annotation


 * Welcome to the AP English Online Annotation Project!**

//What makes a speech powerful?//
This is what rhetoric is all about--not just the specific features of a text that make it powerful, but also CAREFULLY **ANALYZING the language choices** that a writer/ speaker makes so that the text becomes **meaningful and effective**.

As we close our study of rhetoric and style, you will examine how powerful rhetoric is involved in some of the world's most famous and influential speeches. Each student (or pair of students) will read and annotate one of the speeches below, paying attention to specific rhetorical strategies and the effect they have on the reader/ listener.
 * Malcolm X: The Ballot or the Bullet?(annotated by Rose)
 * The Mexican-American and the Church by Cesar Chavez (annotated by Carmen)
 * Mary Fisher's 1992 Address to the Republican National Convention(annotated by Serina)
 * Robert F Kennedy's Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr (annotated by Emilio)
 * Dwight D Eisenhower's Farewell Address (annotated by Jose)
 * Barbara Jordan's 1976 DNC Keynote Address (annotated by Elisa)
 * Huey P. Long: Share Our Wealth (annotated by Millie--needs to be finished)
 * Malcolm X: Message to the Grassroots (annotated by Viri--needs to be finished)
 * Elie Wiesel: The Perils of Indifference(annotated by Claudia)
 * Nelson Mandela's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (not annotated by anyone yet)
 * Susan B. Anthony: On a Woman's Right to Vote (not annotated by anyone yet)
 * Ernesto Che Guevara: May Day (not annotated by anyone yet)
 * //Declaration of War on the US// by Adolf Hitler(not annotated by anyone yet )

Most of the above speeches can be found at the "Top 100 Speeches" section of [|www.AmericanRhetoric.com], where you can also hear audio of the speeches.

EXAMPLE: from //Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave// (1845)

If at any one time of my life more than another, I was made to drink the bitterest dregs of slavery, that time was during the first six months of my stay with Mr. Covey. We were worked in all weathers. It was never too hot or too cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow, too hard for us to work in the field. Work, work, work was scarcely more the order of the day than of the night.