Episode 34: Real Talking Tips – Word Emphasis: Do the Noun-Verb-Subject of the Noun Wave.

Join me, Elaine A. Clark, in this Real Talking Tips episode, where we’re going to do a little backtracking into past English classes.

As you may recall, the Noun, Verb, and Subject of the Noun comprise the three main parts of a sentence. Your English teacher may have also referred to it as the Statement / Action / Connecting Statement. In this 8th of 11 Word Emphasis mini-series, we’re going to honor these three grammatical elements by adding a ‘Wave’ to our speaking voice to define and separate the Who, What, Why, When, Where, and How phrases.

Watch, read, or listen to this Real Talking Tips Episode 34 podcast for the 8th of 11 Real Talking Tips Word Emphasis lessons. Each element of the Word Emphasis Chart introduced in Episode 27 adds variety and attitude to words and phrases! The last seven Real Talking Tips episodes, we added a
• dot , Arrow Up and Caret Up , Arrow Down , Caret Down , Wiggle , and Word Stretch , Parenthetical ( ), and Dip-Down .

Practice along with this Real Talking Tips vidcast, podcast, and blog, my Elaine Clark app, Adding Melody To Your Voice, and my best selling books, There’s Money Where Your Mouth Is and Voice-Overs for Podcasting. For an effective 5-minute warm-up before speaking, use the Elaine Clark Activate Your Voice app!

Click the video to watch or select the audio podcast by clicking start or selecting the audio player in the icon below.

ADD A 3-PART WAVE TO A SENTENCE.

Real Talking Tips – Do the Noun-Verb-Subject of the Noun ‘Wave’ is the 8th of 11 Word Emphasis lessons. Hi, I’m Elaine Clark – voice-over, podcaster, presenter, and business presentation coach. Over the past 40 years, I have focused on breaking the ‘speech code’ and defining the exact physicalities and movements that impact specific words, phrases, attitude, storytelling, and the overall message.

Early in my career, I was told to move and gesture so the voice would sparkle and engage the audience. While good overall instruction, it wasn’t specific. Consequently, my performances were inconsistent and my presentations were not as dynamic as the ones I heard in my head. I had to find out HOW and WHY I should make a movement, WHEN to gesture, and WHAT movement to use to focus the message and make it more impactful. I’m sharing this Word Emphasis Real Talking Tips podcast series so YOU can get specific, too, and coordinate your movements with your speaking voice.

In Real Talking Tips episodes 27 – 33, we worked on 9 gestures and how they impact speech. These include the: • Dot , Arrow Up and Caret Up , Arrow Down , Caret Down , Wiggle , and Word Stretch , and Parenthetical ( ), and Dip-Down .

These talking techniques are all listed in the Word Emphasis Chart shown in Episode 27.

If you haven’t already downloaded my Adding Melody to Your Voice app, it’s a great place to practice, record your voice, listen and compare your recordings with my voice examples, and – if necessary – delete and try again. The Word Emphasis chart and other speaking tips are in my books There’s Money Where Your Mouth Is and Voice-Overs For Podcasting, and don’t forget to warm up your voice with my speech and diction app, Activate Your Voice.

= separate the three parts of the sentence – statement – action – connecting statement – by adding three melodic shifts

In this Real Talking Tips episode, we’re going to do a little backtracking into our formative English classes where we learned to separate the three parts of the sentence – Statement / Action / Connecting Statement – by adding three melodic shifts.

Word Emphasis #8: Three Speech Melodies for the Subject, Action, and Connecting Statement.

Let me put my English teacher’s imaginary hat on for a moment and discuss the basic sentence structure of the WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHEN, WHERE, and HOW.

1. The WHO = the SUBJECT. That is the person or thing (the NOUN) that performs an action.

2. The WHAT = the ACTION. That’s ‘WHAT’ that person or thing does (the VERB).

3. The SUBJECT OF THE NOUN = THE CONNECTING STATEMENT. That could be ‘WHO’ – person or thing, ‘WHY’ – the person or thing is taking action, ‘WHEN’ the action is taking place, ‘WHERE’ the action is occurring, or ‘HOW’ the action will be performed.

Those three main grammatical sections can be defined when we speak by using a wave gesture or action. Not the kind you use when you say hello or goodbye. Rather a wave that resembles an ocean tide that rises and falls. One hand curves up on the first section, that same hand or the opposite hand curves under and below the second section, and rises above the information on the third part of the sentence.

“The left hand curves up and dips under, then the right hand curves up to complete the wave.”

Of course, you could alternate the movement so:

“The right hand curves down and lifts up and over the middle section, then the left hand curves down to complete the wave.”

ADD WORD EMPHASIS VARIETY TO YOUR SPEAKING VOICE.

Engaging an audience requires speech variety. That means using the whole body, alternating movements, and non-repetitive actions and movements so the voice, attitudes, and expressions change, too. Any sound or movement that repeats opens the door for the listener to disengage and tune out. We all know that it’s a hard enough challenge to get people to stop, listen, and take action on the message. Why make it easier for them to become distracted, quit listening, or leave.

The following are 6 speech examples you can practice. The Subject – Action – Statements are arranged in different grammatical structures. It doesn’t matter if you start with your right or left hand, or start the wave high and dip down or start low and curve up. The important practice note is for the wave direction to change at each of the three sentence structure areas.

The following are 3 sentence structure descriptions followed by a visual of the 3-part wave Word Emphasis gesture.

1. SUBJECT – HOW – ACTION:

2. SUBJECT – ACTION – HOW:

3. HOW – SUBJECT – ACTION:

4. WHEN – SUBJECT – ACTION:

5. SUBJECT – ACTION – WHERE:

6. SUBJECT – WHERE – ACTION:

Practice recognizing the three parts of the sentence and using the up-down-up or down-up-down wave to melodically separate the informational components. Please note, that adding a WAVE to the voice to separate the three parts of the sentence should be used sparingly and strategically. Otherwise, the whole message will sound ‘sing-song-y’. The key is to add variety to your voice and utilize all the Word Emphasis techniques so no two techniques repeat!

Join me next time in Real Talking Tips Episode 35 as we HOOK THE LISTENER IN.

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