oxymoron : An oxymoron pairs contradictory words in order to express new or complex meanings. In the phrase "parting is such sweet sorrow" from Romeo and Juliet , "sweet sorrow" is an oxymoron that captures the complex and simultaneous feelings of pain and pleasure associated with passionate love.
• Hyperbole : Hyperbole is an intentional exaggeration of the truth, used to emphasize the importance of something or to create a comic effect. An example of a hyperbole is to say that a backpack "weighs a ton." No backpack literally weighs a ton, but to say "my backpack weighs ten pounds" doesn't effectively communicate how burdensome a heavy backpack feels.
• Personification : In personification, non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down on the wedding guests, indifferent to their plans." Describing the rain as "indifferent" is an example of personification, because rain can't be "indifferent," nor can it feel any other human emotion.
• Idiom : An idiom is a phrase that, through general usage within a particular group or society, has gained a meaning that is different from the literal meaning of the words. The phrase "it's raining cats and dogs" is known to most Americans to mean that it's raining hard, but an English-speaking foreigner in the United States might find the phrase totally confusing.
• Onomatopoeia : Onomatopoeia is a figure of speech in which words evoke the actual sound of the thing they refer to or describe. The “boom” of a firework exploding, the “tick tock” of a clock, and the “ding dong” of a doorbell are all examples of onomatopoeia.
• Synecdoche : In synecdoche, a part of something is used to refer to its whole . For example, "The captain commands one hundred sails" is a synecdoche that uses "sails" to refer to ships—ships being the thing of which a sail is a part.
• Metonymy : Metonymy is a figure of speech in which an object or concept is referred to not by its own name, but instead by the name of something closely associated with it. For example, in "Wall Street prefers lower taxes," the New York City street that was the original home of the New York Stock Exchange stands in for (or is a "metonym" for) the entire American financial industry.
• Alliteration : In alliteration, the same sound repeats in a group of words, such as the “ b ” sound in: “ B ob b rought the b ox of b ricks to the b asement.” Alliteration uses repetition to create a musical effect that helps phrases to stand out from the language around them.
• Assonance : The repetition of vowel sounds repeat in nearby words, such as the " ee " sound: "the squ ea ky wh ee l gets the gr ea se." Like alliteration, assonance uses repeated sounds to create a musical effect in which words echo one another.

Figurative Language vs. Imagery

Many people (and websites) argue that imagery is a type of figurative language. That is actually incorrect. Imagery refers to a writers use of vivid and descriptive language to appeal to the reader's senses and more deeply evoke places, things, emotions, and more. The following sentence uses imagery to give the reader a sense of how what is being described looks, feels, smells, and sounds:

The night was dark and humid, the scent of rotting vegetation hung in the air, and only the sound of mosquitoes broke the quiet of the swamp.

This sentence uses no figurative language. Every word means exactly what it says, and the sentence is still an example of the use of imagery. That said, imagery can use figurative language, often to powerful effect:

The night was dark and humid, heavy with a scent of rotting vegetation like a great-aunt's heavy and inescapable perfume, and only the whining buzz of mosquitoes broke the silence of the swamp.

In this sentence, the description has been made more powerful through the use of a simile ("like a great-aunt's..."), onomatopoeia ("whining buzz," which not only describes but actually sounds like the noise made by mosquitoes), and even a bit of alliteration in the " s ilence of the s wamp."

To sum up: imagery is not a form of figurative language. But a writer can enhance his or her effort to write imagery through the use of figurative language.

Figurative Language Examples

Figurative language is more interesting, lively, beautiful, and memorable than language that's purely literal. Figurative language is found in all sorts of writing, from poetry to prose to speeches to song lyrics, and is also a common part of spoken speech. The examples below show a variety of different types of figures of speech. You can see many more examples of each type at their own specific LitChart entries.

Figurative Language Example: Metaphor

Metaphor in shakespeare's romeo and juliet.

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , Romeo uses the following metaphor in Act 2 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet , after sneaking into Juliet's garden and catching a glimpse of her on her balcony:

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Romeo compares Juliet to the sun not only to describe how radiantly beautiful she is, but also to convey the full extent of her power over him. He's so taken with Juliet that her appearances and disappearances affect him like those of the sun. His life "revolves" around Juliet like the earth orbits the sun.

Figurative Language Example: Simile

In this example of a simile from Slaughterhouse-Five , Billy Pilgrim emerges from an underground slaughterhouse where he has been held prisoner by the Germans during the deadly World War II firebombing of Dresden:

It wasn't safe to come out of the shelter until noon the next day. When the Americans and their guards did come out, the sky was black with smoke. The sun was an angry little pinhead. Dresden was like the moon now , nothing but minerals. The stones were hot. Everybody else in the neighborhood was dead.

Vonnegut uses simile to compare the bombed city of Dresden to the moon in order to capture the totality of the devastation—the city is so lifeless that it is like the barren moon.

Figurative Language Example: Oxymoron

These lines from Chapter 7 of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls describe an encounter between Robert Jordan, a young American soldier fighting in the Spanish Civil War, and his lover María.

She held herself tight to him and her lips looked for his and then found them and were against them and he felt her, fresh, new and smooth and young and lovely with the warm, scalding coolness and unbelievable to be there in the robe that was as familiar as his clothes, or his shoes, or his duty and then she said, frightenedly, “And now let us do quickly what it is we do so that the other is all gone.”

The couple's relationship becomes a bright spot for both of them in the midst of war, but ultimately also a source of pain and confusion for Jordan, as he struggles to balance his obligation to fight with his desire to live happily by Maria's side. The contradiction contained within the oxymoron "scalding coolness" emphasizes the couple's conflicting emotions and impossible situation.

Figurative Language Example: Hyperbole

Elizabeth Bennet, the most free-spirited character in Pride and Prejudice , refuses Mr. Darcy's first marriage proposal with a string of hyperbole :

From the very beginning, from the first moment I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form that ground-work of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immoveable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.

Elizabeth's closing statement, that Darcy is the "last man in the world" whom she would ever marry, is an obvious hyperbole. It's hard to believe that Elizabeth would rather marry, say, an axe murderer or a diseased pirate than Mr. Darcy. Even beyond the obvious exaggeration, Austen's use of hyperbole in this exchange hints at the fact that Elizabeth's feelings for Darcy are more complicated than she admits, even to herself. Austen drops various hints throughout the beginning of the novel that Elizabeth feels something beyond mere dislike for Darcy. Taken together with these hints, Elizabeth's hyperbolic statements seem designed to convince not only Darcy, but also herself, that their relationship has no future.

Figurative Language Example: Personification

In Chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter , Nathaniel Hawthorne describes a wild rose bush that grows in front of Salem's gloomy wooden jail:

But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.

In the context of the novel's setting in 17th century Boston, this rose bush, which grows wild in front of an establishment dedicated to enforcing harsh puritan values, symbolizes those elements of human nature that cannot be repressed, no matter how strict a community's moral code may be: desire, fertility, and a love of beauty. By personifying the rosebush as "offering" its blossoms to reflect Nature's pity (Nature is also personified here as having a "heart"), Hawthorne turns the passive coincidence of the rosebush's location into an image of human nature actively resisting its constraints.

Figurative Language Example: Idiom

Figurative language example: onomatopoeia.

In Act 3, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's The Tempest , Caliban uses onomatopoeia to convey the noises of the island.

Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices...

The use of onomatopoeia makes the audience feel the sounds on the island, rather than just have to take Caliban's word about there being noises.

Figurative Language Example: Synecdoche

In Act 4, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Macbeth , an angry Macbeth kicks out a servant by saying:

Take thy face hence.

Here, "thy face" stands in for "you." Macbeth is simply telling the servant to leave, but his use of synecdoche makes the tone of his command more harsh and insulting because he uses synecdoche to treat the servant not as a person but as an object, a body part.

Figurative Language Example: Metonymy

In his song "Juicy," Notorious B.I.G. raps:

Now I'm in the limelight 'cause I rhyme tight

Here he's using "limelight" as a metonymy for fame (a "limelight" was a kind of spotlight used in old theaters, and so it came to be associated with the fame of being in the spotlight). Biggie's use of metonymy here also sets him up for a sweet rhyme.

Figurative Language Example: Alliteration

In his song "Rap God," Eminem shows his incredible lyrical dexterity by loading up the alliteration :

S o I wanna make sure, s omewhere in this chicken s cratch I S cribble and doodle enough rhymes T o maybe t ry t o help get s ome people through t ough t imes But I gotta k eep a few punchlines Just in c ase, ‘ c ause even you un s igned Rappers are hungry l ooking at me l ike it's l unchtime…

Why Do Writers Use Figurative Language?

The term figurative language refers to a whole host of different figures of speech, so it's difficult to provide a single definitive answer to why writers use figurative language. That said, writers use figurative language for a wide variety of reasons:

• Interest and beauty: Figurative language allows writes to express descriptions, ideas, and more in ways that are unique and beautiful.
• Complexity and power: Because figurative language can create meanings that go beyond the literal, it can capture complex ideas, feelings, descriptions, or truths that cause readers to see things in a new way, or more closely mirror the complex reality of the world.
• Visceral affect: Because figurative language can both impact the rhythm and sound of language, and also connect the abstract (say, love) with the concrete (say, a rose), it can help language make an almost physical impact on a reader.
• Humor: By allowing a writer to layer additional meanings over literal meanings, or even to imply intended meanings that are the opposite of the literal meaning, figurative language gives writers all sorts of options for creating humor in their writing.
• Realism: People speak and even think in terms of the sorts of comparisons that underlie so much figurative language. Rather than being flowery, figurative language allows writers to describe things in ways that match how people really think about them, and to create characters who themselves feel real.

In general, figurative language often makes writing feel at once more accessible and powerful, more colorful, surprising, and deep.

Other Helpful Figurative Language Resources

• The dictionary definition of figurative : Touches on figurative language, as well as some other meanings of the word.
• Figurative and Frost : Examples of figurative language in the context of the poetry of Robert Frost.
• Figurative YouTube : A video identifying various forms of figurative language from movies and television shows.
• Wikipedia on literal and figurative language : A bit technical, but with a good list of examples.

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