Chapter 9: Organizing Your Speech
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. How does organization affect a speech?
a. It empowers the speech.
b. It hinders the speech.
c. It muddies the speech.
d. It burdens the speech.
2. Creating a speech has been compared with
a. writing an essay.
b. playing a game.
c. taking a test.
d. playing football.
3. ______ generally contain short sentences, whereas ______ often contain complex
sentences.
a. Speeches; essays
b. Essays, speeches
c. Arguments; speeches
d. Speeches; arguments
4. We begin by introducing the topic, offering a preview of what’s to come. This done,
we go on to discuss the topic, developing it fully. Then, we wrap up with a concluding
statement that summarizes the main points and ties the presentation together. This
formula is called:
a. the principle of redundancy
b. the principle of speaking
c. the principle of writing
d. the essay writing principle
5. A speech has a ______ organization if its main points develop and relate directly to
the thesis or topic sentence that comes early in the presentation.
a. circular
b. straightforward
c. linear
d. simple
6. Which of the following is NOT a traditional or linear approach to ordering material?
a. Chronological order
b. Spatial order
c. Cause-and-effect order
d. Configural order
7. When you use ______ organization for your speech, you explain to your audience
members the order in which events happened.
a. chronological
b. cause and effect
c. spatial
d. topical
8. Chronological ordering can be especially useful in ______ speaking.
a. informative
b. persuasive
c. academic
d. business
9. When you use ______ organization for your speech, you follow various aspects of
your topic from top to bottom, left to right, front to back, or north to south.
a. chronological
b. cause and effect
c. spatial
d. topical
10. For a speech were you discuss major cities’ proximity to one another, you would
likely use
a. chronological organization.
b. cause and effect organization.
c. spatial organization.
d. topical organization.
11. Which of the following speeches would likely be organized spatially?
a. A speech on railroad development from east to west
b. A speech on the largest hurricanes each year
c. A speech on the reasons for cancers in the United States
d. A speech on the health problems related to tobacco
12. Like chronological order, ______ order is used most frequently in informative
speeches.
a. configural organization
b. cause and effect organization
c. spatial organization
d. topical organization
13. When you use ______ organization for your speech, you specify the reasons and
the consequences of specific phenomena.
a. chronological
b. cause and effect
c. spatial
d. topical
14. A speech in which you began by discussing the percentage of drivers during a
particular period of time who were drunk when involved in car accidents and then
discussed number of deaths each year attributed directly to driving under the influence
of alcohol, would be using which organizational pattern?
a. Topical
b. Cause-and-effect
c. Chronological
d. Spatial
15. Cause-and-effect speeches lend themselves well to
a. informative and persuasive speeches.
b. informative speeches and speeches on topics related to location.
c. speeches on topics related to location and time.
d. persuasive speeches and speeches on topics related to time.
16. When you use ______ organization for your speech, you reveal an issue that needs
a resolution and then you find the best way to address is.
a. chronological
b. cause and effect
c. spatial
d. problem-solution
17. A speaker who organized his or her speech by discussing health issues related to
traditional 5-day school weeks before presenting the notion of a 4-day school week
would be using a(n) ______ organizational pattern.
a. problem solving
b. problem-solution
c. issue solving
d. issue-solution
18. In a ______ organizational pattern, the emphasis is on how a problem can be
resolved.
a. problem-solution
b. topical
c. spatial
d. chronological
19. Which of the following would NOT be appropriate topics for a problem-solution
organizational pattern?
a. Income equality in the U.S. and a law aimed at changing it
b. How to limit carjacking in mall parking lots
c. The reasons for chemical dependency
d. The health concerns that can be improved by running
20. When you use ______ organization for your speech, you may arrange your material
into a series of appropriate topics.
a. chronological
b. cause and effect
c. spatial
d. topical
21. A speech examining the pros and cons of online anonymity would likely be using
which linear organization?
a. chronological
b. cause and effect
c. spatial
d. topical
22. ______ is a device that is use to trigger memory.
a. Analogy
b. Mnemonic
c. Mental reminder
d. Cue
23. Jane used the word BRIEF as follows to organize the body of the presentation, as
follows: Brainstorm ideas, Research ideas, Interpret ideas, Energize ideas, Finalize
ideas. What type of organization pattern did Jane use?
a. Chronological
b. Cause and effect
c. Spatial
d. Topical
24. Speakers who use ______ patterns devise a series of “stepping stones” that circle
their topic instead of hitting it head on.
a. configural
b. linear
c. topical
d. chronological
25. In the ______ pattern, the main points of a speech gradually build up to the
speaker’s thesis, which the speaker does not reveal until the speech is nearly over.
a. web
b. deferred-thesis
c. linear
d. narrative
26. In the ______ pattern, threads of thought refer back to the speaker’s central
purpose.
a. web
b. deferred-thesis
c. linear
d. narrative
27. In the ______ pattern, the speaker tells a story or series of stories without stating a
thesis or developing it with main points.
a. web
b. deferred-thesis
c. linear
d. narrative
28. When speaking to an audience composed of people from diverse cultures, speakers
may consider adjusting their ______ preferences
a. topical
b. organizational
c. speech
d. stylistic
Short Answer
29. The principle of ______ refers to the notion that the use of repetition reduces the
uncertainty of receivers.
30. Linear organizational patterns are generally preferred by ______-context cultures.
31. Time order is also referred to as ______ order.
32. ______ order requires you to categorize your materials into those related to the
causes of a problem, and those related to its effect.
33. Arranging your material into a series of appropriate topics is referred to as ______
order.
34. Web, deferred-thesis, and narrative patterns are all ______ forms of organization.
35. ______ formats are less explicit than linear formats in offering hard evidence in
defense of a position.
True/False
36. Organization and content are equal partners in speech development.
37. Even though people think the audience learns more from an organized speech,
research does not support this.
38. Creating a speech is just like writing an essay.
39. In a cause-and-effect speech, you can’t discuss the effect first.
40. Problem-solution order is most frequently employed in informative presentations.
41. Configural formats are more explicit in offering hard evidence and proof in defense
of a position and less listener-responsible in organization.
42. Instead of previewing and discussing main points one a time, configural thinkers
approach their subject from a variety of perspectives.
Essay
43. How do an essay and speech differ in terms of organization?
44. Discuss and exemplify why redundancy is useful in a speech.
45. Discuss why low-context cultures (like the U.S.) prefer linear organizational formats.
Ans: Area to explain: Members low-context cultures prefer to make their points directly
46. Explain how a problem-solution format could have either two or three main points.
Ans: A problem-solution speech with two main points would over the problem and
47. What does “geography of thought” refer to?