ABSTRACT
ASSIGNMENT Present a manuscript speech of one of the types of speeches discussed in Part One of this book.
COMMENTARY Although there are no hard statistics to prove it, it is safe to assume that most of the speeches given in the United States on any given day, whether in business, civic, religious, or educational settings, are delivered extemporaneously. In other words, the speeches are prepared and then given conversationally from notes. Manuscript speeches, those written out and then delivered word for word from the written text, are less common, but are often given in the most important speaking situations. Inexperienced speakers sometimes mistakenly believe that manuscript speeches are easier to give than extemporaneous speeches. This is true in a way. Almost anyone can stand in front of an audience and read words off a piece of paper. The communication that results, however, is hardly a speech. It is more like words read off a piece of paper. As Dartmouth University speech professor James Winans colorfully put it, “A speech is not merely an essay standing on its hind legs.”
