1. Style and Tone of Speeches
Speeches by John F. Kennedy

2. 1. Allusion
An allusion is a reference in a speech to a familiar person, place, or thing.

3. Allusion (Example) Appeal to the Democratic Principle
One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. (Radio and Television Address, 1963)

4. 2. Analogy
An analogy is a comparison of an unfamiliar idea to a simple, familiar one. The comparison is usually quite lengthy, suggesting several points of similarity. An analogy is especially useful when attempting to explain a difficult or complex idea.

5. Analogy (Example)
Appeal to Common Sense In our opinion the German people wish to have one united country. If the Soviet Union had lost the war, the Soviet people themselves would object to a line being drawn through Moscow and the entire country defeated in war. We wouldn’t like to have a line drawn down the Mississippi River… (Interview, 11/25/61)

6. 3. Anecdote
An anecdote is a short story told to illustrate a point.

7. Anecdote (Example)
Frank O’Connor, the Irish writer, tells in one of his books how as a boy, he and his friends would make their way across the countryside and when they came to an orchard wall that seemed too high and too doubtful to try and too difficult to permit their voyage to continue, they took off their hats and tossed them over the wall- and then they had no choice but to follow them. This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow it. Whatever the difficulties they will be overcome. (San Antonio Address, 11/21/63)

8. 4. Antithesis
Antithesis balances or contrasts one word or idea against another, usually in the same sentence.

9. Antithesis (Example)
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. (Inaugural Address, 1961)
Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. (Address to the U.N., 1961)

10. 5. Irony
Irony is using a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal meaning, or to show a result that is the opposite of what would be expected or appropriate; an odd coincidence.

11. Irony (Example) Appeal to Common Sense
They see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing.

12. 6. Negative Definition
Negative definition describes something by telling what it is not rather than, or in addition to, what it is.

13. Negative Definition (Example)
… members of this organization are committed by the charter to promote and respect human rights. Those rights are not respected when a Buddhist priest is driven from his pagoda, when a synagogue is shut down, when a Protestant church cannot open a mission, when a cardinal is forced into hiding, or when a crowded church service is bombed. (U.N., 9/20/63)

14. 7. Parallel Structure
The repeating of phrases or sentences that are similar (parallel) in meaning and structure; repetition is the repeating of the same word or phrase to create a sense of rhythm and emphasis.

15. Parallel Structure (Example)
Appeal For Commitment
Let every nation know, whether it wish us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. (Inaugural Address, 1961)

16. 8. Quotations
Quotations, especially of well-known individuals, can be effective in nearly any speech.

17. Quotations (Example) Appeal for Emulation or Affiliation
At the inauguration, Robert Frost read a poem which began “the land was ours before we were the land’s”- meaning, in part, that this new land of ours sustained us before we were a nation. And although we are now the land’s- a nation of people matched to a continent- we still draw our strength and sustenance… from the earth. (Dedication Speech, 1961)

18. 9. Rhetorical Question
A question that is asked to emphasize a point, not to get an answer.

19. Rhetorical Question (Example)
Appeal to Common Sense, Democratic Principle
And is not peace basically a matter of human rights- the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation- the right to breathe air as nature provided it- the right of future generations to a healthy existence? (Commencement Address, 1963)