5.1.1
Speeches
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Speeches
Speeches are formal talks that can be used to entertain, persuade, inspire, and motivate people to take action.

Historical significance
- Speeches have been used for thousands of years to express people’s opinions and perspectives on different topics.
- For example:
- A historical speech by Winston Churchill in 1940 in the Houses of Parliament.
- A historical speech by Martin Luther King ‘I have a dream’.
- Modern speeches of Emma Watson and Greta Thunberg.

Winston Churchill's speech
- Churchill's 1940 speech was given to motivate members of Parliament and the public to not give up hope during World War Two.
- A well-known phrase from the speech was: "We shall fight on the beaches".
- This phrase inspired listeners to believe in Britain’s ability to defend themselves from any invasion.

‘I have a dream’ speech
- A historical speech was Martin Luther King’s 'I have a dream’ speech delivered in 1963.
- M. L. King repeated "I have a dream" eight times, detailing his hopes for a united America without racial segregation.
- The speech was delivered to over 250,000 people.
- The speech is the best-known civil rights movement speech of its time.

Modern speeches
- Speeches are still used often today to inspire change.
- For example: Emma Watson’s ‘HeForShe’ speech was given in 2014 to the United Nations.
- In her speech, Watson emphasised the need for both men and women to unite against sexism and gender inequality.

Greta Thunberg’s speech
- Greta Thunberg’s speech at the 2019 United Nations climate change summit is also well known.
- Greta Thunberg angrily blamed politicians for the current climate emergency.
- Thunberg repeatedly stated ‘How dare you!’ to accuse politicians of ignoring climate issues.
1Spelling
1.1Spelling
1.2Prefixes
1.3Suffixes
1.3.1Vowel Suffixes1.3.2Short Vowel Suffixes1.3.3Suffixes: '-ous'1.3.4Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'1.3.5Rules for Suffixes: '-ous' 21.3.6Suffixes: '-ly'1.3.7Suffixes: '-ation'1.3.8Suffixes: '-ation' 21.3.9Spelling: '-tion' Endings1.3.10Spelling: '-sion' Endings1.3.11Spelling: '-ssion' Endings1.3.12Spelling: '-cian' Endings1.3.13End of Topic Test - Suffixes1.3.14End of Topic Test - Spelling
1.4Making Words Plural
1.5Homophones
1.5.1Accept & Except1.5.2Affect & Effect1.5.3Ball & Bawl1.5.4Berry & Bury1.5.5Brake & Break1.5.6Fair & Fare1.5.7Grate & Great1.5.8Groan & Grown1.5.9Hear & Here1.5.10Heal, Heel & He'll1.5.11Knot & Not1.5.12Mail & Male1.5.13Main & Mane1.5.14Meat & Meet1.5.15Medal & Meddle1.5.16Missed & Mist1.5.17Peace & Piece1.5.18Plain & Plane1.5.19Rain & Reign & Rein1.5.20Scene & Seen1.5.21Weather & Whether1.5.22Whose & Who's1.5.23End of Topic Test - Homophones1.5.24End of Topic Test - Homophones 21.5.25End of Topic Test - Homophones 3
1.6Word Meanings
2Punctuation
2.1Punctuation
2.1.1Full Stops2.1.2Capital Letters2.1.3Commas2.1.4Commas 22.1.5Using Apostrophes with Regular Plurals2.1.6Using Apostrophes with Irregular Plurals2.1.7Question Marks & Exclamation Marks2.1.8Brackets2.1.9Dashes2.1.10Colon2.1.11Semi-Colon2.1.12Direct Speech2.1.13Indirect Speech2.1.14Hyphens2.1.15Ellipses2.1.16End of Topic Test - Punctuation2.1.17End of Topic Test - Punctuation 2
3Grammar
3.1Word Classes
3.2Conjunctions
3.3Writing Coherently
3.5Modal Verbs
3.6Phrasal Verbs
3.7Subjunctive Verbs
3.8Sentences
3.8.1Subject of a Sentence3.8.2Object of a Sentence3.8.3Main & Subordinate Clauses3.8.4Simple Sentences & Compound Sentences3.8.5Complex Sentences3.8.6Relative Clauses3.8.7Relative Clauses Without Relative Pronouns3.8.8Participle Clauses3.8.9Run-on Sentences3.8.10Sentence Functions3.8.11End of Topic Test - Sentences
3.9Tenses
3.10Adverbials
4Decoding Words
4.1Common Word Roots
4.2Common Prefixes
4.2.1For & Against4.2.2All & Same4.2.3Away & Far4.2.4Colour & Shape4.2.5Back & Down4.2.6Numbers4.2.7Across & Through4.2.8Life & Earth4.2.9Empty & Broken4.2.10Great & Greater4.2.11Hearing & Speaking4.2.12Apart & Together4.2.13Over & Under4.2.14In4.2.15Less & Smaller4.2.16Before & After4.2.17End of Topic Test - Common Prefixes 24.2.18End of Topic Test - Common Prefixes
5Reading & Writing
5.1Reading Formats
5.2Writing Formats
Jump to other topics
1Spelling
1.1Spelling
1.2Prefixes
1.3Suffixes
1.3.1Vowel Suffixes1.3.2Short Vowel Suffixes1.3.3Suffixes: '-ous'1.3.4Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'1.3.5Rules for Suffixes: '-ous' 21.3.6Suffixes: '-ly'1.3.7Suffixes: '-ation'1.3.8Suffixes: '-ation' 21.3.9Spelling: '-tion' Endings1.3.10Spelling: '-sion' Endings1.3.11Spelling: '-ssion' Endings1.3.12Spelling: '-cian' Endings1.3.13End of Topic Test - Suffixes1.3.14End of Topic Test - Spelling
1.4Making Words Plural
1.5Homophones
1.5.1Accept & Except1.5.2Affect & Effect1.5.3Ball & Bawl1.5.4Berry & Bury1.5.5Brake & Break1.5.6Fair & Fare1.5.7Grate & Great1.5.8Groan & Grown1.5.9Hear & Here1.5.10Heal, Heel & He'll1.5.11Knot & Not1.5.12Mail & Male1.5.13Main & Mane1.5.14Meat & Meet1.5.15Medal & Meddle1.5.16Missed & Mist1.5.17Peace & Piece1.5.18Plain & Plane1.5.19Rain & Reign & Rein1.5.20Scene & Seen1.5.21Weather & Whether1.5.22Whose & Who's1.5.23End of Topic Test - Homophones1.5.24End of Topic Test - Homophones 21.5.25End of Topic Test - Homophones 3
1.6Word Meanings
2Punctuation
2.1Punctuation
2.1.1Full Stops2.1.2Capital Letters2.1.3Commas2.1.4Commas 22.1.5Using Apostrophes with Regular Plurals2.1.6Using Apostrophes with Irregular Plurals2.1.7Question Marks & Exclamation Marks2.1.8Brackets2.1.9Dashes2.1.10Colon2.1.11Semi-Colon2.1.12Direct Speech2.1.13Indirect Speech2.1.14Hyphens2.1.15Ellipses2.1.16End of Topic Test - Punctuation2.1.17End of Topic Test - Punctuation 2
3Grammar
3.1Word Classes
3.2Conjunctions
3.3Writing Coherently
3.5Modal Verbs
3.6Phrasal Verbs
3.7Subjunctive Verbs
3.8Sentences
3.8.1Subject of a Sentence3.8.2Object of a Sentence3.8.3Main & Subordinate Clauses3.8.4Simple Sentences & Compound Sentences3.8.5Complex Sentences3.8.6Relative Clauses3.8.7Relative Clauses Without Relative Pronouns3.8.8Participle Clauses3.8.9Run-on Sentences3.8.10Sentence Functions3.8.11End of Topic Test - Sentences
3.9Tenses
3.10Adverbials
4Decoding Words
4.1Common Word Roots
4.2Common Prefixes
4.2.1For & Against4.2.2All & Same4.2.3Away & Far4.2.4Colour & Shape4.2.5Back & Down4.2.6Numbers4.2.7Across & Through4.2.8Life & Earth4.2.9Empty & Broken4.2.10Great & Greater4.2.11Hearing & Speaking4.2.12Apart & Together4.2.13Over & Under4.2.14In4.2.15Less & Smaller4.2.16Before & After4.2.17End of Topic Test - Common Prefixes 24.2.18End of Topic Test - Common Prefixes
5Reading & Writing
5.1Reading Formats
5.2Writing Formats
Practice questions on Speeches
Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
- 1What was a famous phrase of Churchill's 1940 speech?Multiple choice
- 2
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