A Handbook of Public Speaking

vaguely about and say, " Why ? er ? to tell about so-and-so " ? mentioning his subject, not his purpose. Rare indeed is the genius who answers unhesitatingly, " To convince the class that such-and-such a measure would be wise," or, " To entertain my audience with an account of some personal adventures." Yet it ought to be obvious that in public speaking as in other things a clear fixed purpose is essential if one is to stand a reasonable chance of accomplishing it. Absence of a clear purpose is a habit with twentieth century Americans. Rapidity and complexity of life lead naturally to confusion, haste, superficiality and muddle-headedness; and with these goes vagueness of purpose. If the student speaker is to overcome the habit in his own case he must first learn by analysis what the possible purposes of a speaker are, and then so govern himself that he never speaks except with one of those purposes definitely and dominantly in mind. Remembering that purpose in a speaker is to be considered in terms of what he is trying to do to the audience, we may fairly say that the possible purposes are: .- 1. To inform ;2. To enlighten 3. To convince 4. To impress 5. To excite 6. To actuate 7. To entertain Note that each of these is presented in the form of a transitive verb to which the words " the audience " may be added as direct object. The classification is arbitrary, of course. Other writers divide differently, or use different terms;s...