Oral Comm
Chapter 4 Key Terms
1. Topic – The subject of a speech.
2. Brainstorming – A method of generating ideas for speech topics by free association of words and ideas.
3. General Purpose – The broad goal of a speech.
4. Specific Purpose – A single infinitive phrase that states precisely what a speaker hopes to accomplish in his or her speech.
5. Central Idea – A one-sentence statement that sums up or encapsulates the major ideas of a speech.
6. Residual Message – What a speaker wants the audience to remember after it has forgotten everything else in a speech.
Review Questions
1. What four brainstorming methods can you follow if you are having trouble choosing a topic for your speech?
You can take a personal inventory, cluster, reference search, and internet search.
2. What are the two general purposes of most classroom speeches? How do they differ?
The two purposes of classroom speeches are to inform or persuade. When you’re trying to inform, you are acting as a lecturer but when you’re trying to persuade, you act as an advocate or a partisan.
3. Why is determining the specific purpose such an important early step in speech preparation? Why is it important to include the audience in the specific purpose statement?
It’s important because you want your audience to know what your speech is going to be about instead of leaving them guessing. It’s important to include the audience because when the audience slips out it may slip out of the speaker’s consciousness. When that happens, you may begin to think your task is the general one instead of a specific one. You can’t prepare a good speech without keeping constantly in mind the people for whom it is intended.
4. What are five tips for formulating your specific purpose?
You can write the purpose statement as a full infinitive phrase, not as a fragment, express your purpose as a statement, not as a question, avoid figurative language in your purpose statement, limit your purpose statement to one distinct
1. Topic – The subject of a speech.
2. Brainstorming – A method of generating ideas for speech topics by free association of words and ideas.
3. General Purpose – The broad goal of a speech.
4. Specific Purpose – A single infinitive phrase that states precisely what a speaker hopes to accomplish in his or her speech.
5. Central Idea – A one-sentence statement that sums up or encapsulates the major ideas of a speech.
6. Residual Message – What a speaker wants the audience to remember after it has forgotten everything else in a speech.
Review Questions
1. What four brainstorming methods can you follow if you are having trouble choosing a topic for your speech?
You can take a personal inventory, cluster, reference search, and internet search.
2. What are the two general purposes of most classroom speeches? How do they differ?
The two purposes of classroom speeches are to inform or persuade. When you’re trying to inform, you are acting as a lecturer but when you’re trying to persuade, you act as an advocate or a partisan.
3. Why is determining the specific purpose such an important early step in speech preparation? Why is it important to include the audience in the specific purpose statement?
It’s important because you want your audience to know what your speech is going to be about instead of leaving them guessing. It’s important to include the audience because when the audience slips out it may slip out of the speaker’s consciousness. When that happens, you may begin to think your task is the general one instead of a specific one. You can’t prepare a good speech without keeping constantly in mind the people for whom it is intended.
4. What are five tips for formulating your specific purpose?
You can write the purpose statement as a full infinitive phrase, not as a fragment, express your purpose as a statement, not as a question, avoid figurative language in your purpose statement, limit your purpose statement to one distinct