Text LI – questions 47 through 50

When preparing a speech, public speakers today are often offered this advice “1) Just tell’em what you’re going to tell’em; 2) tell’em; 3) then, tell’em what you told’em.”

This sage advice is a distilled version of classical speech structure outlined more than 2,000 years ago, when philosophers examined the great public speeches of the day, such as Pericles famed funeral oration delivered in 430 BC, and the impassioned courtroom speeches of Cicero, considered the most eloquent speaker of all of Rome, to determine the secrets of their success. The ancient Greeks and Romans concluded that all public speech could be broken down into six separate parts:

1 the introduction (exordium),

2 the proposition (narratio),

3 the outline of what’s to follow (partilio),

4 the proof (confirmatio),

5 the refutation (refutatio),

6 the conclusion (peroratio).

Successful speakers, these philosophers pointed out, each had different goals and, depending on which part of the speech they were in, used different rhetorical devices to achieve them. During a speech’s introduction, for example, the speaker should establish ethos, or credibility, with the audience. To do so, a speaker may explain that she shares the same concerns and values as her listeners. During the proposition, the speaker briefly states her case, for example, “we should have more field trips at school” or “income taxes are too high”. In the outline, the speaker prepares the listener with what to expect next. In addition to helping the speaker organize her thoughts, stating the outline of the speech also helped the speaker remember what she had planned to say, especially in the days before teleprompters and cue cards. The proof usually makes up the bulk of a speech, and in it, the speaker should make appeals to logos, or logic, possibly by bringing in outside sources and references to support her case. During the refutation, the speaker attacks the validity of her opponent’s arguments. In the conclusion section, speakers often summarize their position, build emotion and end with a call to action, usually by making an appeal to pathos, or emotion.

_{Internet: http://www.pbs.org/greatspeeches/criticscorn/cc_pr.html (with adaptations).}

From text LI, it can be gathered that

It can be deduced from text LI that

It can be deduced from text LI that

It can be deduced from text LI that

It can be deduced from text LI that

It can be deduced from text LI that