Chapter Exercises

Speaking Ethically

Virginia is asked to roast one of her bosses at the annual company meeting. Virginia collects a range of stories from people about her boss and a few of them are definitely quite embarrassing. She finds out about her boss’s ex-husband and some of the marital difficulties they had that are quite funny. She also finds out that when her boss broke her leg, it actually happened while sliding down a slide and not on a ski trip as she had told her office. As Virginia prepares her speech, she starts questioning what information she should use and what information is going too far.

  1. How should a roaster ethically go about collecting funny stories for his or her roast?
  2. What type of information would be ethical for a roaster to use? What type of information would be unethical for a roaster to use?
  3. At what point does a roast go from being good-natured to being mean-spirited?

End-of-Chapter Assessment

  1. Which type of speech is designed to captivate an audience’s attention and regale or amuse them while delivering a clear message?
    1. informative
    2. actuation
    3. persuasive
    4. indoctrination
    5. entertaining
  2. “Darla has been a great asset to our community. She has worked on numerous projects including the housing beautification project, the community advancement project, and the community action league. As such, it is with great honor that I present Darla with the Citizen of the Year award.” This is an example of what type of speech?
    1. presentation
    2. introduction
    3. acceptance
    4. goodwill
    5. dedication
  3. Sarah, a representative to a state legislature, has been forced to explain her reasoning behind voting for a new law. While she realizes the law isn’t perfect, she really believes that the benefits of the law truly outweigh the problems. Sarah is going to deliver what type of goodwill speech?
    1. speech of public relations
    2. speech of justification
    3. speech of apology
    4. speech of trusting
    5. speech of competence
  4. “That guy was an inept expert” is an example of which type of humorous language?
    1. pleonasm
    2. malapropism
    3. oxymoron
    4. eulogy
    5. simile
  5. When presidents finish their presidency, they are often hired by a speakers bureau to speak for various groups. What type of motivational speeches would ex-presidents most likely give?
    1. hero
    2. survivor
    3. religious
    4. success
    5. inspirational

Answer Key

  1. e
  2. a
  3. b
  4. c
  5. a