Appropriateness: Plain, Moderate, and Grand Style

Style exists on a continuum from plain to grand.

Too plain

Risk being labeled folksy or disrespectful.

Too grand

Risk using patronizing or archaic language (thee, thou, thy) or overly technical jargon.

Clarity

• be succinct
  • cut filler phrases and redundancies
• avoid jargon and acronyms
• use concrete terms
• use the active voice
• use the correct terms (e.g., impact vs. affect)

Word selection

In Reagan’s 1987 Berlin Wall speech, which do you think is most powerful?

• “get rid of this wall”
• “tear down this wall”
• “dismantle this wall”
• “take down this wall”

Figurative: Metaphor and Simile

Metaphor

Describes one thing in terms of another (“Love is a rose”)

Simile

Uses “like” or “as” for comparison (“Love is like a rose”)

Analogy

Expands metaphor/simile with multiple shared attributes

The Principle of Deviation/Novelty

• deviate from the norm
• say the unexpected
• say something original

Avoid clichés that audiences tune out or no longer understand (“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”).

Figurative: Personification

Giving things human or animal traits makes language vivid.

Rather than saying “It was foggy,” T.S. Eliot personifies fog as a cat: “the fog has a back, tongue, and ability to leap and sleep.”

Rhythmic: The Rule of Three (Triads)

• Red, white, and blue
• “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” (Lincoln)
• “I came, I saw, I conquered” (Caesar)
• “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (The Declaration of Independence)
• “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (book and film title)

Rhythmic: Anaphora

Aim for 3–5 repetitions at the beginning phrase in successive sentences.

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech:

• Eight sentences begin “I have a dream”
• Ten sentences begin “Let freedom ring”

Rhythmic: Epiphora

Use repetition at the ending of a phrase.

Bill Clinton: “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”

Rhythmic: Polyptoton

Use multiple variations of the same word in one sentence.

Shakespeare: “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.”

Biblical proverb: “Judge not, lest you be judged.”

Rhythmic: Alliteration

Use two or more words starting with the same letter.

Company names: Best Buy, Coca Cola, Dunkin Donuts

King: “[children] will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Parallelism: Chiasmus/Invert

Invert subject and predicate in successive phrases, forming an “X” pattern.

Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

• “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” (Vince Lombardi)
• “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Parallelism: Antithesis

Use two opposite words in parallel phrases.

Stock-market advice: “Buy low, sell high.”

Kennedy: “We choose to go to the moon…not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

Armstrong: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The Goldilocks Principle

Use just enough repetition (neither too much nor too little).

Audiences only remember 50% immediately after a speech and 10–20% the next day. Repetition reinforces memory (Johnson 2024).

Ironic: Hyperbole/Exaggeration

Use exaggeration for stylistic or ironic effect.

• “My feet are killing me.”
• “I’m drowning in work.”
• “It cost an arm and a leg.”

Ironic: Litotes/Understatement

Use ironic understatement for rhetorical effect.

• “LeBron James is okay at basketball.”
• “I visited the Grand Canyon, the little ditch.”
• “You’re not wrong.”
• “That wasn’t half bad.”

Mnemonics??

JFK Inaugural Address (1961-01-20)

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Wrap up

What stylistic flair might you use in your next speech?

What are four stylistic tactics and their mnemonics?