Category: Blog
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This rhetorical commentary of Cersei Lannister’s speech is written purely as an exercise for identifying uses of classical rhetoric in modern popular culture. Rhetoric is used in discourse all the time; it is used in speeches, movies, books, articles and even TV shows about dragons! If you haven’t watched Game of Thrones, it will still…
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”If for I want that glib and oily art, To speak and purpose not…” This is a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear. It refers of course to rhetoric – that dangerous dark art of manipulating words to speak and purpose not! Rhetoric is still today seen as a dirty word that is often used to…
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Some people are saying that President Donald Trump’s speech in Poland last week was actually quite good. Even Donald Trump himself sent out a photo (of himself) with an excerpt from the speech reading: “I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our…
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In yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Jeremy Corbyn said ‘I hope that the Prime Minister is proud of her record…’ Most native English speakers would know that this isn’t what he meant. In fact, Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t care whether or not Theresa May feels pride in her record. However, he is pointing out that she shouldn’t be…
Cambridge Speechwriter 