Rhetoric and Public Speaking Techniques

A collection of vocabulary flashcards based on key concepts discussed in rhetoric and public speaking.

Exordium

The part where one announces the subject and purpose of a speech.

Narratio

The narrative section that describes what has happened.

Partitio

The section that outlines what will follow in a speech.

Confirmatio

The part that presents logical arguments and proof.

Refutatio

The section where one addresses counterarguments from opponents.

Peroratio

Summary appealing through pathos.

Ethos

A rhetorical appeal to credibility, trust or character.

Pathos

A rhetorical appeal to emotion/values.

Logos

A rhetorical appeal to logic, reason and proof.

Personal attack fallacy

Attacking the person rather than addressing the argument.

Bandwagon fallacy

Suggesting that something is true because many people believe it.

False cause fallacy

Compare two facts that are distant from one another.

Black or white fallacy

Forcing a choice between two extremes without acknowledging alternatives.

Loaded question fallacy

Include too many questions embedded in one. Asking a question that contains an assumption within it.

Anecdotal fallacy

Using personal experience as a vague reference.

Strawman fallacy

Refuting an argument not actually presented.

Appeal to emotion fallacy

Manipulate pathos.

Slippery slope fallacy

Use a relatively small first step that leads to a chain of

related events culminating in some significant, usually negative effect.

Circular reasoning fallacy

Make an argument by beginning with an assumption

that what you are trying to prove is already true.

Composition fallacy

Inferring that what is true for a part is also true for the whole.

Common sense fallacy

To make you think that even a child can understand it.

Personal incredulity fallacy

Use ignorance to take down a claim.

Strong communication

Clearly describe what you want done.

Good listening skills

To gain the knowledge needed to solve problems.

Passion and commitment

Stay focused on what will make you successful.

Positivity

Recognize things that are going well with your strategy and celebrate success.

Innovation

Encouraging and valuing new ideas.

Collaboration

Give credit in public so that others can see that you

appreciate their contributions.

Honesty

Earn the trust of your teammates when trying to achieve your strategic goals.

Diplomacy

Manage conflict using negotiation and sensitivity.

Empathy

Understand your team’s problems by walking in their shoes.

Humility

Admit your mistakes, apologize when necessary, and always share credit.

Confidence

It’s natural to be nervous, but to excel in public speaking, you have to overcome your jitters.

Engagement with the audience

A good speech should be conversational in

nature.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds.

Anaphora

Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.

Antithesis

A juxtaposition of contrasting ideas within balanced phrases.

Apostrophe

Directly addressing a nonexistent person or an inanimate object as though it were a living being.

Assonance

Similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words. 

Chiasmus

A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.

Euphemism

The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit.

Hyperbole

An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.

Irony

Using words that convey a meaning opposite to their literal meaning.

Litotes

An understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

Metaphor

An implied comparison between two dissimilar things that have something in common.

Metonymy

A word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated; also, the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

Oxymoron

Incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.

Paradox

A statement that appears to contradict itself.

Personification

An inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.

Pun

A play of words sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words. 

Simile

A stated comparison between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole.

Understatement

Make a situation seem less important or serious than it

is.

Context

It refers to the social situation in which people verbally participate.

Power

Tends to be associated with competition at best, coercion or domination at worst.

Ideology

A system of ideas that shapes a group's beliefs and practices.

Debate

A discussion involving differing views, aimed at critical thinking.

Panel discussion

A format involving experts discussing a topic in front of an audience.

Roundtable

An open discussion format where diverse perspectives are shared.

Primary source

A document created at the time of an event or period of

research.

Secondary source

A document written after an event; the authors may not

have witnessed the event.

Tertiary source

Documents tend to act as pointers to primary and secondary documents.

Bibliographies

Sources obtained by checking through the bibliography of core texts or related books.

Library sources

Books, journals, articles, etc. It can be physical or

digital. They provide reliable information, however the process of finding the information may be difficult and the documents may be limited.

Colleague sources

Information gained by discussing with peers.

Internet sources

Web-pages, blogs, forums, social media, and

catalogues. It provides information that is quickly accessed, but its credibility is not

certain.

Action

It refers to the relationship between what we say and write and what we do.

Passion

To elicit emotions which move an audience and effectively convey the

message.

Introspection and self-awareness

Most successful speakers work to capitalize on their strengths to effectively engage the audience. Is it humor, storytelling?

Being yourself

You should speak with a natural voice. Practice your speech but don’t memorize it.

Three breathless sentences

Examples:

a) Adjective plus noun: “Broken homes, failing schools, sink states”.

b) Verb plus adverbs: “Eat well, laugh often, love much”.

c) Same noun with different preposition: “Government of the people, by the people,

for the people”.

d) Same number plus different noun: “One people, one empire, one leader”.

e) Different places: “Here, there, and everywhere”.

f) Only verbs: “Reinvent, rethink, relay”

Three sentences in which the opening clause is repeated.

Examples:

a) “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight on

the fields and in the streets…”

b) “I love Verona, I love pasta, I love tiramisu, I love all of you…”

Balancing statements

Examples:a) “To be or not to be…”

b) “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country…”

c) “We´re looking to the future, not the past…”

d) “We´re working together, not against one another…”

e) “We´re thinking about what we can do, not what we can´t…”

Metaphors to lead people using beautiful or disgusting images.

Examples:

a) The snow is a white blanket.

b) Her long hair was a flowing golden river.

c) Kisses are the flowers of affection.

Exaggeration to be emotional

Examples:

a) “My God, I´ve been waiting to give this talk my whole life…”

b) “Every child on the planet…”

c) “I´ve shared this a million times…”

Rhyme to make people believe that it is true

Examples:

a) “One, two, buckle my shoe...”

b) “If it doesn´t fit, you must acquit…”

Fallacy Fallacy

Use 3 traps or more at a time.