The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein;Dale Carnagey
page 23 of 640 (03%)
page 23 of 640 (03%)
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You might as well say _MASS-A-CHU-SETTS_, emphasizing every syllable equally, as to lay equal stress on each word in the foregoing sentences. Speak it aloud and see. Of course you will want to emphasize _destiny_, for it is the principal idea in your declaration, and you will put some emphasis on _not_, else your hearers may think you are affirming that destiny _is_ a matter of chance. By all means you must emphasize _chance_, for it is one of the two big ideas in the statement. Another reason why _chance_ takes emphasis is that it is contrasted with _choice_ in the next sentence. Obviously, the author has contrasted these ideas purposely, so that they might be more emphatic, and here we see that contrast is one of the very first devices to gain emphasis. As a public speaker you can assist this emphasis of contrast with your voice. If you say, "My horse is not _black_," what color immediately comes into mind? White, naturally, for that is the opposite of black. If you wish to bring out the thought that destiny is a matter of choice, you can do so more effectively by first saying that "_DESTINY_ is _NOT_ a matter of _CHANCE_." Is not the color of the horse impressed upon us more emphatically when you say, "My horse is _NOT BLACK_. He is _WHITE_" than it would be by hearing you assert merely that your horse is white? In the second sentence of the statement there is only one important word--_choice_. It is the one word that positively defines the quality of the subject being discussed, and the author of those lines desired to bring it out emphatically, as he has shown by contrasting it with another idea. These lines, then, would read like this: |
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