Written Analysis of the Effectiveness of a Speech

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In 1987, Neil Kinnock gave his very famous speech, which was concerned with the issues of unemployment, with people troubling to find a job, or who cannot go to college or academia, in order to increase their skills. And this public speaking makes me feel sorry for those people, but at the same time I am ready to help and willing to do something. To analyse why his speech is so effective I must to look at the context, structure, language and technique that Mr. Kinnock used. The speech has a very strong beginning. It starts with a rhetorical question: “Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university?” I think it is helping the speaker to keep audience awake and excited. Because I assume, most of us did not contemplate about education of our predecessors before this speech. So by using a rhetorical question in the first part of the speech, Neil Kinnock immediately catches our attention. But, in my opinion, this introduction is too striking for the listener, by the reason that usually in beginning of a speech a clear statement is often used, which represents the main idea of the speaking. But I think that the unique technique, which the politician applies throughout the whole speech, is rhetorical questions: “Was it because all our predecessors were ‘thick’?”, “Were those people not university material?”, “How can they have strength if they do not have care?” and etc. (there are thirteen rhetorical questions in this speech). So, in my opinion, using rhetorical questions in the introduction creates Mr. Kinnock’s own style of speaking. In the next part Neil Kinnock expresses his point if view about talents and opportunities of our great-grandparents. The politician says that our ancestors were not ‘weak’, they had abilities to have an education. And the speaker’s arguments are memorable, because of language he uses to describe the

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