Great Answers to Tough Questions at Work by Michael Dodd

Author:Michael Dodd
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857086396
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2016-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

Emphasize Those Qualifiers

Arch had a particularly effective technique for getting the emphasis right in every part of a sentence. The secret is to put any emphasis on what he called the “qualifiers”. These are the describing words – those adjectives and adverbs. So, if you're talking about red apples, green apples and yellow apples, it sounds so much better for you to emphasize the qualifier rather than the noun – “apples” – that you're describing.

Surprisingly, this emphasis is not typically achieved by saying the describing words louder. Rather, it's a matter of saying them slightly slower and with a different tone of voice – making it clear to your listeners exactly what you mean.

While every element of each sentence is important, the biggest key to sounding impressive is to get the right pitch at the end of each sentence. Beware the danger of letting your voice drift upwards at the end of a sentence, making you sound uncertain and insecure. This has been labelled the “Australian upward inflection syndrome” – a most unfortunate Aussie export for which, on behalf of my country, I apologize to the world. Your answers will sound so much more sophisticated and confident when you avoid it. Arch McKirdy drummed it out of his students. I seek to do the same. When you ensure your voice goes down at the end of each sentence, it makes you sound so much more authoritative, in control and profound.

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