246 12.4 Using Words Well: speaker langUage and style
Creating Drama
Another way to make phrases and sentences memorable is to use the potential
of such structures to create drama in your speech—to keep the audience members
in suspense or to catch them slightly off guard by saying something in a way
that differs from the way they expected you to say it.short sentenCes We have already talked about the value of using
short, simple words. Short, simple sentences can have much the same power.
Columnist George F. Will pointed out that the most eloquent sentence in
Lincoln’s memorable second inaugural address is just four words long:^21
“And the war came.”
Other strategies for achieving drama in your speech include three stylistic
devices: omission, inversion, and suspension.omission Leaving out a word or phrase that the audience expects to hear is
called omission. When telegrams were a more common means of communica
tion, senders tried to use as few words as possible because they were charged by
the word, and the more they could leave out, the cheaper the telegram was.
To use omission effectively, the words you leave out must be understood
by your listeners or readers. For example, a captain of a World War II Navy
destroyer used omission to inform headquarters of his successful efforts at finding
and destroying an enemy submarine. Because his audience already understood
which vessel he was chasing, the captain was able to spare all details when he
cabled back to headquarters:
“Sighted sub—sank same.”
Using as few words as possible, he communicated his message in a memorable
way.
About 2,000 years earlier, another military commander informed his supe
riors in Rome of his conquest of Gaul with the economical message:
“I came, I saw, I conquered.”
That commander was Julius Caesar.Quick Check
Word Structures with Figurative Imagery
Metaphor Makes an implied comparison of two similar things or concepts
Simile Compares directly by using the word like or as
Personification Attributes human qualities to inanimate things or ideas