"This kind of fear belongs to every kind of speaking, but is most intense on those great occasions, in presence of large audiences, when men's passions run high. In mere instructive address, where the ground has been repeatedly gone over and where the effort is mainly of an intellectual character, it is less noticeable. It resembles the awe felt on the eve of all great enterprises, and when excessive, as it is in some highly gifted minds, it constitutes an absolute bar to public speech. But in most cases it is a source of inspiration rather than of repression." ("Extempore Speech," Pittenger, pp. 188-9.)
The lesson in the above passage is that the young speaker should not be discouraged because he experiences this fear—"man-fearing spirit," it is sometimes called—at the beginning of a discourse. The more frightened he is the more hope is there that, ultimately, he will succeed; for his very fright, or dread, is a sure token that he has the necessary nervous temperament, the sensitiveness, essential to his success in this most wonderful accomplishment of instructive speaking.
3. Strength, Force, Emphasis: In the special lessons in Year Book No. II, the subject of "clearness" in speech was dwelt upon repeatedly. In this and the remaining special lessons in this Year Book, something will be said of "strength or force" in speech, and a few suggestions made as to the things essential to acquire this, after clearness, most desirable quality of expression.
The three terms at the head of this note are used because they are employed by various text books; they mean, however, the same thing.
Strength, as the property of a good style in speaking or writing, consists in such a use and arrangement of words as will make a deep impression on the mind of the reader or hearer.
"The first requisite of strength is the rejection of all superfluous words, which constitutes one of the elements of precision also. Whatever adds nothing to the meaning of a sentence takes from its strength; and, whether it be simply a word, a clause, or a member, should be rejected. In the following passage, the words in black type convey no additional meaning, and, consequently, a regard for strength requires their omission."
Examples: 1. "Being satisfied with what he has achieved, he attempts nothing further."
2. "If I had not been absent, if I had been here, this would not have happened."
3. "The very first discovery of it strikes the mind with inward joy, and spreads delight through all its faculties."
Observe the difference in strength when the unnecessary words are eliminated: