Lincoln Speech

The fact that Lincoln begins his speech with "my friends" is a way  of making the people listening feel close to himself. Its hardly possible that every person hearing the speech is Lincoln's friend.
Using strong words he captivates the listener's attention and transforms the speech into something deeper. This can be seen  on changing 25 years to "quarter century". An unnecessary change that transforms the speech into something more professional. He confirms himself almost as an owner of the land when he establishes that one of his children is buried in the land. If we think about it, this statement is actually not necesary, but if creates a very strong feeling of personal relation towards the land, the city and the people. 

Register

1. “Honoured guests, members of the board, Superintendent Johnson, and most importantly, graduates of the class of 2012, it is an honour to speak to you on this ocassion.”

2. “While I was pleasantly surprised by the menu selections for dinner service, I was disheartened by the lukewarm eggs at breakfast.”

3. “Yeah, right”

4. “I doubt it”

5. “I’m tired of your rubbish”

6. “I’m tired”

1. Formal

2. Formal

3. Casual

4. Consultative

5. Intimate

6. Consultative

Idioms and Ambiguity

1. Bite your tongue

2. Pull my leg

3. He is my English teacher

4. I saw the person with a telescope

5. She doesn’t like short men or women

1. bite your physical tongue / IDIOM: shut up

2. pull my literal leg / IDIOM: play a trick or joke on me

3. He is, actually, my english teacher / IDIOM: he corrects everything I say /AMBIGUITY: He is from England

4. AMBIGUITY: I saw someone THROUGH a telescope, or I saw someone with a telescope in its hand.

5. There is a girl that doesn't like short people / AMBIGUITY: she doesn't like short men and all women.

Truth Assumptions

1. I thought that today was your birthday.

2. I forgot that today was your birthday.

3. The teacher scolded me for not studying hard enough.

4. The teacher acknowledged that I hadn’t really studied.

5. The teacher realized the student had cheated.

6. The teacher assumed that the student had cheated.

1. non-factive

2. factive

3. factive

4. factive

5. factive

6. non-factive