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60 Speech Therapy Sentences forSpeech Therapy Practice

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Speech Therapy Sentences

My mom drove me to school fifteen minutes late on Tuesday.
The girl wore her hair in two braids, tied with two blue bows.
The mouse was so hungry he ran across the kitchen floor without even looking for humans.
The tape got stuck on my lips so I couldn't talk anymore.
The door slammed down on my hand and I screamed like a little baby.
My shoes are blue with yellow stripes and green stars on the front.
The mailbox was bent and broken and looked like someone had knocked it over on purpose.
I was so thirsty I couldn't wait to get a drink of water.
I found a gold coin on the playground after school today.
The chocolate chip cookies smelled so good that I ate one without asking.
My bandaid wasn't sticky any more so it fell off on the way to school.
He had a sore throat so I gave him my bottle of water and told him to keep it.
The church was white and brown and looked very old.
I was so scared to go to a monster movie but my dad said he would sit with me so we went last night.
Your mom is so nice she gave me a ride home today.
I fell in the mud when I was walking home from school today.
This dinner is so delicious I can't stop eating.
The school principal was so mean that all the children were scared of him.
I went to the dentist the other day and he let me pick a prize out of the prize box.
The box was small and wrapped in paper with tiny silver and red glitter dots.
My dad is so funny that he told us jokes all night long and we never fell asleep.
The camping trip was so awesome that I didn't want to come home.
Are you going to have a blue birthday cake for your next birthday?
How did you know that I was going to have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch?
That boy is so mean that he doesn't care if a door slams in your face or if he cuts in line.
The moms and dads all sat around drinking coffee and eating donuts.
My mom made a milkshake with frozen bananas and chocolate sauce.
My pen broke and leaked blue ink all over my new dress.
I got my haircut today and they did it way too short.
My pet turtle, Jim, got out of his cage and I could not find him anywhere.

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How to Start a Speech: The Best (and Worst) Speech Openers

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One of the hardest things about public speaking is knowing how to start a speech. Your opening line is your first impression. It’s how you capture attention. It’s how you captivate the audience. So how do you make sure you nail it every time?

The best way to know how to open a speech is to look at what has worked in the past. When we examined the top speeches of all time and the most popular TED talks of all time, we found some interesting speaking patterns.

Time has identified the top 10 greatest speeches of all time. They are:

Opening Lines of the Top 10 Greatest Speeches of All Time

#1: Socrates – “Apology”

#2: Patrick Henry – “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”

#3: Frederick Douglass – “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery”

#4: Abraham Lincoln – “Gettysburg Address”

Opening Line: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg Address Quote

#5: Susan B. Anthony – “Women’s Rights to the Suffrage”

#6: Winston Churchill – “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat”

#7: John F. Kennedy – “Inaugural Address”

Opening Line: “We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom — symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning — signifying renewal, as well as change.”

#8: Martin Luther King, Jr. – “I Have a Dream”

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech Opening Line

#9: Lyndon B. Johnson – “The American Promise”

#10: Ronald Reagan – “Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate”

How do all of these historical greats start their speeches? Is there a difference between these and some of the more modern top TED talks?

Before we dive in, let’s recap with some critical do’s and don’ts when opening a speech:

Opening Lines of the Top 10 TED Talks of All Time

Here are the opening lines to the top 10 Ted Talks of all time according to view count:

#1: Sir Ken Robinson – “Do schools kill creativity?” Opening Line: “Good morning. How are you? It’s been great, hasn’t it? I’ve been blown away by the whole thing. In fact, I’m leaving.”

#2: Amy Cuddy – “Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are” Opening Line: “So I want to start by offering you a free, no-tech life hack, and all it requires of you is this: that you change your posture for two minutes.”

#3: Simon Sinek – “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”

#4: Brene Brown – “The Power of Vulnerability” Opening Line: “So, I’ll start with this: a couple years ago, an event planner called me because I was going to do a speaking event.”

#5: Mary Roach – “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Orgasm” Opening Line: “All right. I’m going to show you a couple of images from a very diverting paper in The Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine.”

#6: Julian Treasure – “How to Speak so that People Want to Listen” Opening Line: “The human voice: It’s the instrument we all play.”

#7: Jill Bolte Taylor – “My Stroke of Insight” Opening Line: “I grew up to study the brain because I have a brother who has been diagnosed with a brain disorder: schizophrenia.”

#8: James Veitch – “This is What Happens When You Reply to Spam Email” Opening Line: “A few years ago, I got one of those spam emails.”

#9: Cameron Russell – “Looks Aren’t Everything; Believe Me, I’m a Model” Opening Line: “Hi. My name is Cameron Russell, and for the last little while, I’ve been a model.”

#10: Dan Pink – “The Puzzle of Motivation” Opening Line: “I need to make a confession at the outset here.”

What can we learn from these opening lines? There are some patterns that can help us. First, let’s start with what you shouldn’t do. Have you ever made one of these cardinal speaking sins?

Never Start a Presentation with…

Anything technical! This is a big mistake people make when they have not done a tech check ahead of time or are feeling nervous. Never start with these openers:

Is this microphone working?
Can you hear me?
Wow, these lights are bright!

Your nervousness. Many people think it is vulnerable to start with how nervous they are about speaking — you can mention this later, but it should not be the first thing. Why? People will then only be looking for signs of your nervousness. Don’t start with:

I’m so nervous right now!
Wow there are so many people here.
I’m not a great public speaker.

A lackluster or non-believable nicety. It’s great to be grateful to the person who introduced you, but it’s not a great way to include the audience. It’s ok to thank the audience for being there—but do it at the end (not as your opening line). These are all too boring:

Thanks for having me.
Thanks for that intro.
Nice to be here.

Boring, shmoring! I have an exception here if you can make it funny. Ken Robinson started with a nicety and then turned it into a joke. He said, “ “Good morning. How are you? It’s been great, hasn’t it? I’ve been blown away by the whole thing. In fact, I’m leaving.”

More Public Speaking Resources

Get even more public speaking tips with our related resources:

10 Presentation Ideas that will Radically Improve Your Presentation Skills
6 Public Speaking Apps to try Before Your Next Presentation
My Top 5 Favorite Public Speakers
15 Science-Based Public Speaking Tips To Become a Master Speaker
How to Give Captivating Presentations
How to Give an Awesome Toast

How to Start a Presentation

A story. The absolute best way to start a presentation is with a story. There is nothing better to capture the imagination and attention of an audience. Try to use these speaking openers as fill-in-the-blanks for your speech.

I’m here for a reason. And it’s an interesting story…
The best thing that ever happened to me was…
Once upon a time…

In his talk, “The lies our culture tells us about what matters,” David Brooks started off with a great opening line AND a story. He said, “So, we all have bad seasons in life. And I had one in 2013. My marriage had just ended, and I was humiliated by that failed commitment.” Makes you want to watch right…

And if you need help on storytelling basics, be sure to check out some of my top 5 favorite speakers .

A BIG idea. Sometimes you want to share your big idea right up front. This can be helpful because it is intriguing and gets people clued in right away. All TED speakers try to integrate their big idea early.

You’re here for a reason. It’s…
The single most important thing I want to share with you today is…
Today, I want to share a big idea…

I love how Stacy Smith starts off her talk with her big idea framed in an interesting way. She said, “Today, I want to tell you about a pressing social issue. Now, it’s not nuclear arms, it’s not immigration, and it’s not malaria. I’m here to talk about movies.”

Special Note: Be very careful to NOT deliver your one-liner by re-reading your title slide. You also want to position it as exciting and intriguing. For example, don’t say, “Today I am going to talk about body language.” Instead say, “Today I am going to teach you the single most important thing you can do to improve your charisma… and it starts with your body.”

A quirky one-liner. If you can use humor — do it! Humor or curiosity is a great way to start a speech on a high. You can get creative with these! Think of an interesting fact about you, your audience or your topic that can lead you into your content.

One thing most people don’t know about me is…
A teacher, a mother and a duck walk into a bar…
I want to tell you something surprising.

When I gave my TEDx London Talk I started off with a quirky one-liner that immediately got a few laughs. It was “Hi, I’m Vanessa and I am a recovering awkward person.” It worked so well it is also the first line of my book, Captivate .

II love the way Eve Ensler opens her speech with an interesting one-liner: “For a long time, there was me, and my body.”

This is a great tip from Conor Neill. He says that it is great to start with a question that the audience is asking themselves or would be very curious to know the answer to. This might be phrasing a pain point or worry for your audience.

Do you ever worry about…?
Have you ever wondered…?
You might have always thought…

See Cono Neill’s examples here:

Did you know…? Any interesting factoid or curiosity is bound to intrigue your audience. This is great if it leads into your content or a story. I like to start with did you know… Here are some that I use. You will have to fill in the blank for your audience:

Did you know that it takes less than a second to make a first impression ?
Did you know that your nonverbal communication is 12.5 times more powerful than your words ?
Did you know that we are lied to 200 times a day ?

Jamie Oliver does this amazingly in his TED Talk. He starts with this mind-blowing fact, “Sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead through the food that they eat.”

Hopefully these opening lines will give you some ideas to use to open your speech.

How to End a Speech: My Favorite Closers

Do you know how to end on a high? Leave a lasting impression in your presentation? Science tells us that the first and last parts of your presentations are the most important. Get our FREE download to get our closer guide.

Popular Guides

20 thoughts on “how to start a speech: the best (and worst) speech openers”.

Love your material

didnt help me but still good stuff

Thank you Vanessa. I’ve been a public speaker for 25 years and I’m impressed with your content here. Thank you. Looking forward to a deep dive into more of your material. With gratitude.

Found these examples super informative. Can’t wait to mix match the examples to see which one will work best for my presentation!

I am preparing to make a presentation on Public Speaking and came across your article. This is very instructive and timely too.Many thanks.

Comments are closed.

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Language , Speechwriting

Powerful Sentence Structure for Your Speech

Mannerofspeaking.

May 26, 2016

Powerful sentence structure is fundamental to captivating writing or speaking. Here is a little gem of advice from writer Gary Provost . (The highlighting is mine.)

Vary Sentence Length This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals—sounds that say listen to this, it is important. So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader’s ear. Don’t just write words. Write music.

The difference in sentence structure between the first paragraph and the second and third paragraphs is stark. To get the full effect, read them aloud.

This advice is not just useful for novelists; it is also important when it comes to writing a speech. You want to vary the sentences so that there is a dynamic flow to your words. When the sentences contrast, the words come alive.

For example, take the sentence structure in Barack Obama’s speech after the 2008 New Hampshire Primary:

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes, we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights. Yes, we can. It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness. Yes, we can. It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land. Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

Two other thoughts when it comes to adding punch to your sentences.

The first is to write your speech as something to be heard, not to be read. Yes, the words may look nice on paper, but people are going to be listening, not reading. So write the way you would speak. Practice your speech out loud and record yourself. If a sentence sounds robotic, that is usually a sign that it needs to be revised.

The second is something about which I have written before , but it is worth repeating; namely, that you should write your speech out, not in paragraphs, but rather as a poem. This will allow you to get a sense for the rhythm of the words, the cadence, where to pause, where to place the emphasis. Even if you do not read your speech, crafting it this way will help you formulate your ideas, choose the right words and deliver them well.

By way of example, here is the second paragraph of Gary Provost’s advice above, rewritten as a poem:

Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals— sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

Notice how each line ends with a powerful word. Notice, also how I have sometimes split a single sentence into multiple stanzas. Doing so makes the pauses and points of emphasis more obvious.

For more information about speechwriting—and a free speechwriting course—check out Global Speechwriter , the website of my friend, Brent Kerrigan. Brent has a wealth of speechwriting experience and knows his stuff.

Like this article?

I love speaking for a large public. In the past, I did theater as a hobby.

Thanks for the comment, Sophie. We share the same passion. Whether I am giving a speech or doing improv theatre, there is a real rush to being in front of an audience!

I agree…I love it too!

Interesting. I have been doing this intuitively. It must be because I have sang in choirs all my life and I am also a professional dancer. Or was, anyway. Music is an intrinsic part of life. It is intertwined in my DNA.

Completely agree about the significance of music in our lives. Thanks for the comment.

Thanks John for sharing and spreading more good public speaking ideas & pointers.

I particularly appreciate your final point of not writing out a “final or reading script” in paragraphs but as a poem. It is surprising how infrequently this approach is actually used.

I find this approach has an additional benefit. It is a good way to make a final reading script when I do not have the luxury of memorizing the speech. Each line is a “snap-shot” or “chunk”. This makes “never-read-and-speak-at-the-same-time” more achievable. I have described it in more detail in a recent answer to a QUORA question: Point 3. May be of interest to your readers: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-remember-so-many-informations-for-presentation-or-speech/answer/Rashid-Kapadia?srid=HrGm&share=2875c063

Good Luck … Rashid

Thank you, Rashid. And a terrific answer on Quora! In fact, I use the “memory palace” to remember lists of things. I learned it years ago from a cassette tape that my father played for me on battery-operated tape recorder during a long-distance car trip. I was fascinated by the concept. In my case, I use 20 different parts of a car to remember lists of 20 and more things.

Very good to note that you appreciate the value of “memory palace” approach. I cannot recommend “Moonwalking with Einstein” highly enough. I think it is specially important to expose children to this technique. After all “our lives are the sum of our memories”.

That’s a great example from Gary, so thanks for sharing it.

If your mind’s at all like mine, you’ll have specific sentence lengths in mind for each highlight colour you use. I’m curious what those numbers were!

What a fantastic tip about writing out a speech as a poem. Currently I tend to use bold text to show where I’ll stress a word, but sometimes I end up with too many of those and it sounds unnatural. So I’ll have to try your “stanza” method.

P.S. The photo of a stone wall really reminds of a picture of multicoloured tiles that I used in my post called “How consistent should you make your slides?” My answer to that rhetorical question is “Go for cohesion instead.” Just like samey sentences sound soporific, what I call “cookie-cutter consistency” on your slides puts people to sleep, too!

Thanks, Craig. When I saw the writing example from Gary, I knew that I had to write about it. Of course, we speak differently than we write, but the principle of varying the length of our sentence or phrases is the same.

Writing speeches out like a poem is something I started doing a long time ago. I remember reading somewhere that when Winston Churchill reviewed his speeches that he had had typed up for him, he would insist that each line had to end with a word that could be emphasized. Ending a line with a “the” or an “an” was not acceptable!

This approach could work for reading too. Anything to energise an email. Cut though the clutter.

Absolutely, Bridgit. In fact, the inspiration comes from an article on writing and reading.

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Knowledge Base
Parts of speech

The 8 Parts of Speech | Chart, Definition & Examples

A part of speech (also called a word class ) is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence. Understanding the different parts of speech can help you analyze how words function in a sentence and improve your writing.

The parts of speech are classified differently in different grammars, but most traditional grammars list eight parts of speech in English: nouns , pronouns , verbs , adjectives , adverbs , prepositions , conjunctions , and interjections . Some modern grammars add others, such as determiners and articles .

Many words can function as different parts of speech depending on how they are used. For example, “laugh” can be a noun (e.g., “I like your laugh”) or a verb (e.g., “don’t laugh”).

Prepositions
Conjunctions
Interjections

Other parts of speech

Interesting language articles, frequently asked questions.

A noun is a word that refers to a person, concept, place, or thing. Nouns can act as the subject of a sentence (i.e., the person or thing performing the action) or as the object of a verb (i.e., the person or thing affected by the action).

There are numerous types of nouns, including common nouns (used to refer to nonspecific people, concepts, places, or things), proper nouns (used to refer to specific people, concepts, places, or things), and collective nouns (used to refer to a group of people or things).

Ella lives in France .

Other types of nouns include countable and uncountable nouns , concrete nouns , abstract nouns , and gerunds .

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A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Pronouns typically refer back to an antecedent (a previously mentioned noun) and must demonstrate correct pronoun-antecedent agreement . Like nouns, pronouns can refer to people, places, concepts, and things.

There are numerous types of pronouns, including personal pronouns (used in place of the proper name of a person), demonstrative pronouns (used to refer to specific things and indicate their relative position), and interrogative pronouns (used to introduce questions about things, people, and ownership).

That is a horrible painting!

A verb is a word that describes an action (e.g., “jump”), occurrence (e.g., “become”), or state of being (e.g., “exist”). Verbs indicate what the subject of a sentence is doing. Every complete sentence must contain at least one verb.

Verbs can change form depending on subject (e.g., first person singular), tense (e.g., simple past), mood (e.g., interrogative), and voice (e.g., passive voice ).

Regular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participle are formed by adding“-ed” to the end of the word (or “-d” if the word already ends in “e”). Irregular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participles are formed in some other way.

“I’ve already checked twice.”

“I heard that you used to sing .”

Other types of verbs include auxiliary verbs , linking verbs , modal verbs , and phrasal verbs .

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives can be attributive , appearing before a noun (e.g., “a red hat”), or predicative , appearing after a noun with the use of a linking verb like “to be” (e.g., “the hat is red ”).

Adjectives can also have a comparative function. Comparative adjectives compare two or more things. Superlative adjectives describe something as having the most or least of a specific characteristic.

Other types of adjectives include coordinate adjectives , participial adjectives , and denominal adjectives .

An adverb is a word that can modify a verb, adjective, adverb, or sentence. Adverbs are often formed by adding “-ly” to the end of an adjective (e.g., “slow” becomes “slowly”), although not all adverbs have this ending, and not all words with this ending are adverbs.

There are numerous types of adverbs, including adverbs of manner (used to describe how something occurs), adverbs of degree (used to indicate extent or degree), and adverbs of place (used to describe the location of an action or event).

Talia writes quite quickly.

Other types of adverbs include adverbs of frequency , adverbs of purpose , focusing adverbs , and adverbial phrases .

A preposition is a word (e.g., “at”) or phrase (e.g., “on top of”) used to show the relationship between the different parts of a sentence. Prepositions can be used to indicate aspects such as time , place , and direction .

I left the cup on the kitchen counter.

A conjunction is a word used to connect different parts of a sentence (e.g., words, phrases, or clauses).

The main types of conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions (used to connect items that are grammatically equal), subordinating conjunctions (used to introduce a dependent clause), and correlative conjunctions (used in pairs to join grammatically equal parts of a sentence).

You can choose what movie we watch because I chose the last time.

An interjection is a word or phrase used to express a feeling, give a command, or greet someone. Interjections are a grammatically independent part of speech, so they can often be excluded from a sentence without affecting the meaning.

Types of interjections include volitive interjections (used to make a demand or request), emotive interjections (used to express a feeling or reaction), cognitive interjections (used to indicate thoughts), and greetings and parting words (used at the beginning and end of a conversation).

Ouch ! I hurt my arm.

I’m, um , not sure.

The traditional classification of English words into eight parts of speech is by no means the only one or the objective truth. Grammarians have often divided them into more or fewer classes. Other commonly mentioned parts of speech include determiners and articles.

Determiners

A determiner is a word that describes a noun by indicating quantity, possession, or relative position.

Common types of determiners include demonstrative determiners (used to indicate the relative position of a noun), possessive determiners (used to describe ownership), and quantifiers (used to indicate the quantity of a noun).

My brother is selling his old car.

Other types of determiners include distributive determiners , determiners of difference , and numbers .

An article is a word that modifies a noun by indicating whether it is specific or general.

The definite article the is used to refer to a specific version of a noun. The can be used with all countable and uncountable nouns (e.g., “the door,” “the energy,” “the mountains”).
The indefinite articles a and an refer to general or unspecific nouns. The indefinite articles can only be used with singular countable nouns (e.g., “a poster,” “an engine”).

There’s a concert this weekend.

If you want to know more about nouns , pronouns , verbs , and other parts of speech, make sure to check out some of our language articles with explanations and examples.

Nouns & pronouns

Common nouns
Proper nouns
Collective nouns
Personal pronouns
Uncountable and countable nouns
Verb tenses
Phrasal verbs
Types of verbs
Active vs passive voice
Subject-verb agreement

A is an indefinite article (along with an ). While articles can be classed as their own part of speech, they’re also considered a type of determiner .

The indefinite articles are used to introduce nonspecific countable nouns (e.g., “a dog,” “an island”).

In is primarily classed as a preposition, but it can be classed as various other parts of speech, depending on how it is used:

Preposition (e.g., “ in the field”)
Noun (e.g., “I have an in with that company”)
Adjective (e.g., “Tim is part of the in crowd”)
Adverb (e.g., “Will you be in this evening?”)

As a part of speech, and is classed as a conjunction . Specifically, it’s a coordinating conjunction .

And can be used to connect grammatically equal parts of a sentence, such as two nouns (e.g., “a cup and plate”), or two adjectives (e.g., “strong and smart”). And can also be used to connect phrases and clauses.

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15 Powerful Speech Ending Lines (And Tips to Create Your Own)

Hitiksha jain.

Public Speaking , Speech Writing

15 powerful speech ending and ways to create your own

A powerful speech ending line helps you recapture the essence of your speech: your main points and the purpose of why you spoke.

Basically, it is a summary of your dominant points.

The words you say at the beginning, and especially at the end of your talk will be remembered longer than any other part of your speech. (This doesn’t mean the body of your speech has no importance.)

The beginning of your speech needs to be strong because it grips the attention of your audience. If that falls apart, they might lose interest in your speech. To avoid such a situation, here’s an article on 15 Powerful Speech Opening Lines (And How to Create Your Own) that you can refer to.

It has happened time after time- a speaker has concluded his speech with no conclusion or a simple “Thank you!” which made their impactful and amazing speech entirely fall apart.

An ineffective conclusion or no conclusion makes your speech lose its charm and the energy that has been created. This leaves your audience in a state of confusion and disappointment.

Remember, the conclusion of your speech is NOT the time to introduce new points or new supporting evidence; doing so will all the more confuse the listeners.

Instead, a conclusion is like tying a bow or ribbon to a box of your key ideas that your audience will be taking along with them. Meaning, it’s the final touch that makes your speech stand out and memorable.

So, how can you end your speech with a bang? To discover it, let’s jump in to the 15 powerful speech ending lines and ways to create your own:

1) Abraham Lincoln

Speech ending line: “And this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.”

How to use The Rule Of Three to end your speech?

The Rule of Three is an effective technique that allows you to express your ideas more completely by emphasizing your points and increasing the memorability of your message.

Dale Carneige once said,

“Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you just told them.”

Information when presented in a group of three sticks in our head better than say, groups of four or five.

The answer is simple! We humans are generally good at pattern recognition and three is the smallest number needed to make a pattern. When used at the end of a speech, you can create maximum impact, (obviously) if said in a proper tone of voice.

Repeating your ideas can make your message more persuasive, memorable, and entertaining.

Since, the conclusion is your last chance as a speaker to drive home your ideas, you need to repeat and emphasize phrases, sentences and words to make others remember your key message.

The repetition of phrases and sentences should be such that it creates a micro story of your entire speech.

If you are trying to incorporate the rule of three in your speech and need guidance to do so. Here’s an article on The Power of the Rule of Three in Speech Writing that might help you!

2) Simon Sinek

Speech ending line: “Listen to politicians now, with their comprehensive 12-point plans. They’re not inspiring anybody. Because there are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us. Whether they’re individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead, not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves. And it’s those who start with “why” that have the ability to inspire those around them or find others who inspire them.”

How to mark an end of a speech with a story?

Telling stories can do wonders in making your speech a memorable one. Because we as humans relate to stories.

Using an effective and persuasive story at the end can engage the audience, evoke empathy, increase trust and motivate action.

Your story should be crafted in such a way that it sums up your entire speech. But don’t forget, it needs to be short and sweet.

You can start your story by saying, “Let me tell you a story that illustrates what I have been talking about…”

To make your speech/story worth remembering, you can try these various storytelling approaches mentioned in this article- 9 Storytelling Approaches For Your Next Speech or Presentation .

3) Les Brown

Speech ending line: “If you want a thing bad enough To go out and fight for it, Work day and night for it, Give up your time and your peace and Your sleep for it

If only desire of it Makes you quite mad enough Never to tire of it, Makes you hold all other things tawdry And cheap for it

If life seems all empty and useless without it And all that you scheme and you dream is about it,

If gladly you’ll sweat for it, Fret for it, Plan for it, Lose all your terror of God or man for it,

If you’ll simply go after that thing that you want. With all your capacity, Strength and sagacity, Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinacity,

If neither cold, poverty, famished and gaunt, Nor sickness nor pain Of body or brain Can turn you away from the thing that you want,

If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it, You’ll get it.”

How to end a speech with a poem?

This works similar to the notion of storytelling.

You can end your speech with a poem that summarizes your entire speech. To do this you can either make your own or select the one that works the best for your speech. If you select one, remember to cite the source.

While reciting a poem add emotions and drama to your words, raise your voice on a key line of the poem and pause whenever required.

Poetry is a powerful way to get your point across because it helps you create an impression in your audiences’ mind. If you are planning to tap into poetry for your next speech, we have written an article- Getting Your ‘Wordsworth’: Poetry in Public Speaking that you can review to get some tips on how to add a poem in your speech.

4) Sir Ken Robinson

Speech ending line: “There’s a wonderful quote from Benjamin Franklin. “There are three sorts of people in the world: Those who are immovable, people who don’t get it, or don’t want to do anything about it; there are people who are movable, people who see the need for change and are prepared to listen to it; and there are people who move, people who make things happen.” And if we can encourage more people, that will be a movement. And if the movement is strong enough, that’s, in the best sense of the word, a revolution. And that’s what we need.”

How to close a speech with a memorable quote?

Quotations are usually concise and memorable phrasing of an idea. (This is why we repeat and remember quotations, right?)

The sole reason to quote material is that it reinforces your ideas. A quotation offers a second voice echoing your claims which is more powerful than simply just repeating yourself.

So, your quote should be such that summarizes your main idea. You can quote words of an expert, a person who spoke before you at an event or something in your own words.

Tips for using quotations in your speech:

Phrasing it correctly can help boost your credibility
Don’t quote anything outside your context

Taking the above example of Sir Ken Robinson, the quoted words at the end of his speech summarized the heart of his speech.

5) Lera Boroditsky

Speech ending line: “It’s how the language that you speak shapes the way that you think. And that gives you the opportunity to ask, “Why do I think the way that I do?” “How could I think differently?” And also, “What thoughts do I wish to create?”

How to end a speech with a question?

You can try and engage your audience with questions that will get them thinking.

It is often effective to end with a rhetorical question that captures the message and leaves the audience thinking—especially one that directly ties in your CTA. For instance:

“What choice will you make when you leave here today? Will you ____(your key message), or will you go about your normal routine?”

See how Lera Boroditsky leaves her audience with a set of questions rattling around their minds.

6) Melissa Butler

Speech ending line: “So I challenge each of you, when you go home today, look at yourself in the mirror, see all of you, look at all of your greatness that you embody, accept it, and love it. And finally, when you leave the house tomorrow, try to extend that same love and acceptance to someone who doesn’t look like you. Thank you.”

How to give a challenge close to your speech?

In the above example, Melissa Butler used a challenge close to force her audience to take action over something.

In this type of closing, you challenge your audience to apply whatever you spoke in your speech and engage them in thought or action.

A good way to do that is to make sure they know you’re aware of the challenges that exist, and that you have concrete and actionable solutions to it.

To do this, you can have a bit of a forceful tone of voice to make a failure process a learning one.

Do express your belief in them and focus on setting a high bar, but an achievable one.

7) Brian Kateman

Speech ending line: “You can change the world by ordering a smaller steak, or doing something more. But don’t just sit by and ignore what you already know. Consider eating less meat and be a reducetarian.

Save our planet, improve your health, and save a lot of animals.”

How to end a speech by giving a solution to a concern?

This type of closing is suitable for speeches where you talk about a problem and give a solution for the same.

First you introduce the problem and explain why the audience should be concerned about it.

While concluding, you provide a practical solution to the stated concern.

Look at how Brian Kateman states a problem: The battle between vegans, vegetarians, and everyone else and ends up giving a pragmatic solution.

8) Anjelah Johnson

Speech ending line: “Really?! It’s funny because my finger didn’t do like that before I came in here.” “It’s okay honey, don’t worry. I’ll fix it for you, don’t worry.” (Imitates talking in Vietnamese) (Laughter) (Laughter) (Stops talking Vietnamese) “Oh, see? You look so pretty!” God bless, you guys.”

How to leave your audience with a good laugh?

Wouldn’t you love leaving your audience with a good laugh? Ending your speech with humor can help you to do so.

But you need to use them with caution. Tell jokes that are related to your speech. And avoid telling offensive jokes.

You can add anecdotes and funny stories that have happened in real life since it’s easy to relate to and, if said in a correct manner, you can have your audience laughing while hitting your message home!

Tips to deliver a good humor:

Surprise your audience by breaking their expectations with the help of a good setup and punchline. Setup creates a specific expectation in people’s minds and a punchline reveals the surprise. For instance, “I believe that each person can make a difference (setup), but it’s so slight that there’s basically no point (punch)”
Try and impersonate your dialogues or the characters as it will make your listeners feel they are in the scene
You can twist the literal meaning of a word. Example- Everybody looked up to me in college because I was the tallest of all
You can also incorporate the rule of three that works similar to the setup and punchline technique i.e. setup, setup, punch. Take an example of Elicia Sanchez, “I was a super nerd when I was a kid. I liked video games, I liked comic books, I was the youngest mage in the D&D campaign I was part of with 30-year-olds at the Yardbirds in Centralia, Washington.”

Apart from this, always test and rehearse the humor that you are going to incorporate and ask for honest feedback. Also, make sure the jokes and stories you use add value to your point and are insightful

9) Yubing Zhang

Speech ending line: “As the words said high on the bungee platform, “Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.”

How to end a speech using the circle theory?

Here, the idea is to take your audience on a journey and get them back to the place from where you started, making a circle.

Meaning, you refer back to what you started with (movie, words, quote).

Yubing Zhang begins her speech with- Life Begins at The Edge of Your Comfort Zone” and ends with the same.

You can bookend your speech in different ways:

You can end by referencing your opening
Concluding words can contrast from your opening words.
Open with a question and answer it at the end

We have written an in-depth article on 7 Techniques to Bookending Your Speech: Guidelines and Examples . Review it for some inspiration!

10) BJ Miller

Speech ending line: “Parts of me died early on, and that’s something we can all say one way or another. I got to redesign my life around this fact, and I tell you it has been a liberation to realize you can always find a shock of beauty or meaning in what life you have left, like that snowball lasting for a perfect moment, all the while melting away. If we love such moments ferociously, then maybe we can learn to live well — not in spite of death, but because of it. Let death be what takes us, not lack of imagination.”

How to close a speech with an inspiring note?

Okay, let’s be real here. We humans are dealing with problems, difficulties, challenges, disappointments, setbacks, and temporary failures.

Ending your speech with an uplifting talk that gives a ray of hope might encourage your audience.

“Inspiring your audience is all about helping them see their own vision, not yours.” Anonymous

If your hope is to inspire your audience then your material needs to be about them and ways on how they can grow .

To do so you can opt for stories or share your personal experiences to get your message alive, but you need to paint a picture of what your audiences’ vision is when it comes to themselves and how you can help them achieve that vision by your talk.

11) Dr. Shashi Tharoor

Speech ending line: “95% of our 12 year-olds across India can read and write. So the future looks good. And as far as the workforce is concerned, if we can get all these other pieces in place, we can say to the rest of the world, “We are coming.”

How to end your speech with facts?

Adding only facts in a speech can make it boring, right? Because there’s nothing entertaining about that.

Well, this wouldn’t be a case when you use the right facts in a proper way and at a proper time.

Adding facts as a speech ending line can be a way through which you can re-engage your audience, leaving them mesmerized.

Incorporate only those facts that are relevant to your topic because you don’t want to make them apathetic towards you.

Present your facts in a creative manner. For instance, asking a question after when you stated the fact, audience poll, or add humor.

Trying to add facts in your speech without making it sound boring? Here’s an article- 11 Steps to Add Facts in A Speech Without Making It Boring that can guide you.

12) Cameron Russell

Speech ending line: “If there’s a takeaway to this talk, I hope it’s that we all feel more comfortable acknowledging the power of image in our perceived successes and our perceived failures.”

How to leave your audience with a piece of advice?

This works similar to the fact concept.

Your advices should get your audience encouraged about something and not discourage them or make them feel incompetent.

Try to chunk your advice into simple steps that your audience can follow. Inject emotions, relate it to your own experience (if possible) and make it inspirational.

The sole purpose of giving advice is to help someone. Don’t forget that!

Because a lot of times the advice is created on the basis of expectation and not understanding others. To simplify it, you need to understand the problem that your audience is facing and then advise them keeping your expectations and judgements aside.

Look at how Cameron Russell makes people feel good about themselves by empowering them regardless of the topic.

13) Nora Mclnerny

Speech ending line: “But yes, absolutely, they’re going to move forward. But that doesn’t mean that they’ve moved on.”

How to use a title close to end your speech?

To give your speech a title close, your speech needs to have a provocative title that encapsulates your message memorably.

Use the title of your speech as your closing words to stir your audience to think more fully about what they just heard, reinforcing the title of your speech mentioned earlier.

14) Alfred Chuang

Speech ending line: “A new world is on the horizon. And it will be more incredible than any of us can possibly imagine. Our greatest innovations are ahead of us, not behind. But we need great engineers to build that world for us. And that’s you. We need you to not give up. Ever. We need you to finish your projects. Done, done, done. We need you to leverage the power of an immigrant-rich workforce. And we need you all to be a little insane.”

How to make a direct call to action at the end of your speech?

A well constructed and presented speech is the one that changes people’s mind and ignites action.

The call to action comes right before the end of a persuasive speech. Here, you clearly tell the audience the role they can play after they leave your talk.

It serves as a road map that your listeners can follow after when they are thoroughly gripped to your idea. Because they exactly know what they need to do.

In the above example, you can see how Alfred Chuang delivered a powerful CTA, as he clearly explains what listeners can do to push his idea forward.

Barring this type of a CTA, the other forms include signing a petition, buying your product, visiting your website.

15) Barack Obama

Speech ending line: “So let’s get to work, people. Let’s bring this home. I love you, Philadelphia. Honk if you’re fired up, honk if you’re ready to go. Are you fired up?”

How to use an appeal to end your speech?

The most common closing for a persuasive speech can be an appeal for action.

You can shape your appeal according to who your intended audience is and the purpose of you talking to them.

One of the best ways to make an appeal is by tapping into their emotions in order to form a deeper connection with the listeners.

Avoid making your message too pushy. Instead, try and make your content relatable and valuable for them. This is when the audience is much more likely to pay attention to you.

Valuable reads: The Secret of Writing a Persuasive Speech

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Final Thoughts

Depending on the type of speech you are presenting, you will be asking the audience for something. And that can be- asking them to act in a certain way, or to change their attitude towards a certain person or topic or simply make them understand what you’re trying to say.

Nonetheless, the conclusion of your speech is to leave the audience positively motivated towards you and the topic you have been presenting.

Hopefully, these 15 examples will guide you to create your own speech ending line that is impactful.

Let us know in the comments below which one worked for you.

Still looking for inspiration? Check out this video we made on closing remarks:

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How to Write an Engaging Speech for GCSE English

English Senior Content Creator

2 months ago

1 . Eight Top Tips for Crafting a Successful GCSE Speech
2 . Summary

In my nearly ten years’ teaching GCSE, I taught hundreds of students how to write a GCSE English language speech, with many of them achieving a grade 9. All GCSE examination boards (AQA, OCR, Edexcel, WJEC Eduqas) may ask you to write a speech for the GCSE English language exam.

In this guide, I will give you my top tips so that you can reach your full potential too..

Please note that this guide is about writing a successful speech in a GCSE English language exam, and does not cover the speaking and listening component of the GCSE. As such, it doesn’t include GCSE speech ideas, or a selection of speech topics. However, if you are preparing for the GCSE speaking endorsement, this guide will still be valuable in the planning and writing of a top-grade speech, so read on.

Eight Top Tips for Crafting a Successful GCSE Speech

1. understand the requirements of the gcse speech question.

When I taught in London secondary schools, I would always tell my English students to “think like an examiner”. They thought I was mad, but I often told them to picture a retired teacher, living in a remote cottage in rural Wales. This would help them to visualise the person who was going to give them their GCSE grade. Let’s make sure, I’d tell them, that we know exactly what this examiner is looking for. This means:

Understanding the mark scheme, so you know how to improve (here at Save My Exams, we’ve broken down the AQA Mark Scheme for students)

Understanding the assessment objectives, so you know what skills you need to display

Looking over Past Papers to see what types of speech topics typically come up

Seeking out exemplar answers (like our Own One for AQA )

2. Spend time planning your GCSE speech

The most important thing you can do to boost your grade in the GCSE speech question is to make a plan. Examiners often say that students who spend time crafting and planning their response tend to achieve much higher grades than students who dive straight in and begin writing immediately.

Try to spend a few minutes understanding the question and the prompt. Depending on your exam board, you’ll usually be given some information that will help you plan a perfect speech. You’ll usually be given:

The topic of the speech

The intended audience

Some “blurb”: information to help you understand the context of the question

Use this information when planning your speech. When planning, remember to:

Underline key words from the question and blurb

Underline the audience you will be delivering your speech to

Decide on your “voice” and point of view

Write a one-sentence statement that summarises your point of view

Note down the points you can develop to support your point of view

Decide whether you are going to make a counter-argument, and note down the points you can develop to support this

3. Create an engaging introduction

Remember our lovely retired teacher in their cottage? Well, they want to be engrossed in your speech right from the first sentence. I would always tell my students that the introduction is the most important part of any GCSE speech: it’s where you can grab the reader’s attention from the beginning. You can do this in a few ways:

Set out your position or argument clearly in one punchy sentence

Create a “hook”:

A hook is a sentence that makes a promise to your audience, for example: “In the following speech I will prove that students’ grades would actually be better if all school uniforms were banned.”

Finish off your introduction with rhetorical devices, like rhetorical questions and inclusive pronouns, for example: “Don’t we all want to live in a world where young people achieve the grades they are truly capable of?”

4. Structure your speech effectively

One of the features of a grade 9 GCSE speech is that it is what examiners call “coherent” and “well organised”. This means that your speech:

Follows the same argument throughout

Includes an introduction and a conclusion

Is organised clearly into paragraphs

Incorporates a counter-argument

The best way to ensure that you write a coherent speech is to make sure that your plan covers all of the above. Your speech will then look something like this:

Another great way to achieve top marks from an examiner is to include what are sometimes called “discourse markers”. These are sophisticated words or phrases that link words or sentences together. Some great discourse markers for the GCSE speech are:

Moreover (to extend a point)

As a result (to prove your point)

On the other hand (to introduce a counter-argument)

Nevertheless (to “counter” your counter-argument)

5. Use language techniques to enhance your speech

Lots of schools teach rhetorical devices, or language techniques, in easy-to-remember acronyms, and I did the same in my classroom. In fact, when I ran debating sessions for GCSE and A Level students, I would teach them the same techniques. The acronym I taught my students was DAFOREST:


irect address	Speaking directly to the audience	“Surely, you, as parents of young children, will agree that …”
naphora	Using repetition at the beginning of sentences or paragraphs	“Education means freedom. Education means independence. Education means students that are able to express themselves fully.”
acts	Including information that can’t be disputed	“According to research, wearing a uniform does not affect how well children perform in tests.”
pinion	Including your own personal views	“I don’t think it’s a good idea to put barriers up in the way of students’ own free will.”
hetorical questions	Using a question that doesn’t need to be answered	“Do we want to stifle the creativity and independence of the next generation?”
motive language	Using words that evoke feelings in the audience	“Surely you wouldn’t want your own child to be bullied over their clothing?”
tatistics	Including data that proves your argument	“Students who don’t wear a uniform on average earn 30% more in later life..”
riples	Using three words or phrases in quick succession (also known as the rule of three)	“We want our young people to be free to be creative, autonomous and fully set up for the world of work or university.”

One top tip when using facts and statistics: you are not being assessed on your knowledge of any speech topic, so feel free to add some facts and statistics to make your speech sound more convincing (but don’t exaggerate too much or you may sound untrustworthy).

6. Develop the body of your speech

I’ve talked a lot about “proving” arguments, but how do you actually do that? In an English literature exam, you would include “evidence” for your points, and I strongly recommend that you think about GCSE English language in the same way. Instead of quotations or references to the plot of a play or novel, “evidence” in a GCSE speech is anything that helps persuade your audience to agree with you. So this evidence could include:

Emotive language

Anecdotes (stories that illustrate why you are right)

Another great tip is to set out the point of each paragraph clearly in a topic sentence. This is one sentence that sums up the point of the paragraph. It’s even better if all of your “evidence” in the paragraph helps to prove the argument set out in the topic sentence.

7. End with a powerful conclusion

I hope you haven’t forgotten our lovely ex-teacher in their cottage. Well, you want to leave them with a memorable impression so that you will be rewarded with the very highest marks. Including a conclusion that summarises your argument, and how you’ve proven it with your evidence, will convince them that your argument is well structured, coherent and convincing (all indicators of a top-mark response).

8. Use these strategies for success in the GCSE speech exam

The last thing I would always remind my students on the day before their English language exam was to be “exam-ready”. This means you can go straight into the exam hall and know exactly what you have to do, and when. I always gave my students these top tips:

Know the precise timings of the exam paper

Know exactly how long you’re going to plan, write and check for

Know what you will include in your plan

Write down any helpful acronyms (such as DAFOREST) in the margins of your plan so you remember to use these techniques

To sum up, writing a great GCSE speech is all about being prepared: knowing what the question will entail, knowing how to get the top marks, and making a plan.

It’s also about practice. The more past paper practice speeches you write (and perhaps ask your teacher to mark) the better you’ll get at structuring your speech, creating and proving an argument, and seamlessly incorporating sophisticated rhetorical devices.

For more GCSE speech examples, see an annotated Speech Model Answer , and for more great revision notes on GCSE English Literature and GCSE English Language check out Save My Exams’ clear and concise revision notes.

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Written by Nick Redgrove

Nick is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. He started his career in journalism and publishing, working as an editor on a political magazine and a number of books, before training as an English teacher. After nearly 10 years working in London schools, where he held leadership positions in English departments and within a Sixth Form, he moved on to become an examiner and education consultant. With more than a decade of experience as a tutor, Nick specialises in English, but has also taught Politics, Classical Civilisation and Religious Studies.

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How to write a speech that your audience remembers

Confident-woman-giving-a-conference-with-a-digital-presentation-how-to-give-a-speech

Whether in a work meeting or at an investor panel, you might give a speech at some point. And no matter how excited you are about the opportunity, the experience can be nerve-wracking .

But feeling butterflies doesn’t mean you can’t give a great speech. With the proper preparation and a clear outline, apprehensive public speakers and natural wordsmiths alike can write and present a compelling message. Here’s how to write a good speech you’ll be proud to deliver.

What is good speech writing?

Good speech writing is the art of crafting words and ideas into a compelling, coherent, and memorable message that resonates with the audience. Here are some key elements of great speech writing:

It begins with clearly understanding the speech's purpose and the audience it seeks to engage.
A well-written speech clearly conveys its central message, ensuring that the audience understands and retains the key points.
It is structured thoughtfully, with a captivating opening, a well-organized body, and a conclusion that reinforces the main message.
Good speech writing embraces the power of engaging content, weaving in stories, examples, and relatable anecdotes to connect with the audience on both intellectual and emotional levels.

Ultimately, it is the combination of these elements, along with the authenticity and delivery of the speaker , that transforms words on a page into a powerful and impactful spoken narrative.

What makes a good speech?

A great speech includes several key qualities, but three fundamental elements make a speech truly effective:

Clarity and purpose

Remembering the audience, cohesive structure.

While other important factors make a speech a home run, these three elements are essential for writing an effective speech.

The main elements of a good speech

The main elements of a speech typically include:

Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for your speech and grabs the audience's attention. It should include a hook or attention-grabbing opening, introduce the topic, and provide an overview of what will be covered.
Opening/captivating statement: This is a strong statement that immediately engages the audience and creates curiosity about the speech topics.
Thesis statement/central idea: The thesis statement or central idea is a concise statement that summarizes the main point or argument of your speech. It serves as a roadmap for the audience to understand what your speech is about.
Body: The body of the speech is where you elaborate on your main points or arguments. Each point is typically supported by evidence, examples, statistics, or anecdotes. The body should be organized logically and coherently, with smooth transitions between the main points.
Supporting evidence: This includes facts, data, research findings, expert opinions, or personal stories that support and strengthen your main points. Well-chosen and credible evidence enhances the persuasive power of your speech.
Transitions: Transitions are phrases or statements that connect different parts of your speech, guiding the audience from one idea to the next. Effective transitions signal the shifts in topics or ideas and help maintain a smooth flow throughout the speech.
Counterarguments and rebuttals (if applicable): If your speech involves addressing opposing viewpoints or counterarguments, you should acknowledge and address them. Presenting counterarguments makes your speech more persuasive and demonstrates critical thinking.
Conclusion: The conclusion is the final part of your speech and should bring your message to a satisfying close. Summarize your main points, restate your thesis statement, and leave the audience with a memorable closing thought or call to action.
Closing statement: This is the final statement that leaves a lasting impression and reinforces the main message of your speech. It can be a call to action, a thought-provoking question, a powerful quote, or a memorable anecdote.
Delivery and presentation: How you deliver your speech is also an essential element to consider. Pay attention to your tone, body language, eye contact , voice modulation, and timing. Practice and rehearse your speech, and try using the 7-38-55 rule to ensure confident and effective delivery.

While the order and emphasis of these elements may vary depending on the type of speech and audience, these elements provide a framework for organizing and delivering a successful speech.

Man-holding-microphone-at-panel-while-talking--how-to-give-a-speech

How to structure a good speech

You know what message you want to transmit, who you’re delivering it to, and even how you want to say it. But you need to know how to start, develop, and close a speech before writing it.

Think of a speech like an essay. It should have an introduction, conclusion, and body sections in between. This places ideas in a logical order that the audience can better understand and follow them. Learning how to make a speech with an outline gives your storytelling the scaffolding it needs to get its point across.

Here’s a general speech structure to guide your writing process:

Explanation 1
Explanation 2
Explanation 3

How to write a compelling speech opener

Some research shows that engaged audiences pay attention for only 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Other estimates are even lower, citing that people stop listening intently in fewer than 10 minutes . If you make a good first impression at the beginning of your speech, you have a better chance of interesting your audience through the middle when attention spans fade.

Implementing the INTRO model can help grab and keep your audience’s attention as soon as you start speaking. This acronym stands for interest, need, timing, roadmap, and objectives, and it represents the key points you should hit in an opening.

Here’s what to include for each of these points:

Interest : Introduce yourself or your topic concisely and speak with confidence . Write a compelling opening statement using relevant data or an anecdote that the audience can relate to.
Needs : The audience is listening to you because they have something to learn. If you’re pitching a new app idea to a panel of investors, those potential partners want to discover more about your product and what they can earn from it. Read the room and gently remind them of the purpose of your speech.
Timing : When appropriate, let your audience know how long you’ll speak. This lets listeners set expectations and keep tabs on their own attention span. If a weary audience member knows you’ll talk for 40 minutes, they can better manage their energy as that time goes on.
Routemap : Give a brief overview of the three main points you’ll cover in your speech. If an audience member’s attention starts to drop off and they miss a few sentences, they can more easily get their bearings if they know the general outline of the presentation.
Objectives : Tell the audience what you hope to achieve, encouraging them to listen to the end for the payout.

Writing the middle of a speech

The body of your speech is the most information-dense section. Facts, visual aids, PowerPoints — all this information meets an audience with a waning attention span. Sticking to the speech structure gives your message focus and keeps you from going off track, making everything you say as useful as possible.

Limit the middle of your speech to three points, and support them with no more than three explanations. Following this model organizes your thoughts and prevents you from offering more information than the audience can retain.

Using this section of the speech to make your presentation interactive can add interest and engage your audience. Try including a video or demonstration to break the monotony. A quick poll or survey also keeps the audience on their toes.

Wrapping the speech up

To you, restating your points at the end can feel repetitive and dull. You’ve practiced countless times and heard it all before. But repetition aids memory and learning , helping your audience retain what you’ve told them. Use your speech’s conclusion to summarize the main points with a few short sentences.

Try to end on a memorable note, like posing a motivational quote or a thoughtful question the audience can contemplate once they leave. In proposal or pitch-style speeches, consider landing on a call to action (CTA) that invites your audience to take the next step.

People-clapping-after-coworker-gave-a-speech-how-to-give-a-speech

How to write a good speech

If public speaking gives you the jitters, you’re not alone. Roughly 80% of the population feels nervous before giving a speech, and another 10% percent experiences intense anxiety and sometimes even panic.

The fear of failure can cause procrastination and can cause you to put off your speechwriting process until the last minute. Finding the right words takes time and preparation, and if you’re already feeling nervous, starting from a blank page might seem even harder.

But putting in the effort despite your stress is worth it. Presenting a speech you worked hard on fosters authenticity and connects you to the subject matter, which can help your audience understand your points better. Human connection is all about honesty and vulnerability, and if you want to connect to the people you’re speaking to, they should see that in you.

1. Identify your objectives and target audience

Before diving into the writing process, find healthy coping strategies to help you stop worrying . Then you can define your speech’s purpose, think about your target audience, and start identifying your objectives. Here are some questions to ask yourself and ground your thinking :

What purpose do I want my speech to achieve?
What would it mean to me if I achieved the speech’s purpose?
What audience am I writing for?
What do I know about my audience?
What values do I want to transmit?
If the audience remembers one take-home message, what should it be?
What do I want my audience to feel, think, or do after I finish speaking?
What parts of my message could be confusing and require further explanation?

2. Know your audience

Understanding your audience is crucial for tailoring your speech effectively. Consider the demographics of your audience, their interests, and their expectations. For instance, if you're addressing a group of healthcare professionals, you'll want to use medical terminology and data that resonate with them. Conversely, if your audience is a group of young students, you'd adjust your content to be more relatable to their experiences and interests.

3. Choose a clear message

Your message should be the central idea that you want your audience to take away from your speech. Let's say you're giving a speech on climate change. Your clear message might be something like, "Individual actions can make a significant impact on mitigating climate change." Throughout your speech, all your points and examples should support this central message, reinforcing it for your audience.

4. Structure your speech

Organizing your speech properly keeps your audience engaged and helps them follow your ideas. The introduction should grab your audience's attention and introduce the topic. For example, if you're discussing space exploration, you could start with a fascinating fact about a recent space mission. In the body, you'd present your main points logically, such as the history of space exploration, its scientific significance, and future prospects. Finally, in the conclusion, you'd summarize your key points and reiterate the importance of space exploration in advancing human knowledge.

5. Use engaging content for clarity

Engaging content includes stories, anecdotes, statistics, and examples that illustrate your main points. For instance, if you're giving a speech about the importance of reading, you might share a personal story about how a particular book changed your perspective. You could also include statistics on the benefits of reading, such as improved cognitive abilities and empathy.

6. Maintain clarity and simplicity

It's essential to communicate your ideas clearly. Avoid using overly technical jargon or complex language that might confuse your audience. For example, if you're discussing a medical breakthrough with a non-medical audience, explain complex terms in simple, understandable language.

7. Practice and rehearse

Practice is key to delivering a great speech. Rehearse multiple times to refine your delivery, timing, and tone. Consider using a mirror or recording yourself to observe your body language and gestures. For instance, if you're giving a motivational speech, practice your gestures and expressions to convey enthusiasm and confidence.

8. Consider nonverbal communication

Your body language, tone of voice, and gestures should align with your message . If you're delivering a speech on leadership, maintain strong eye contact to convey authority and connection with your audience. A steady pace and varied tone can also enhance your speech's impact.

9. Engage your audience

Engaging your audience keeps them interested and attentive. Encourage interaction by asking thought-provoking questions or sharing relatable anecdotes. If you're giving a speech on teamwork, ask the audience to recall a time when teamwork led to a successful outcome, fostering engagement and connection.

10. Prepare for Q&A

Anticipate potential questions or objections your audience might have and prepare concise, well-informed responses. If you're delivering a speech on a controversial topic, such as healthcare reform, be ready to address common concerns, like the impact on healthcare costs or access to services, during the Q&A session.

By following these steps and incorporating examples that align with your specific speech topic and purpose, you can craft and deliver a compelling and impactful speech that resonates with your audience.

Woman-at-home-doing-research-in-her-laptop-how-to-give-a-speech

Tools for writing a great speech

There are several helpful tools available for speechwriting, both technological and communication-related. Here are a few examples:

Word processing software: Tools like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or other word processors provide a user-friendly environment for writing and editing speeches. They offer features like spell-checking, grammar correction, formatting options, and easy revision tracking.
Presentation software: Software such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides is useful when creating visual aids to accompany your speech. These tools allow you to create engaging slideshows with text, images, charts, and videos to enhance your presentation.
Speechwriting Templates: Online platforms or software offer pre-designed templates specifically for speechwriting. These templates provide guidance on structuring your speech and may include prompts for different sections like introductions, main points, and conclusions.
Rhetorical devices and figures of speech: Rhetorical tools such as metaphors, similes, alliteration, and parallelism can add impact and persuasion to your speech. Resources like books, websites, or academic papers detailing various rhetorical devices can help you incorporate them effectively.
Speechwriting apps: Mobile apps designed specifically for speechwriting can be helpful in organizing your thoughts, creating outlines, and composing a speech. These apps often provide features like voice recording, note-taking, and virtual prompts to keep you on track.
Grammar and style checkers: Online tools or plugins like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor help improve the clarity and readability of your speech by checking for grammar, spelling, and style errors. They provide suggestions for sentence structure, word choice, and overall tone.
Thesaurus and dictionary: Online or offline resources such as thesauruses and dictionaries help expand your vocabulary and find alternative words or phrases to express your ideas more effectively. They can also clarify meanings or provide context for unfamiliar terms.
Online speechwriting communities: Joining online forums or communities focused on speechwriting can be beneficial for getting feedback, sharing ideas, and learning from experienced speechwriters. It's an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and improve your public speaking skills through collaboration.

Remember, while these tools can assist in the speechwriting process, it's essential to use them thoughtfully and adapt them to your specific needs and style. The most important aspect of speechwriting remains the creativity, authenticity, and connection with your audience that you bring to your speech.

Man-holding-microphone-while-speaking-in-public-how-to-give-a-speech

5 tips for writing a speech

Behind every great speech is an excellent idea and a speaker who refined it. But a successful speech is about more than the initial words on the page, and there are a few more things you can do to help it land.

Here are five more tips for writing and practicing your speech:

1. Structure first, write second

If you start the writing process before organizing your thoughts, you may have to re-order, cut, and scrap the sentences you worked hard on. Save yourself some time by using a speech structure, like the one above, to order your talking points first. This can also help you identify unclear points or moments that disrupt your flow.

2. Do your homework

Data strengthens your argument with a scientific edge. Research your topic with an eye for attention-grabbing statistics, or look for findings you can use to support each point. If you’re pitching a product or service, pull information from company metrics that demonstrate past or potential successes.

Audience members will likely have questions, so learn all talking points inside and out. If you tell investors that your product will provide 12% returns, for example, come prepared with projections that support that statement.

3. Sound like yourself

Memorable speakers have distinct voices. Think of Martin Luther King Jr’s urgent, inspiring timbre or Oprah’s empathetic, personal tone . Establish your voice — one that aligns with your personality and values — and stick with it. If you’re a motivational speaker, keep your tone upbeat to inspire your audience . If you’re the CEO of a startup, try sounding assured but approachable.

4. Practice

As you practice a speech, you become more confident , gain a better handle on the material, and learn the outline so well that unexpected questions are less likely to trip you up. Practice in front of a colleague or friend for honest feedback about what you could change, and speak in front of the mirror to tweak your nonverbal communication and body language .

5. Remember to breathe

When you’re stressed, you breathe more rapidly . It can be challenging to talk normally when you can’t regulate your breath. Before your presentation, try some mindful breathing exercises so that when the day comes, you already have strategies that will calm you down and remain present . This can also help you control your voice and avoid speaking too quickly.

How to ghostwrite a great speech for someone else

Ghostwriting a speech requires a unique set of skills, as you're essentially writing a piece that will be delivered by someone else. Here are some tips on how to effectively ghostwrite a speech:

Understand the speaker's voice and style : Begin by thoroughly understanding the speaker's personality, speaking style, and preferences. This includes their tone, humor, and any personal anecdotes they may want to include.
Interview the speaker : Have a detailed conversation with the speaker to gather information about their speech's purpose, target audience, key messages, and any specific points they want to emphasize. Ask for personal stories or examples they may want to include.
Research thoroughly : Research the topic to ensure you have a strong foundation of knowledge. This helps you craft a well-informed and credible speech.
Create an outline : Develop a clear outline that includes the introduction, main points, supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Share this outline with the speaker for their input and approval.
Write in the speaker's voice : While crafting the speech, maintain the speaker's voice and style. Use language and phrasing that feel natural to them. If they have a particular way of expressing ideas, incorporate that into the speech.
Craft a captivating opening : Begin the speech with a compelling opening that grabs the audience's attention. This could be a relevant quote, an interesting fact, a personal anecdote, or a thought-provoking question.
Organize content logically : Ensure the speech flows logically, with each point building on the previous one. Use transitions to guide the audience from one idea to the next smoothly.
Incorporate engaging stories and examples : Include anecdotes, stories, and real-life examples that illustrate key points and make the speech relatable and memorable.
Edit and revise : Edit the speech carefully for clarity, grammar, and coherence. Ensure the speech is the right length and aligns with the speaker's time constraints.
Seek feedback : Share drafts of the speech with the speaker for their feedback and revisions. They may have specific changes or additions they'd like to make.
Practice delivery : If possible, work with the speaker on their delivery. Practice the speech together, allowing the speaker to become familiar with the content and your writing style.
Maintain confidentiality : As a ghostwriter, it's essential to respect the confidentiality and anonymity of the work. Do not disclose that you wrote the speech unless you have the speaker's permission to do so.
Be flexible : Be open to making changes and revisions as per the speaker's preferences. Your goal is to make them look good and effectively convey their message.
Meet deadlines : Stick to agreed-upon deadlines for drafts and revisions. Punctuality and reliability are essential in ghostwriting.
Provide support : Support the speaker during their preparation and rehearsal process. This can include helping with cue cards, speech notes, or any other materials they need.

Remember that successful ghostwriting is about capturing the essence of the speaker while delivering a well-structured and engaging speech. Collaboration, communication, and adaptability are key to achieving this.

Give your best speech yet

Learn how to make a speech that’ll hold an audience’s attention by structuring your thoughts and practicing frequently. Put the effort into writing and preparing your content, and aim to improve your breathing, eye contact , and body language as you practice. The more you work on your speech, the more confident you’ll become.

The energy you invest in writing an effective speech will help your audience remember and connect to every concept. Remember: some life-changing philosophies have come from good speeches, so give your words a chance to resonate with others. You might even change their thinking.

Boost your speech skills

Enhance your public speaking with personalized coaching tailored to your needs

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

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The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples

Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
B.A., English, State University of New York

A part of speech is a term used in traditional grammar for one of the nine main categories into which words are classified according to their functions in sentences, such as nouns or verbs. Also known as word classes, these are the building blocks of grammar.

Every sentence you write or speak in English includes words that fall into some of the nine parts of speech. These include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections. (Some sources include only eight parts of speech and leave interjections in their own category.)

Parts of Speech

Word types can be divided into nine parts of speech:
prepositions
conjunctions
articles/determiners
interjections
Some words can be considered more than one part of speech, depending on context and usage.
Interjections can form complete sentences on their own.

Learning the names of the parts of speech probably won't make you witty, healthy, wealthy, or wise. In fact, learning just the names of the parts of speech won't even make you a better writer. However, you will gain a basic understanding of sentence structure and the English language by familiarizing yourself with these labels.

Open and Closed Word Classes

The parts of speech are commonly divided into open classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) and closed classes (pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections). Open classes can be altered and added to as language develops, and closed classes are pretty much set in stone. For example, new nouns are created every day, but conjunctions never change.

In contemporary linguistics , parts of speech are generally referred to as word classes or syntactic categories. The main difference is that word classes are classified according to more strict linguistic criteria. Within word classes, there is the lexical, or open class, and the function, or closed class.

The 9 Parts of Speech

Read about each part of speech below, and practice identifying each.

Nouns are a person, place, thing, or idea. They can take on a myriad of roles in a sentence, from the subject of it all to the object of an action. They are capitalized when they're the official name of something or someone, and they're called proper nouns in these cases. Examples: pirate, Caribbean, ship, freedom, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Pronouns stand in for nouns in a sentence . They are more generic versions of nouns that refer only to people. Examples: I, you, he, she, it, ours, them, who, which, anybody, ourselves.

Verbs are action words that tell what happens in a sentence. They can also show a sentence subject's state of being ( is , was ). Verbs change form based on tense (present, past) and count distinction (singular or plural). Examples: sing, dance, believes, seemed, finish, eat, drink, be, became.

Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. They specify which one, how much, what kind, and more. Adjectives allow readers and listeners to use their senses to imagine something more clearly. Examples: hot, lazy, funny, unique, bright, beautiful, poor, smooth.

Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They specify when, where, how, and why something happened and to what extent or how often. Many adjectives can be turned into adjectives by adding the suffix - ly . Examples: softly, quickly, lazily, often, only, hopefully, sometimes.

Preposition

Prepositions show spatial, temporal, and role relations between a noun or pronoun and the other words in a sentence. They come at the start of a prepositional phrase , which contains a preposition and its object. Examples: up, over, against, by, for, into, close to, out of, apart from.

Conjunction

Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. There are coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions. Examples: and, but, or, so, yet.

Articles and Determiners

Articles and determiners function like adjectives by modifying nouns, but they are different than adjectives in that they are necessary for a sentence to have proper syntax. Articles and determiners specify and identify nouns, and there are indefinite and definite articles. Examples of articles: a, an, the ; examples of determiners: these, that, those, enough, much, few, which, what.

Some traditional grammars have treated articles as a distinct part of speech. Modern grammars, however, more often include articles in the category of determiners , which identify or quantify a noun. Even though they modify nouns like adjectives, articles are different in that they are essential to the proper syntax of a sentence, just as determiners are necessary to convey the meaning of a sentence, while adjectives are optional.

Interjection

Interjections are expressions that can stand on their own or be contained within sentences. These words and phrases often carry strong emotions and convey reactions. Examples: ah, whoops, ouch, yabba dabba do!

How to Determine the Part of Speech

Only interjections ( Hooray! ) have a habit of standing alone; every other part of speech must be contained within a sentence and some are even required in sentences (nouns and verbs). Other parts of speech come in many varieties and may appear just about anywhere in a sentence.

To know for sure what part of speech a word falls into, look not only at the word itself but also at its meaning, position, and use in a sentence.

For example, in the first sentence below, work functions as a noun; in the second sentence, a verb; and in the third sentence, an adjective:

Bosco showed up for work two hours late.
The noun work is the thing Bosco shows up for.
He will have to work until midnight.
The verb work is the action he must perform.
His work permit expires next month.
The attributive noun (or converted adjective) work modifies the noun permit .

Learning the names and uses of the basic parts of speech is just one way to understand how sentences are constructed.

Dissecting Basic Sentences

To form a basic complete sentence, you only need two elements: a noun (or pronoun standing in for a noun) and a verb. The noun acts as a subject, and the verb, by telling what action the subject is taking, acts as the predicate.

In the short sentence above, birds is the noun and fly is the verb. The sentence makes sense and gets the point across.

You can have a sentence with just one word without breaking any sentence formation rules. The short sentence below is complete because it's a verb command with an understood "you" noun.

Here, the pronoun, standing in for a noun, is implied and acts as the subject. The sentence is really saying, "(You) go!"

Constructing More Complex Sentences

Use more parts of speech to add additional information about what's happening in a sentence to make it more complex. Take the first sentence from above, for example, and incorporate more information about how and why birds fly.

Birds fly when migrating before winter.

Birds and fly remain the noun and the verb, but now there is more description.

When is an adverb that modifies the verb fly. The word before is a little tricky because it can be either a conjunction, preposition, or adverb depending on the context. In this case, it's a preposition because it's followed by a noun. This preposition begins an adverbial phrase of time ( before winter ) that answers the question of when the birds migrate . Before is not a conjunction because it does not connect two clauses.

A List of Exclamations and Interjections in English
Sentence Parts and Sentence Structures
100 Key Terms Used in the Study of Grammar
Closed Class Words
Word Class in English Grammar
Prepositional Phrases in English Grammar
Foundations of Grammar in Italian
The Top 25 Grammatical Terms
Open Class Words in English Grammar
Telegraphic Speech
What Is an Adverb in English Grammar?
Pronoun Definition and Examples
What Are the Parts of a Prepositional Phrase?
Parts of Speech Printable Worksheets
Definition and Examples of Function Words in English
Lesson Plan: Label Sentences with Parts of Speech

GrammarSimple.Com

40 Examples of Direct and Indirect Speech Sentences

Table of Contents

Direct And Indirect Speech Examples

While using English, we use direct and indirect speeches quite often. If a sentence is expressed exactly as it came out of the mouth of the person who said it, it becomes a direct speech. However Indirect Speech (also called reported speech) refers to transmitting a sentence that someone has said. It is often used in daily language.

For example,

Susan told me she ate pizza yesterday. (Indirect Speech)

Susan said, “I ate pizza yesterday.”. (Direct Speech)

Mathilda told me she had to go out. (Indirect Speech)

Mathilda said: “I have to go out.”. (Direct Speech)

Julie asked if the train had left when she arrived at the ticket office. (Indirect Speech)

Julie asked: “Did the train leave?” (Direct Speech)

1		It is too late.
		I said it was too late.
2		I had taken Spanish lessons before.
		He said he had taken Spanish lessons before.
3		Did you do your homework?
		He asked me if I did (had done) my homework.
4		Please help me carry this!
		My mother asked me to help her carry that.
5		I like ice cream.
		He said that he liked ice cream.
6		I’II see you later.
		He said he would see me later.
7		I could swim when I was four.
		He said he could swim when he was four.
8		I should call my mother.
		He said he should call her mother.
9		I might be late.
		He said he might be late.
10		He said, “I was teaching earlier.”
		He said he had been teaching earlier.
11		Mary said, “I have been writing this essay.”
		Mary said that he had been writing that essay.
12		Michael said, “I may go there.’
		Michael says that she may go there.
13		We can´t go the zoo next week.
		They said they couldn’t go to the zoo next week.
14		George is said, “I write a letter”.
		George is said that she wrote a letter.
15		I said, “He is driving a car”
		I said that he was driving a car.
16		I am reading a book, he explained.
		He explained that he was reading a book.
17		My father said, “I am cooking dinner.”
		My father said he was cooking dinner.
18		My sister said, “I had already eaten.”
		My sister said she had already eaten.
19		My boyfriend asked, “Do you like horror films?”
		Do you like horror films? my boyfriend asked.
20		I never get up late, my mother said.
		My mother said that she never got up late.

21		She said, “I might come early.”
		She said she might come early.
22		I am leaving home now.”
		He said that he left home then.
23		Are you living here?
		He asked me if I was living here.
24		I’m going to come.
		She said that she was going to come.
25		We can communicate smoothly.
		They said that they could communicate smothly.
26		I often enjoy myself.
		Mary will say that that she often enjoys herself.
27		Everything is going fine.
		The news says that everything is going fine.
28		My father was born in 1962.
		My father told us that he was born in 1962.
29		She said, “I’ve missed my train.”
		She said that she’d missed her train.
30		I’m sorry for the accident.
		Georger told Samuel (that) he was sorry for the accident.
31		He said, “I am a football player.”
		He said that he was a football player.
32		Michael said, “I will buy a new car.”
		Michael said that she will buy a new car.
33		Mark said, “Bill needs a pencil.”
		Mark said that Bill needed a pencil.
34		She said, “I went to the shopping center.”
		She said that she had gone to the shopping center.
35		I write poems.
		He says that he writes poems.
36		She said: “I would buy new house if I were rich”.
		She said that she would buy new house if she had been rich”.
37		May I go out?
		She wanted to know if she might go out.
38		She is American, she said.
		She said she was American.
39		My son, do the exercise.“
		Sh told her son to do the exercise.
40		I don’t know what to do.
		Samuel added that he didn’t know what to do.

Common Grammar Mistakes

English Mistakes, Do You Make Any of These Mistakes

What is The Parallel Structure? Parallel Structure Definition and Examples

About the author.

COMM 101: Fundamentals of Public Speaking - Valparaiso

Delivery Skills
Stage Fright
Body Language / Non-Verbal Communication
Listening Skills
Quotation Resources
Speech Outline Examples
Speech Examples
More Speech Examples
Presentation Options
Citation Resources This link opens in a new window

A basic speech outline should include three main sections:

The Introduction -- This is where you tell them what you're going to tell them.
The Body -- This is where you tell them.
The Conclusion -- This is where you tell them what you've told them.
Speech Outline Formatting Guide The outline for a public speech, according to COMM 101 online textbook The Public Speaking Project , p.p. 8-9.

Use these samples to help prepare your speech outlines and bibliographies:

Sample Speech Preparation Outline This type of outline is very detailed with all the main points and subpoints written in complete sentences. Your bibliography should be included with this outline.
Sample Speech Speaking Outline This type of outline is very brief and uses phrases or key words for the main points and subpoints. This outline is used by the speaker during the speech.
<< Previous: Quotation Resources
Next: Informative Speeches >>
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Speech therapy materials for pediatric SLPs

Sentence Formulation

Other sentence-level skills:

Sentence Combining
Sentence Deconstruction
Given individual words from a sentence and a familiar visual, NAME will formulate a sentence to describe a picture in 3 out of 5 opportunities.
Given individual words from a sentence, NAME will formulate a grammatically correct sentence 5-7 words in length in 75% of opportunities.
NAME will formulate sentences containing past tense verbs to describe completed actions in pictures with 75% accuracy.
NAME will formulate a sentence containing a given conjunction to describe a picture in 70% of opportunities.
NAME will use an average sentence length of 4 or more words during a 5 minute conversation with a peer across 3 sessions.

Sentence & Question Formulation Resources

Here are my favorite resources that target sentence formulation:

Digital Sentence Formulation Sliders

Digital Past Tense Verbs Sentence Sliders

Question Formulation Maps

Digital Spatial Concepts Sentence Sliders

Teaching sentence formulation skills in speech therapy.

One example of how we can make sentence building clear, direct, and more visual is by providing scaffolded supports that show sentence structure when working on sentence formulation.

You might provide a sentence frame or even visual boxes that show the function of each sentence part like these:

This might also include directly teaching parts of speech, even if you don’t name them directly. For example, you might say, “Sprinted is the action word in the sentence. It’s telling us what Mark did.”

Here’s another example of how I might introduce pronouns:

Below are some fun and easy activities I like to use when targeting sentence formulation:

Sentence Unscrambles. Come up with silly sentences and write 1 word at a time on index cards or sticky notes. Have your students unscramble them to figure out the sentence.
Sentence Builders. Give each student a word of a sentence and have them stand up and rearrange themselves to build the sentence.
Mad Libs. I’ve found these at many stores (like Target, Walmart, or Dollar Stores) on a variety of fun topics including popular movies or TV shows.
Using my digital Sentence Sliders ! They’re perfect for direct teaching and providing tons of leveled practice opportunities.

Sentence Formulation Skills in Context

To increase the effectiveness and engagement of your therapy, I’d recommend targeting sentence formulation in context. That means doing sentence formulation activities as part of a bigger theme or unit.

My favorite way to do contextualized therapy is using picture books! Below are some easy ways to target sentence formulation with a picture book:

Build sentences from given words to describe each picture scene from the story.
Give each learner a page/scene from the story to formulate a sentence about. Then, put it all together to retell the story from the beginning to the end.
Formulate sentences to answer questions about the story. For example, “Why did she travel to the planet?” is a great prompt to elicit a sentence using the word “because”.

Or, press the easy button and check out some of my contextualized, themed and story units below:

Sign up for my email newsletter and get a FREE Animal Sentence Sliders Deck!

Don’t Skip Over Sentences in Speech Therapy

Teaching Past Tense Verbs With Super Easy Digital Materials!

3 Sentence Types You Should Target in Speech Therapy

Learn more about similar skills:, foundational skills.

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Generalization

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Grammar: Main Parts of Speech

Definitions and examples.

The name of something, like a person, animal, place, thing, or concept. Nouns are typically used as subjects, objects, objects of prepositions, and modifiers of other nouns.

I = subject
the dissertation = object
in Chapter 4 = object of a preposition
research = modifier

This expresses what the person, animal, place, thing, or concept does. In English, verbs follow the noun.

It takes a good deal of dedication to complete a doctoral degree.
She studied hard for the test.
Writing a dissertation is difficult. (The "be" verb is also sometimes referred to as a copula or a linking verb. It links the subject, in this case "writing a dissertation," to the complement or the predicate of the sentence, in this case, "hard.")

This describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives typically come before a noun or after a stative verb, like the verb "to be."

Diligent describes the student and appears before the noun student .
Difficult is placed after the to be verb and describes what it is like to balance time.

Remember that adjectives in English have no plural form. The same form of the adjective is used for both singular and plural nouns.

A different idea
Some different ideas
INCORRECT: some differents ideas

This gives more information about the verb and about how the action was done. Adverbs tells how, where, when, why, etc. Depending on the context, the adverb can come before or after the verb or at the beginning or end of a sentence.

Enthusiastically describes how he completed the course and answers the how question.
Recently modifies the verb enroll and answers the when question.
Then describes and modifies the entire sentence. See this link on transitions for more examples of conjunctive adverbs (adverbs that join one idea to another to improve the cohesion of the writing).

This word substitutes for a noun or a noun phrase (e.g. it, she, he, they, that, those,…).

they = applicants
He = Smith; that = ideas; those = those ideas

This word makes the reference of the noun more specific (e.g. his, her, my, their, the, a, an, this, these, … ).

Jones published her book in 2015.
The book was very popular.

Preposition

This comes before a noun or a noun phrase and links it to other parts of the sentence. These are usually single words (e.g., on, at, by ,… ) but can be up to four words (e.g., as far as, in addition to, as a result of, …).

I chose to interview teachers in the district closest to me.
The recorder was placed next to the interviewee.
I stopped the recording in the middle of the interview due to a low battery.

Conjunction

A word that joins two clauses. These can be coordinating (an easy way to remember this is memorizing FANBOYS = for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) or subordinating (e.g., because, although, when, …).

The results were not significant, so the alternative hypothesis was accepted.
Although the results seem promising, more research must be conducted in this area.

Auxiliary Verbs

Helping verbs. They are used to build up complete verbs.

Primary auxiliary verbs (be, have, do) show the progressive, passive, perfect, and negative verb tenses .
Modal auxiliary verbs (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) show a variety of meanings. They represent ability, permission, necessity, and degree of certainty. These are always followed by the simple form of the verb.
Semimodal auxiliary verbs (e.g., be going to, ought to, have to, had better, used to, be able to,…). These are always followed by the simple form of the verb.
primary: have investigated = present perfect tense; has not been determined = passive, perfect, negative form
The modal could shows ability, and the verb conduct stays in its simple form; the modal may shows degree of certainty, and the verb lead stays in its simple form.
These semimodals are followed by the simple form of the verb.

Common Endings

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs often have unique word endings, called suffixes . Looking at the suffix can help to distinguish the word from other parts of speech and help identify the function of the word in the sentence. It is important to use the correct word form in written sentences so that readers can clearly follow the intended meaning.

Here are some common endings for the basic parts of speech. If ever in doubt, consult the dictionary for the correct word form.

Common Noun Endings

suffrage, image, postage

arrival, survival, deferral

: kingdom, freedom, boredom

: interviewee, employee, trainee

: experience, convenience, finance

teacher, singer, director

archery, cutlery, mystery

neighborhood, childhood, brotherhood

: economics, gymnastics, aquatics

reading, succeeding, believing

racism, constructivism, capitalism

community, probability, equality

: accomplishment, acknowledgement, environment

happiness, directness, business

: ministry, entry, robbery

: scholarship, companionship, leadership

: information, expression, complexion

structure, pressure, treasure

Common Verb Endings

congregate, agitate, eliminate

: straighten, enlighten, shorten

: satisfy, identify, specify

: categorize, materialize, energize

Common Adjective Endings

workable, believable, flexible

educational, institutional, exceptional

: confused, increased, disappointed

: wooden, golden, broken

: Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese

wonderful, successful, resourceful

: poetic, classic, Islamic

exciting, failing, comforting

childish, foolish, selfish

evaluative, collective, abrasive

: Canadian, Russian, Malaysian

priceless, useless, hopeless

friendly, daily, yearly

gorgeous, famous, courageous

funny, windy, happy

Common Adverb Endings

: quickly, easily, successfully

backward(s), upwards, downwards

clockwise, edgewise, price-wise

Placement and Position of Adjectives and Adverbs

Order of adjectives.

If more than one adjective is used in a sentence, they tend to occur in a certain order. In English, two or three adjectives modifying a noun tend to be the limit. However, when writing in APA, not many adjectives should be used (since APA is objective, scientific writing). If adjectives are used, the framework below can be used as guidance in adjective placement.

Determiner (e.g., this, that, these, those, my, mine, your, yours, him, his, hers they, their, some, our, several,…) or article (a, an, the)
Opinion, quality, or observation adjective (e.g., lovely, useful, cute, difficult, comfortable)
Physical description
(a) size (big, little, tall, short)
(b) shape (circular, irregular, triangular)
(c) age (old, new, young, adolescent)
(d) color (red, green, yellow)
Origin (e.g., English, Mexican, Japanese)
Material (e.g., cotton, metal, plastic)
Qualifier (noun used as an adjective to modify the noun that follows; i.e., campus activities, rocking chair, business suit)
Head noun that the adjectives are describing (e.g., activities, chair, suit)

For example:

This (1) lovely (2) new (3) wooden (4) Italian (5) rocking (6) chair (7) is in my office.
Your (1) beautiful (2) green (3) French (4) silk (5) business (6) suit (7) has a hole in it.

Commas With Multiple Adjectives

A comma is used between two adjectives only if the adjectives belong to the same category (for example, if there are two adjectives describing color or two adjectives describing material). To test this, ask these two questions:

Does the sentence make sense if the adjectives are written in reverse order?
Does the sentence make sense if the word “and” is written between them?

If the answer is yes to the above questions, the adjectives are separated with a comma. Also keep in mind a comma is never used before the noun that it modifies.

This useful big round old green English leather rocking chair is comfortable . (Note that there are no commas here because there is only one adjective from each category.)
A lovely large yellow, red, and green oil painting was hung on the wall. (Note the commas between yellow, red, and green since these are all in the same category of color.)

Position of Adverbs

Adverbs can appear in different positions in a sentence.

At the beginning of a sentence: Generally , teachers work more than 40 hours a week.
After the subject, before the verb: Teachers generally work more than 40 hours a week.
At the end of a sentence: Teachers work more than 40 hours a week, generally .
However, an adverb is not placed between a verb and a direct object. INCORRECT: Teachers work generally more than 40 hours a week.

More Detailed Rules for the Position of Adverbs

Adverbs that modify the whole sentence can move to different positions, such as certainly, recently, fortunately, actually, and obviously.
Recently , I started a new job.
I recently started a new job.
I started a new job recently .
Many adverbs of frequency modify the entire sentence and not just the verb, such as frequently, usually, always, sometimes, often , and seldom . These adverbs appear in the middle of the sentence, after the subject.
INCORRECT: Frequently she gets time to herself.
INCORRECT: She gets time to herself frequently .
She has frequently exercised during her lunch hour. (The adverb appears after the first auxiliary verb.)
She is frequently hanging out with old friends. (The adverb appears after the to be verb.)
Adverbial phrases work best at the end of a sentence.
He greeted us in a very friendly way .
I collected data for 2 months .

Main Parts of Speech Video Playlist

Note that these videos were created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

Mastering the Mechanics: Nouns (video transcript)
Mastering the Mechanics: Introduction to Verbs (video transcript)
Mastering the Mechanics: Articles (video transcript)
Mastering the Mechanics: Introduction to Pronouns (video transcript)
Mastering the Mechanics: Modifiers (video transcript)

Writing Tools: Dictionary and Thesaurus Refresher Video

Note that this video was created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

Writing Tools: Dictionary and Thesaurus Refresher (video transcript)

Related Resources

Knowledge Check: Main Parts of Speech

Didn't find what you need? Email us at [email protected] .

Previous Page: Grammar
Next Page: Sentence Structure and Types of Sentences
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COMMENTS

15 Powerful Speech Opening Lines (And How to Create Your Own)
Analyze their response and tweak the joke accordingly if necessary. Starting your speech with humour means your setting the tone of your speech. It would make sense to have a few more jokes sprinkled around the rest of the speech as well as the audience might be expecting the same from you. 4. Mohammed Qahtani.
60 Speech Therapy Sentences for Practice
The dog was so tired he fell asleep on the way to his doghouse. My mom drives a green jeep and my dad drives a black truck. Your sister is my best friend because she always shares her treats with me. My pet Roger is white and fluffy and he loves to eat carrots. Your neighbor is annoying because he cut down my trees.
50 Speech Closing Lines (& How to Create Your Own)
5. Melissa Butler. Speech Ending: When you go home today, see yourself in the mirror, see all of you, look at all your greatness that you embody, accept it, love it and finally, when you leave the house tomorrow, try to extend that same love and acceptance to someone who doesn't look like you. 6.
50 Speech Opening Lines (& How to Create Your Own) l The Ultimate Guide
Step 1: Think of all the questions that can help you to set the theme of your speech. Step 2: Make a point to not include close-ended questions and questions that are simply TOO GENERIC. Step 3: The last element that your question must include is the element of curiosity.
How to Start a Speech: The Best (and Worst) Speech Openers
Opening Lines of the Top 10 Greatest Speeches of All Time. #1: Socrates - "Apology". "How you, men of Athens, have been affected by my accusers. I do not know.". #2: Patrick Henry - "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death". "Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope.".
Powerful Sentence Structure for Your Speech
The difference in sentence structure between the first paragraph and the second and third paragraphs is stark. To get the full effect, read them aloud. This advice is not just useful for novelists; it is also important when it comes to writing a speech. You want to vary the sentences so that there is a dynamic flow to your words.
The 8 Parts of Speech
A part of speech (also called a word class) is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence.Understanding the different parts of speech can help you analyze how words function in a sentence and improve your writing. The parts of speech are classified differently in different grammars, but most traditional grammars list eight parts of speech in English: nouns, pronouns, verbs ...
15 Powerful Speech Ending Lines (And Tips to Create Your Own)
2) Simon Sinek. Speech ending line: "Listen to politicians now, with their comprehensive 12-point plans. They're not inspiring anybody. Because there are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us.
71 Speech Transitions: The Ultimate Guide (+341 Examples & 11 ...
Transition words are transition phrases that are single words. Transition words are snappier, shorter, and quicker than transition phrases. They heighten the pace and intensity of a sentence in a ...
How to write a speech for KS3 English students
The opening. Start with an opening that hooks your audience before making the overall topic of your speech clear. Get their attention and prepare them to focus on the words that will follow. For ...
Free Worksheets
Free Worksheets. I created these free speech and language worksheets so you can easily download and print them out to use as part of your speech therapy program. Just scroll down the page to view the worksheets by topic. You will find free speech therapy worksheets for articulation, vocabulary , grammar, holiday articulation and language games ...
Speech transitions: words and phrases to connect your ideas
This can be done using speech transitions because these act as signposts to the audience - signalling the relationship between points and ideas. This article explores how to use speech transitions in presentations. ... Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence - there are many different types, here are a few: Introduction.
What Are the 8 Parts of Speech? Examples and Usage
Knowing the different parts of speech is essential for good grammar. Become an expert at knowing when and what parts of speech to use with these examples. ... Learning the parts of speech is just the first step to building a proper sentence. But parts of speech are slightly different from parts of a sentence — and you need to know both in ...
Build a Sentence for Speech Therapy Syntax and Grammar
The multiple exemplars of each stem allow for repetition and lead to faster learning of a simple sentence structure. Cut and paste sentence worksheets keep little hands engaged and busy while learning how to put a basic sentence together. Written component is simple enough for early learners to work on beginning writing skills!
How to Write an Engaging Speech for GCSE English
When planning, remember to: Underline key words from the question and blurb. Underline the audience you will be delivering your speech to. Decide on your "voice" and point of view. Write a one-sentence statement that summarises your point of view. Note down the points you can develop to support your point of view.
How to Write a Good Speech: 10 Steps and Tips
Create an outline: Develop a clear outline that includes the introduction, main points, supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Share this outline with the speaker for their input and approval. Write in the speaker's voice: While crafting the speech, maintain the speaker's voice and style.
The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples
Every sentence you write or speak in English includes words that fall into some of the nine parts of speech. These include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections. (Some sources include only eight parts of speech and leave interjections in their own category.)
40 Examples of Direct and Indirect Speech Sentences
Direct And Indirect Speech Examples. While using English, we use direct and indirect speeches quite often. If a sentence is expressed exactly as it came out of the mouth of the person who said it, it becomes a direct speech. However Indirect Speech (also called reported speech) refers to transmitting a sentence that someone has said.
Speech Outline Examples
The outline for a public speech, according to COMM 101 online textbook The Public Speaking Project, p.p. 8-9. ... This type of outline is very detailed with all the main points and subpoints written in complete sentences. Your bibliography should be included with this outline.
Sentence Formulation
Teaching Sentence Formulation Skills in Speech Therapy. One example of how we can make sentence building clear, direct, and more visual is by providing scaffolded supports that show sentence structure when working on sentence formulation. You might provide a sentence frame or even visual boxes that show the function of each sentence part like ...
Academic Guides: Grammar: Main Parts of Speech
This comes before a noun or a noun phrase and links it to other parts of the sentence. These are usually single words (e.g., on, at, by ,…) but can be up to four words (e.g., as far as, in addition to, as a result of, …). I chose to interview teachers in the district closest to me. The recorder was placed next to the interviewee.