When gathering information in an interview, it is important to have a specific set of
questions and to stick closely to them so as not to waste the interviewee’s time.
Silence can have a strong communicative effect in a speech.
Although there are many benefits to using visual aids, they can be a powerful
distraction.
The final step in selecting a good topic is to conduct a personal inventory.
Visual aids have more potential drawbacks than potential advantages.
Because it is easy to make computer-generated visual aids, many speakers overuse them
and show them constantly throughout the speech.
The rhetorical situation is a situation created by someone’s speech.
Conducting a personal inventory is a good method for selecting a topic. It involves
looking through all your old notes to determine which topics you have the most
information about.
The preparation outline is more formal than the presentation outline.
Visual aids should be colorful because color is more vivid and attention-grabbing than
black and white.
Because movement has a powerful effect on listeners’ impressions, speakers should
move around continuously throughout the speech.
Informative speeches do not tell an audience what to do but they may help listeners
form criteria for making a decision.
Vocal cues are used by listeners to judge a speaker’s ethos.
A speaker’s clothing has an impact on listeners’ impressions and on their judgments of
the speaker’s ethos.
The universal audience is the group of listeners who share the characteristics of people
in general, such as self-interest, common sense, and enthusiasm for a good story.
When giving a critique of a classmate’s speech, it is important to evaluate every aspect
of the speech thoroughly.
The budget deficit has doubled in the last 4 years is a statement of fact.
The presentation outline is simple and brief, using keywords to prompt the speaker.
The audience is the factor that determines how the speaker will support his or her
claims.
For a transition to be complete, every element should be made apparent.
An emotional appeal is something that you add on to the content of your speech after it
is fully developed.
Hearing is a sensory process, and listening is a mental operation.
Pausing at appropriate places is a natural conversational skill, most people need no
practice to pause effectively.
Accomplished speakers always remember to include effective transitions in a speech.
Speakers exhibit decorum when they fit their speech to the expectations of the listeners
on a particular occasion.
Proper decorum governs even the choice of supporting material in a speech.
The least important ideas in the outline are signified by lowercase letters.
When the traffic noise coming through the open window caused Lane to strain to hear
the speaker, the traffic noise was causing a listener distraction.
The term “persuasion” refers only to situations in which a speaker reverses an
audience’s beliefs.
For beginning speakers, the presentation outline is more important than the preparation
outline.
A speaker using an anecdote in the introduction of the speech is drawing listeners’
attention to similarities and differences between objects, events, or situations.
The __________ outline is a thorough outline of your main ideas, stated in complete
sentences, and the supporting material you plan to cover to support each main idea.
Which of the following lists shows the proper progression within an outline from most
important to least important?
a. Arabic numerals, Roman numerals, capital letters, lowercase letters
b. Roman numerals, Arabic numerals, capital letters, lowercase letters
c. Roman numerals, capital letters, Arabic numerals, lowercase letters
d. capital letters, Roman numerals, Arabic numerals, lowercase letters
When a speaker supports a point by offering facts gathered by someone else, the
speaker is using what type of supporting material?
a. factual testimony
b. opinion testimony
c. survey
d. case study
During her speech about alcohol use on campus, Leila formally defined every term for
her audience, including “chug,” “kegger,” and “chaser.” Her audience was turned off by
the belief that she was talking down to them and failing to acknowledge their prior
knowledge. Leila’s mistake was in showing what to her listeners?
a. stereotyping
b. allusions
c. condescension
d. prejudice
Which of the following goals relies heavily on both informative and persuasive
strategies, as well as entertaining strategies?
a. providing new perspective
b. creating a positive or negative feeling
c. creating a utopian vision
d. agenda setting
Two important goals for any speech are __________.
a. a clear message and positive ethos
b. logical logos and positive pathos
c. knowledge of theory and effective practice
d. effective preparation and low anxiety
When a speech is well suited to the expectations of a particular occasion, it has the
quality of __________.
a. decorum
b. positive ethos
c. identification
d. resonance
Common knowledge is a type of supporting material that relies on __________.
a. the speaker’s own experiences and observations
b. information and experiences of individuals other than the speaker
c. support found in documents that the listeners all deem to be trustworthy
d. values and beliefs that listeners in generally share
When Jerry argued that the rise in teen pregnancy over the past twenty years is a direct
result of sex education in the primary schools, he was using what type of causal
reasoning?
a. assignment of responsibility
b. explanation
c. common cause
d. steps to a goal
A local accountant has been asked by the College Republicans to speak to the group’s
members about tax reform. Which element of audience culture can he most count on to
help him analyze the audience?
a. their reference group
b. their beliefs
c. their roles
d. their cultural diversity
The purpose of a speech is your goal for the speech, or the __________.
a. main idea of the speech
b. basic point the audience should remember
c. response desired from the audience
d. information the audience should take away from the speech
A speaker should write out the content of supporting materials on a separate note card
when __________.
a. the supporting material is not simple enough to remember
b. the speaker forgot to include the support in the preparation outline
c. there is a podium available to hold the extra note cards
d. there are extra cards after preparing the main and supporting points
When a critical thinker assesses a speaker’s main points and asks, “What have you got
to go on?,” he or she is exercising which characteristic of critical thought?
a. reluctance to accept assertions on faith
b. desire to uncover assumptions
c. openness to new ideas
d. comparison of new ideas to what is already known
Which of the following sources of printed supporting material provide a convenient
collection of facts and information but not in narrative form?
a. books
b. periodicals
c. reference works
d. fugitive materials
Which of the following questions is least relevant when preparing a demonstration?
a. Can the subject be demonstrated in the time available?
b. Does the subject need to be seen to be understood?
c. Are my actions coordinated with my verbal instructions?
d. Can my audience learn this procedure by any other method?
During strategic planning, you will engage in __________.
a. identifying the purpose, constraints, opportunities, and means
b. identifying the topic, means, specific purpose, and organizational pattern
c. identifying the rhetorical situation, the occasion, and the speaker
d. identifying the thesis, purpose, constraints, and opportunities
Which of the following statements is true about style?
a. Each speaker has a style that is determined by the speaker; it is speaker dependent.
b. A speaker’s style is predetermined early in life and cannot be changed.
c. Style is unique; it sets each speaker apart from all others.
d. Style is determined by the audience; it is audience dependent.
Which element in a presentation outline is represented by the notation, “Show visual aid
#2 now”?
a. transition
b. preview
c. supporting material
d. stage direction
Which of the following language strategies best provides “efficient use of words”?
a. active voice
b. personification
c. parallel wording
d. word economy
James spoke at a ground-breaking ceremony. No one in the audience had mentioned
being proud, but James spoke about the pride the new building would bring to the
community. This message rang true to the audience. This is an example of __________.
a. decorum
b. reinforcement
c. resonance
d. consonance
James opened his speech by saying, “Today I, uh, want to, umm, talk about, like, how,
y”know, how violent our schools have, like become and how, uh, dangerous it is,
y”know, at our high schools right now.” James is having trouble with __________.
a. enunciation
b. articulation
c. pronunciation
d. vocalized pauses
Which of the following should you ask yourself in a personal inventory?
a. What are my unusual interests?
b. What are my audience members’ dislikes/likes?
c. How am I different from my audience?
d. Which of my experiences are generalizable?
Which of the following is an example of reasoning by sign?
a. Gathering clouds and increased winds indicate that a storm is approaching.
b. A Surgeon General’s warning indicates that smoking is harmful to your health.
c. Three straight playoff losses indicate that a team is unsuccessful in the postseason.
d. Inspiring stories of Michael Jordan, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot indicate that even a
person with a modest upbringing can be successful in America.
When your audience analysis focuses on the perceptual processes of the audience,
including listeners’ tendencies toward selective exposure and selective attention, you are
assessing audience __________.
a. culture
b. demographics
c. feedback
d. psychology
Which element of the body in delivery not only helps communicate effectively to the
audience but also provides feedback to the speaker regarding the audience’s response to
the speech?
a. movement
b. facial expression
c. eye contact
d. clothes and grooming
During his speech, Karl claimed that the elderly are bad drivers. He supported this
claim by pointing out that his 75-year-old grandfather has had three accidents this year,
an old lady was driving 10 mph under the speed limit the other day, and a 68-year-old
woman ran into a building at the mall after having a stroke. Karl is using reasoning by
__________.
a. example
b. sign
c. analogy
d. narrative
Identification is important to persuasion because __________.
a. audiences respond more favorably to a speaker they know and with whom they can
identify
b. audiences are more likely to be persuaded when they can identify the speaker’s
reasoning
c. when audiences can identify the structure of the speech, they tend to agree with the
speaker’s conclusions
d. audiences respond more favorably when they identify with the speaker based on
some common bonds
Reluctant testimony is the opposite of __________.
a. biased evidence
b. opinion testimony
c. subjective evidence
d. peer testimony
Which element of the conclusion cues listeners that the conclusion is beginning?
a. signaling the end
b. summarizing the main ideas
c. making a personal reference
d. making a final appeal
Which of the following is a potential drawback of using objects as visual aids?
a. The object may be too small, too big, or too difficult to handle.
b. The object may not work properly.
c. The object may be difficult to obtain.
d. The speaker may look at the object rather than the audience.
The two types of outlines are __________.
a. rhetorical and situational
b. informative and persuasive
c. formal and informal
d. presentation and preparation
Why are clarity, rhythm, and vividness important in a speech? Briefly identify a topic
and thesis and provide an example of how clarity, rhythm, and vividness might be used
a speech.
__________ is an informative strategy aimed at clarifying a term or concept that is
vague or troublesome.
Planning your persuasive strategy starts with determining, as precisely as possible, your
__________ audience.
When stuck for a topic idea, a speaker can use __________, a mental exercise in which
one creates an uncensored list of all the things that come to mind about a given term or
category.
Skillful __________ of a speech involves the effective use of voice, gesture, facial
expression, physical movement, and visual aids.
The effective speaker using the describing strategy gives __________ about a person,
place, or event.
One of the most important stylistic resources is __________, the process by which you
establish the meaning of a new word for your audience.
What are the advantages of using computer-generated visual aids? What are the
drawbacks?
Critical listening begins with mapping and is aided by note taking, but it adds the step
of __________ before judgment.
Typically, speakers dress a bit more __________ than audience members do.
A pithy phrase or memorable quote that captures the essence of a speech is today called
a __________.
Most successful speakers use the __________ mode of delivery, planning and
organizing their ideas but not preparing the speech word for word.
What are the four modes of presentation, and what are the advantages and
disadvantages of each?
Listeners may selectively perceive a persuasive message by __________, which means
refusing to accept a message no matter how well it is supported or defended.
Wilson tried to improve his listeners’ attitudes toward phone solicitations by discussing
his job with a telemarketing firm. By doing so, he was using __________ as supporting
material.
What are the five guidelines for taking notes and filing the information you gather
while researching your speech? How do they differ, and what does each accomplish?
Discuss the likelihood of technical problems happening when using visual aids and the
best way to respond to them. Identify the relationship of technical difficulties to the
overall quality of the speech or what conditions make the difficulties more important.
It is unusual for a speaker to conduct a formal audience analysis. What informal
audience analysis methods are available, and what can a speaker learn from them? What
would an informal analysis include that a formal analysis would not? What would a
formal analysis include that an informal one would not?