grammarian Archives - London Victorians Toastmasters Club

I have been researching linguistic devices for my grammarian role at tonight’s Toastmaster meeting.

Tonight I will particularly be looking out for the following linguistic techniques.

Alliteration

An alliteration is the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of each word, or many words, in a sentence.

Imperatives

Imperatives are instructions or orders. Used sparingly these can have serious effect on the listener. E.g. “You must listen carefully to what I’m about to say”.

Hyperbole

A hyperbole is the deliberate over-exaggeration of something for effect. This could be for humorous reasons or to make something more memorable through dramatic effect.

Litotes

A litotes is the opposite of hyperbole. The downplaying of the importance of something for effect.

Parallelism / Patterning

Parallelism or patterning is the use of patterns through repetition or the balancing of meanings.

Allusion

An allusion is a figure of speech that lets the listener paint the picture for themselves.

Cacophony

The use of words and phrases that imply strong, harsh sounds within the phrase. These words have jarring and dissonant sounds that create a disturbing, objectionable atmosphere.

Juxtaposition

Placing a person, concept, place, idea or theme parallel to another so they can be compared or to highlight the contrasts.

There are many more linguistic devices, many with names that I find close to impossible to pronounce. See my sources below to explore further and impress the grammarian at your next Toastmaster meeting.

If you have any good examples of the above then please comment over on Facebook or below. I will update this post with any of the good suggestions.

Sources:

www.literary-devices.com
www.slideshare.net/BCALevels/alevel-english-glossary

The fervent Joyce took on the role of Toastmaster for the meeting, Florian as grammarian, encouraging speakers to use the word ‘constellate’. Nadia as Sergeant at Arms, Kirsten as Harkmaster and finally Rob as timekeeper.

There were three prepared speeches during the meeting, first on stage was Eleanor whose well-researched speech educated the audience on the advantages of Credit Unions.

Second to the stage was Nuala who delivered a speech involving an introspection on building your sense of identity, recalling the building blocks that create one’s self of self.

Finally was AK’s speech recounting the life of James Chen who took on the seemingly impossible challenge of transforming the literacy levels in China at a time when only 2% of the population could read or write. AK used Chen’s extraordinary achievement as an example of how goal setting can help your dreams become a reality.

Yvonne provided topics for speaking volunteers to tackle during the improvised speaking portion of the meeting, we had five guests taking the opportunity to deliver an impromtu speech on stage.

During his role, grammarian Florian managed to count the amount of times each speaker used the filler words “amm” or “uh”. A greatly beneficial report to help speakers realize bad habits they may not otherwise be aware of.

Florian delivering his Grammarian report

Join us on Tuesday 5th April for another meeting packed full of speeches, evaluations, grammarian feedback and table topics!