How to make your speech and writing sparkle?

Reading students’ written assignments and listening to their presentations could be an interesting or a boring activity for any teacher of English. Recently, a teacher commented on his students’ assignments: “The students are fond of using clichés and they think that it is the right thing to do. I don’t know how to make them realize that they should avoid using clichés.” Yes, teachers do come across cliché-ridden speeches and writings of their students. Not only intermediate learners of English but also advanced learners use clichéd expressions while communicating.

What is a cliché? A cliché is a trite, overused or tired expression or stock phrase. It is an expression that has lost its freshness. The listener or reader considers such expressions boring. “Often the language that is now considered cliché is language that was, at one time, new and fresh, such as figures of speech. Today, “as red as a rose” is recognized pretty universally as a cliché, but at some time, it must have been fresh and inventive figurative language.” Most similes have become clichés. Here are some examples:

· busy as a bee
· drunk as a skunk
· free as a bird
· happy as a lark
· poor as church mice
· sick as a dog
· blind as a bat

Some journalistic expressions, proverbs, sayings, and the like are also likely to become clichéd after repeated use. Examples of this type of cliché include:

· in the nick of time
· fall on deaf ears
· nipped in the bud
· cry over spilled milk
· by hook or crook
· Christmas comes but once a year.
· You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
· What goes around comes around.
Here is a list of clichés and better alternatives:
· In today’s society (today, currently)
· Pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages)
· This day and age (today, presently)

But, standard expressions such as ‘Happy birthday’, ‘Many happy returns of the day’ and ‘How do you do?’ are not clichés.

In order to be effective your speech and writing should sparkle. What should you do to make your presentations or writings sparkle? These are some tips:

Communicate clearly.
Use appealing words.
Use positive language.
Avoid clichés.
Use the language creatively.
Don’t use any word or phrase repeatedly.
Bid bye to your pet words and phrases.

Ask yourself these questions:

Do I get sick of hearing people use any trite or overused expressions? What are the expressions?
Do I use clichés in my presentations and writings? What are the clichés? Why do I use them?

Once you know answers to the above questions, you will be able to identify trite, overused, and tired expressions and know why they should not be used in presentations and writings.

Using a cliché can bore your reader or listener. It can annoy them. They may lose interest in your speech or writing. Clichés can become a barrier to effective communication.

Here's a list of 20 popular (or unpopular!) clichés, ranked in order of their frequency in the Oxford English Corpus, a database consisting of hundreds of millions of words of contemporary written English.

Rank Cliche

1 at the end of the day
2 back on track
3 the fact of the matter
4 few and far between
5 a level playing field
6 in this day and age
7 to all intents and purposes
8 when all's said and done
9 in the final analysis
10 come full circle
11 par for the course
12 avoid someone or something like the plague
13 think outside the box
14 in the current climate
15 mass exodus
16 at this moment in time
17 the path of least resistance
18 a baptism of fire
19 in any way, shape, or form
20 not fit for purpose

Send in your comments and queries to Albert P’Rayan at rayanal@yahoo.co.uk .