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Rhetorical studies show how word choice, phrasing, logic and even body language can affect discourse. In an increasingly Internet-driven society, the art of rhetoric is especially important. We now have more opportunities to control our language. The ability to give a good speech or presentation is highly valued, as a good performance can easily "go viral" and be seen by millions of people around the world. We will use this section of our blog to look at logical arguments, theory, analyses, research and news related to rhetorical study. By improving your awareness of things like word choice and logical arguments, you can improve your own speeches or build a stronger critical understanding of how rhetoric shapes politics, interpersonal communication skills and the modern world.
In the course of any argument or discussion, good communicators need to know how to avoid logical fallacies. Logical fallacies weaken an argument by treating a false assumption as fact, but because many speakers and writers don’t take the time to consider the basis of their arguments, logical fallacies are fairly common in politics, business [...] Read more »
It’s a problem we see over and over as presentation skills trainers - the first thing someone does when they’re told they need to make a presentation is turn on their laptop, fire up PowerPoint and begin to type. That’s wrong in a lot of ways! Read more »
Ancient Greek philosophers seemed to know it all. So it's no surprise that philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, and Socrates would also speak the language of love fluently. We've compiled some of the most suave and debonaire quotes by Greek philosophers that would put even Cassanova to shame. Read more »
If you are ever to be asked to do a presentation in front of people either at school, work or at a social event like a wedding, you definitely want to do your best so that you are not labeled as a boring presenter. As a trained professional speaker myself, I can let you in on a few secrets and tricks that will help you make it over to the good presenters side rather than the boring speakers camp. Read more »
Have you ever been hiking and the trail suddenly disappears? All of the sudden, you don’t know where you are going. You are lost! You have to struggle to find the trail to push forward or you have to turn back. Like hiking, when speaking the last thing you want is to get lost. Luckily by following some good hiking advice, your speech can keep the audience engaged and on the same happy trail as you. Read more »
Credibility is everything. Newspapers that get the facts wrong are torn to shreds and politicians lacking experience don’t get elected, while people in lab coats command our respect immediately. Communication scholars define credibility as being the perception of one’s competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill. But as you probably know, perceptions can be hacked. Read more »
When a speaker makes a truthful statement that implies an untruth, what do listeners hear? Are they able to see beyond the false implications and uncover the unvarnished truth? Can people divorce themselves from the context of a statement well enough to hear what is really being said, or do some words carry such strong implications that people cannot see past them? Read more »
Shakespeare used many ingenious techniques and devices in his work, and scarcely one of them has escaped being declared the root of his genius at one time or another. Now, new research points to Shakespeare’s unique and masterful use of grammar as the key to both his contemporary success and his lasting place in literature. Read more »
A new study by MIT cognitive scientists argues that ambiguity may be the most efficient way to communicate after all. Instead of speakers having to invent new sounds for single-use words or memorize a large vocabulary, they can simply reuse small words that listeners can easily disambiguate through social or verbal cues. Read more »
In this age of natural disasters, chronic unemployment, terrorism, public protests and housing foreclosures, one might expect newspapers and social media sites to be flooded with a deluge of negative words. Surprisingly, however, that is not the case. Researchers at the University of Vermont have found that the English language contains a natural positivity, meaning that even in troubled times, people use more happy words than sad ones. Read more »