Do all 11+ comprehension papers include speeches?

Not all, but speeches appear frequently in independent school papers, ISEB Common Pre-Test papers, and some GL Assessment papers. They are less common in the CEM exam. If your child is preparing for an independent school entrance exam, it is well worth practising speech analysis specifically, as independent schools often favour rich, layered non-fiction texts.

How is analysing a speech different from analysing a newspaper article?

The core skill — identifying techniques and explaining their effect — is the same. The difference is context. Speeches are designed to be heard, not read, so the techniques (rule of three, direct address, rhetorical questions, repetition) are particularly prominent because they work on a live audience. A speech also has a specific speaker with a clear purpose, which makes questions about tone, motive, and how the speaker presents themselves especially common.

Should my child memorise a list of rhetorical techniques?

Knowing the names helps, but explaining the effect is what earns marks. If your child spots repetition in a speech but cannot say why it was used, the name alone is worth very little. Focus on being able to say: this is what the technique is, this is the quotation that shows it, and this is the effect it has on the audience. That three-part approach (name, evidence, effect) works for every technique.

What if the speech is about an unfamiliar topic?

The topic does not matter. Your job is to analyse how the speaker argues, not whether the argument itself is familiar or interesting. Treat an unfamiliar topic as an opportunity: because you have no strong prior opinion, you are less likely to respond emotionally and more likely to focus analytically on the language choices. Read for technique, not for content.

Can my child use the PEE structure for speech analysis questions?

Yes. PEE (Point, Evidence, Explain) works for any comprehension question that asks about the writer's or speaker's techniques. State what the speaker is doing (Point), quote the relevant words (Evidence), and explain why those specific words create that effect on the audience (Explain). The explain step is where the marks are, so encourage your child to zoom into individual words rather than commenting on the passage as a whole.

Analysing Speeches in 11+ Comprehension

Why Speeches Appear in 11+ Comprehension

Speeches are a staple of independent school entrance papers. They test a higher order of reading: the ability to analyse how a speaker tries to influence a real, live audience rather than simply convey information. A well-chosen speech extract forces students to think about purpose, tone, and the specific techniques that make oral persuasion so powerful.

Many of the skills you need to analyse a speech are the same ones you use with any persuasive non-fiction text. But speeches have their own distinctive features. They are addressed to an audience in the room. They rely on rhythm and repetition to land in the ear. They build emotionally towards a climax. Understanding these features gives you an edge when a speech appears on the paper.

Which exams? Speeches appear most often in independent school entrance papers and the ISEB Common Pre-Test. If your child is sitting GL Assessment papers for grammar schools, they are more likely to meet newspaper and report extracts. Check the sample papers for your target school before you start practising.

Microphone at a podium representing speech and public speaking for analysis

The SAPAC Framework: Speaker, Audience, Purpose, and Context

Before you can analyse a speech's techniques, you need to understand the situation in which it is being delivered. The SAPAC framework gives you four questions to answer before you look at language in detail.

Speaker

Who is speaking? A politician, a headteacher, a community activist? The speaker's identity affects the choices they make. A politician uses grand language and appeals to national pride. A headteacher addresses students with authority but also warmth. Knowing who is speaking helps you understand why they phrase things the way they do.

Audience

Who is the speech addressed to? A room of parents? A gathering of students? Politicians trying to pass a bill? Audience shapes everything: vocabulary level, formality, the assumptions the speaker makes about shared knowledge, and the emotional appeals they choose to make.

Purpose

What does the speaker want the audience to think, feel, or do differently after the speech? Persuade them to take action? Inspire them to believe something? Reassure them during a difficult time? Purpose drives every choice in a speech, from the opening hook to the final call to action.

Context

When and where is the speech being delivered? A speech given during a crisis sounds different from one given at a celebration. Context explains why certain choices — urgency, solemnity, humour — appear when they do.

Quick Check: Before you answer a single question, jot SAPAC at the top of your rough paper and fill in one word or phrase for each. Speaker, Audience, Purpose, Context. This 30-second exercise frames everything that follows.

Rhetorical Techniques to Spot in Speeches

Rhetorical techniques are the tools speakers use to influence an audience. You may already know some of these from persuasive writing analysis. In speeches, they appear in concentrated form because the speaker needs to hold attention and create emotional impact in real time.

Rule of Three

Grouping ideas in threes gives a speech rhythm and memorability. Three items feel complete and balanced in a way that two or four do not. "We need courage, commitment, and change." Each item builds on the last, and the third lands with extra weight because it fulfils the pattern.

Rhetorical Questions

Questions that expect no spoken answer but push the audience towards a conclusion. "How much longer must we wait?" The speaker is not asking for information — they are telling the audience that the wait has been too long and they should feel impatient. Rhetorical questions make the audience feel as though they are reaching the conclusion themselves, which is more persuasive than being told what to think.

Direct Address

Using "you," "we," or a specific group name ("my fellow students") creates a sense of shared experience and personal responsibility. "We" is particularly powerful in speeches because it dissolves the distance between speaker and audience, placing them on the same side.

Repetition and Anaphora

Repeating a word or phrase hammers a message into the audience's memory. Anaphora — beginning successive sentences with the same phrase — creates a mounting rhythm that builds emotion. "We will rebuild. We will recover. We will return." Each repetition adds force, and the short, parallel sentences feel like steps towards an inevitable conclusion.

Emotive Language

Speeches that move audiences use words carefully chosen for emotional weight. Stark verbs ("torn," "abandoned," "silenced"), strong adjectives ("desperate," "unjust"), and vivid images all push the listener towards feeling rather than just thinking. The choice is never accidental.

Tone Shifts and How Speakers Build to Key Moments

One of the most rewarding things to notice in a speech is how the speaker's tone changes as the speech progresses. Most effective speeches are not uniformly passionate from the first word to the last — they build.

A typical structure looks something like this. The speaker opens by establishing common ground with the audience: a shared experience, a familiar problem, a moment of warmth or even humour. This builds trust. The speaker then introduces the central argument or issue, raising the emotional temperature. They present evidence, tell a story, quote an authority. Towards the climax, the language becomes more urgent, the sentences shorter, the repetition more insistent. The final moments are often the most emotional, closing with a call to action or an inspiring image.

When you read a speech in an exam, notice these shifts. Where does the tone become more urgent? Where does the speaker address the audience most directly? Where does the language become most emotive? These moments are often the ones that exam questions focus on, because they reveal the speaker's craft most clearly.

Common Mistake: Students often describe the content of a speech rather than analysing how the speaker says it. If a question asks "how does the speaker create a sense of urgency," answering "the speaker says that time is running out" is a description, not an analysis. You need to explain which specific words or techniques create that urgency and why those choices are effective.

Model Speech Extract with Annotations

Read this original speech extract carefully. The speaker is a school council member addressing the whole school about the proposed closure of the school garden.

"Today I am not speaking just as your school council representative. I am speaking as someone who has grown tomatoes in this garden, who has watched butterflies land on our bean plants, who has eaten a lunch made from vegetables we planted ourselves. That garden is not a patch of mud. That garden is who we are.

They say it is inefficient. They say the space could be better used. But I ask you — what better use is there than teaching children where food comes from? What better lesson is there than patience? What better classroom is there than the earth itself?

We have two weeks. Two weeks to collect signatures, to write letters, to make our case. We have done harder things. We have grown things from seeds — and we can do it again."

Annotations

Personal anecdote (opening): The speaker begins with specific personal memories ("grown tomatoes," "watched butterflies," "eaten a lunch") rather than an abstract argument. This makes the speech immediately concrete and emotionally relatable. The audience can picture the garden rather than debating a policy.

Repetition and rule of three: "That garden is not a patch of mud. That garden is who we are." The repeated "That garden" emphasises the subject and the shift from what the garden is not to what it is creates dramatic contrast. The opening tricolon ("grown tomatoes," "watched butterflies," "eaten a lunch") builds in significance from a simple action to a communal experience.

Anaphora (rhetorical questions): "What better use... What better lesson... What better classroom..." The repeated opening phrase creates mounting rhetorical force. Each question answers itself, steering the audience towards the conclusion that no better use exists. The escalating pattern moves from the practical ("where food comes from") to the philosophical ("the earth itself"), ending on the most expansive note.

Emotive language: "patch of mud" mimics the dismissive language of the opposition before reframing the garden as an identity ("who we are"). This technique — voicing the counterargument before demolishing it — is called concession, and it makes the speaker seem fair-minded even while strongly arguing one side.

Call to action and tone shift: The final paragraph is brisk and urgent. "We have two weeks" is a stark statement of urgency with no softening. The short sentences that follow ("to collect signatures, to write letters, to make our case") give the audience a clear sequence of actions. The closing image ("grown things from seeds") returns to the garden as a metaphor for effort and growth, ending on an inspiring rather than a desperate note.

Practice Questions with Model Answers

Use the speech extract above to practise. Try each question yourself before reading the model answer.

Question 1: How does the speaker use personal experience to strengthen their argument in the opening paragraph?

Model Answer: The speaker grounds the argument in specific personal memories — growing tomatoes, watching butterflies, eating vegetables they had planted themselves. By sharing concrete details rather than abstract claims, the speaker makes the garden feel real and valuable before the audience has even heard the argument for keeping it. The phrase "who we are" takes this further, moving from individual memory to shared identity, and implying that losing the garden would be a loss of something much larger than a plot of land.

Question 2: Identify the rhetorical technique used in the middle paragraph and explain its effect on the audience.

Model Answer: The speaker uses anaphora — repeating "What better" at the start of three successive questions. The repetition creates a rhythmic, building effect that is difficult to argue against. Each question is designed to answer itself ("no better"), so by the third question the audience is already agreeing, even before they have consciously decided to. The escalating structure — from the practical ("where food comes from") to the reflective ("patience") to the almost philosophical ("the earth itself") — ensures the final question carries the most emotional weight.

Question 3: How does the speaker create a sense of urgency in the final paragraph?

Model Answer: The speaker uses a stark, short statement — "We have two weeks" — to signal that time is limited. There is no build-up or softening: the deadline is dropped abruptly, which mirrors the pressure of the situation. The short, listed actions that follow ("collect signatures," "write letters," "make our case") give the audience a clear, manageable plan, which prevents the urgency from tipping into panic. The closing metaphor, linking the campaign to growing things from seeds, transforms the urgency into hope.

Key Takeaway: When analysing a speech, always connect the technique to its effect on the audience. Name what the speaker does, quote the specific words, then explain why those words would make a real audience feel or think differently. The effect on the audience is the heart of the answer.

Your Approach on Exam Day

When you turn the page to find a speech, do not be thrown. The skills you have built for analysing persuasive non-fiction apply directly. Here is a focused routine.

Read the introduction to the passage first. It will usually tell you who is speaking, to whom, and about what — your SAPAC framework filled in for free. Then read the speech once for meaning. What is the speaker arguing? What do they want the audience to do or feel? Only then go back and read for technique.

When you annotate, look for the moments where the speaker's language becomes most deliberate: the lists, the repeated phrases, the short punchy sentences after a long build-up. These are the moments the questions will focus on, so your annotations should too. For more on the techniques used across all types of non-fiction texts, see our persuasive writing techniques guide.

Practice Habit: Once a week, find a short speech transcript online — a school speech, a famous historical address, a TED Talk snippet. Read it using the SAPAC framework, annotate two or three techniques, and write one PEE paragraph about the technique you found most interesting. This habit makes speech analysis feel automatic by the time the exam arrives.