Question

2 - choosing the main points

learning objective: explain the importance of carefully selecting main points for your speech, including how your choices impact your audience.

you should assume that your audience already has an opinion about your topic when you are writing a(n) ________ speech.

a.) visionary
b.) persuasive
c.) debate
d.) argumentative

Explanation:

Analyze the requirements of different speech types

A persuasive speech aims to convince the audience to adopt a specific point of view or take action, which inherently requires analyzing and addressing the audience's pre-existing opinions, biases, and beliefs on the topic.

Evaluate the given options

• a.) visionary: Focuses on inspiring a future outlook, not necessarily starting from a pre-existing audience opinion.
• b.) persuasive: Directly relies on the assumption that the audience has an existing opinion (neutral, opposing, or supportive) that the speaker intends to influence.
• c.) debate: A debate is a formal contest or format, not a single speech type matching the blank's grammatical structure "a(n) ________ speech".
• d.) argumentative: While similar, "persuasive speech" is the standard academic classification for speeches designed to shift audience attitudes or opinions.

Answer:

• a.) visionary
• b.) persuasive (Correct answer)
• c.) debate
• d.) argumentative