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SPEAKING VERSUS WRITING
| SPEECH |
WRITING |
| The worst part about it was I had
a friend Sitting up here and she’s saying “ha ha”… And I was saying
“Go get the police… go Get someone”…I later learned that there are
Some people who do that in the face of disaster…I mean they just start
cracking up as opposed to crying. |
My helpful friend, perhaps not realizing that
I was serious, began laughing. Sue roared all the harder as my situation
became more difficult. She claimed I looked funny, clinging there
screaming. I realized that she was laughing Because she was incapable
of acting: the situation must have been greatly disturbing to her,
and so she treated it as if it were another situation. |
DIFFERENCES
| There are many differences
between the processes of speaking and writing. Writing is not simply
speech written down on paper. Learning to write is not a natural extension
of learning to speak. Unlike speech, writing requires systematic instruction
and practice. Here are some of the differences between speaking and
writing that may clarify things for you and help you in your efforts
as a writer and speaker. |
| SPEECH |
WRITING |
| Universal, everybody acquires it
|
Not everyone learns to read and write |
| Spoken language has dialect
variations that represent a region |
Written language is more restricted and generally
follows a standardised form of grammar, structure, organization, and
vocabulary |
| Speakers use their voices (pitch,
rhythm, stress) and their bodies to communicate their message |
Writers rely on the words on the page to express
meaning and their ideas |
| Speakers use pauses and intonation
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Writers use punctuation |
| Speakers pronounce |
Writers spell
|
| Speaking is often spontaneous and
unplanned. |
Most writing is planned and can be changed through
editing and revision before an audience reads it |
| Speakers have immediate audiences
who nod, interrupt, question and comment |
Writers have a delayed response from audiences
or none at all and have only one opportunity to convey their message,
be interesting, informative, accurate and hold their reader’s attention
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| Speech is usually informal and repetitive
|
Writing on the other hand is more formal and
compact. It progresses more logically With fewer explanations and
digressions. |
| Speakers use simpler sentences connected
by lots of ands and buts. |
Writers use more complex sentences With connecting
words like however, Who, although, and in addition. |
| Speakers draw on their listeners
reactions to know how or whether to continue |
Writers are often solitary in their process |
| Speakers can gauge the attitudes,
beliefs, and feelings of their audience by their verbal and non-verbal
reactions |
Writers must consider what and how much their
audience needs to know about a given topic |
Consider the fact that................
Virtually nobody speaks Standard Written English. This is the dialect
of English that is appropriate for professional, business, and academic
writing. For example, no one always speaks in complete sentences or pronounces
the final letter of every word. However, many people learn to translate
their spoken dialect into Standard Written English when they write.
Both spoken and written dialects are linked to the social background,
age, race, and gender of the writer, speaker and audience. Depending upon
whom we are addressing, and what we are discussing, we can switch between
formal and informal ways of communicating.
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