Force

Synopsis

Force is not loudness or violent motion — 'loudness is not force, though force at times may be attended by noise,' and 'nor is violent motion force--yet force may result in violent motion.' True force is inner before it is outer: it arises from conviction, which produces emotional tension, which grows into resolve, and finally issues in propulsion. A speaker who lacks fire in his subject cannot manufacture force by technique alone — 'the man within is the final factor. He must supply the fuel.' Four factors of force are within the speaker's control: ideas, feeling about the subject, wording, and delivery. The chapter offers concrete counsel on wording — plain, short, Saxon, specific, connotative, epithetic and onomatopoetic words carry more force than their opposites — and on arrangement, such as cutting modifiers and connectives and ending sentences with words that deserve distinction. Force must not be constant; variety, not perpetual vigor, is the greater art. But when a speaker appeals to wills and consciences for action, he must speak with the definiteness of conviction rather than the hedging language of 'it seems to me' or 'in my opinion,' for authority, not tentativeness, moves an audience.