ABSTRACT
VERBAL persuasion may be either written or spoken. While the purpose of each of those kinds is the same, they differ to some extent in their constituent elements. In written persuasion the intellectual element is sometimes more predominant, and there is less scope for the operation of the non-rational elements. In spoken persuasion, on the other hand, the speaker may influence his hearers unconsciously, and more intimately and subtly, by his personality, and he has at his command the resources of gesture and bodily action, which are not available in written persuasion. Speech, enabling us to bring more fully into play all the elements of persuasion, may be considered to be its most characteristic and appropriate medium.
