KATSIDZIRA CHANELLE AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Wednesday 15 July 2020

Exam-style Questions

[9093/12/F/M/16]

3 The blog below gives advice for ‘rookies’ (inexperienced

presenters) on how to speak in public.
(a) Comment on the language and style of the blog.

The passage is a blog which is about common rookie mistakes that

public speakers make. The aim is to point out the mistakes and
then correct them.

The initial impression given by the title is that the passage is meant
to give insight on mistakes made by rookies. It is an attractive title
in the way that it is worded, and emphasised with bold lettering.
The title reads ‘Top Rookie Mistakes in Public Speaking’ and this
calls for the attention of public speakers specifically. Short,
structured paragraphs with capitalized subheadings characterize
the form of the passage. Capitalizing the subheadings makes them
clearer to readers and helps to separate the top mistakes being
pointed out, each one having it’s own paragraph.

A first person narrative voice is used and from the perspective of a

public speaking coach addressing the public. He uses a rhetorical
question -“can you afford to avoid taking risks?”- to make the
readers pause and think but also to make the tone of his post feel
more intimate with his readers; as if he is directly addressing each
individual.

The target audience is inexperienced presenters (the rookies

mentioned throughout the whole passage). The title itself makes it
clear who the intended audience is. The overall tone is both
informative and casual. The writer is a coach therefore there is an
edge of authority in his words. He is clearly proud of his status so
his attitude is that of a successful teacher who wants to help
students to succeed as well. The term ‘rookie’ is slang diction but
semi-formal diction is used throughout the rest of the passage.
Using ‘rookies’ adds to the casual tone which is usually expected
of a blog and to the atmosphere of a coach addressing those
seeking help, seemingly giving him authority over his audience.

After reading the passage, the later impression of the title is that it
describes the passage clearly. The writer maintained the focus of
the readers on the topic by constantly linking back to the title in
almost every paragraph by means of phrases such as “Many
speakers” or “many presenters”. These same phrases are effective
in making the readers conscious of their position and why they’re
reading the article. It is an excellent way of showing that the article
is not drifting off topic, thus making the writer seem like he knows
what he’s doing.

A series of devices are employed to make the article feel relatable,

impactful and also authentic. For example, the writer used
statistics by mentioning the 80-90% of presenters who make a
certain mistake. Adding facts makes the article seem well
researched and therefore authentic. He quotes his mentor a couple
of times, even adding in the short phrases by his mentor and the
reader is likely to store them in mind since quoting them implies
that the writer himself followed his own coach’s advice and that is
what got him to where he is. In his writing, the writer of the blog
points out a mistake and them immediately follows up with a tip on
how to improve. For example, when he said that some presenters
often never prepared enough, he gave his own personal experience
tip on how to improve by telling that he would “often come up with
great ideas while 15 driving, shopping, or running.”.

There are hints of self-promotion and advertisements in the post

because after touching on the “SPEAKING WITH LOW ENERGY”
point he suggests checking out their (the company) video on
“Speaking With Passion”. Again he mentions the company when
he speaks of his mentor who is also the “co-founder” of their
company. This is effective in attracting more people to their
company because if the people are impressed by the article they
will seek more content from the company.

There is an element of psychological manipulation (mostly positive)

in the way that the writer presents his points. He speaks of the
rookies and their mistakes in third-person plural, detaching the
reader from the people being talked about. Doing this will make the
reader -who is likely to be a rookie- feel less attacked and be open
to correcting himself or herself based on the tips being given. The
writer taps into the mind of the reader and influences them to
check him or herself to see if they are making the mistake
described.If so then the reader will make an immediate mental note
to change, otherwise there is a rewarding sense of being in the
right and it encourages the reader to keep reading and see if there
are more mistakes that he or she has effortlessly avoided.

This is the commentary on how the writer uses language and style
in his blogpost.

(b) Write a post to the blog from an inexperienced speaker

which comments on whether the advice was useful. You
should base your answer closely on the style and language of
the original blog. You should write between 120–150 words.

My Response to the ‘Top Rookie Mistakes in Public Speaking’

blogpost.

A lot of us have seen the latest Public Speaking tips blogpost.

Wow, there were so many things I did not know I was doing wrong!
I have to say, those quotes really helped. As I was ppreparing for a
recent competition I remembered that blogpost. I wanted to play it
safe because this was a pretty major event, but I felt challenged
when I remembered “Not taking a risk is also a risk”. It was small
but exhilarating all the same and it actually scored us some merits.

As I watched other speakers I noticed some of the patterns

mentioned in the post and I have to say, I never noticed them
before. I checked out their Speaking with Passion video and got
some pretty useful tips. Would recommend to anyone who has a
hard time being charismatic.