grouping together of words, phrases, clauses, and other units so that
their meaning and significance may be easily grasped by a listener. As
has been already said, pauses serve as punctuation marks for the
hearer. Short pauses correspond to commas, longer ones to colons and
semi-colons, marked ones to periods. Speakers can by pauses clearly
indicate the conclusions of sections, the completion of topics, the
passage from one part of the material to another, the transfer of
attention from one subject to its opposite. Within smaller range
pauses can add delightful variety to delivery as they can signally
reinforce the interpretation. No speaker should fall into the habit of
monotonously letting his pauses mark the limit of his breath capacity,
nor should he take any regular phrase, clause, or sentence length to
be indicated by pauses. In this as in all other aspects variety is the
charm of speech.

Enunciation. No matter what handicaps a person may have he may
overcome them to secure a distinct, agreeable enunciation. Care in
enunciating words will enable a speaker to be heard almost anywhere.
It is recorded that John Fox, a famous preacher of South Place Chapel,
London, whose voice was neither loud nor strong, was heard in every
part of Covent Garden Theatre, seating 3500, when he made
anti-corn-law orations, by the clearness with which he pronounced the
final consonants of the words he spoke.

One of the orators best known to readers is Edmund Burke, whose
speeches are studied as models of argumentative arrangement and style.
Yet in actual speech-making Burke was more or less a failure because
of the unfortunate method of his delivery. Many men markedly inferior
in capacity to Burke overcame disadvantageous accidents, but he was
frequently hurried and impetuous. Though his tones were naturally