Verbal Communication Styles

Communication is the most important part of learning. Here are a few verbal communication styles and techniques to improve communication skills.

Communication in literal terms means, transfer of information from one person to another. Verbal communication means, transfer of information through talking. Verbal communication uses numbers, words, symbols and sounds to construct sentences which are interpreted by the listener as information. Verbal communication is meant for talking to others, to impress, to express, to warn and to emote. However, the style of verbal communication can differ depending on the event and the occasion. Various situations make you choose different verbal communication styles to make your message understandable to the people at large. Let’s see the various verbal communication styles that we use regularly. You may also read about types of communication.

Verbal Communication Styles

Expressive Style

Expressive style of communication does not have any reservations. It is animated, spontaneous, complaining, expressive anger, joking and conversational.

Authoritative Style

A speaker is usually expressing authority or passing a judgment while using this style of speaking. For instance, ‘I want an explanation for this mess’, is an authoritative style of speaking. It is generally a heated moment which compels the speaker to use this style of speaking.

Narrative Style

This style of speaking is used to narrate an incident in the past or some event that’s likely to happen. Usually storytellers take to this style of speaking.

Preaching Style

Priests, teachers and parents use the preaching style most often. Preaching style of verbal communication is used when an advice or a suggestion is to be given.

Read more about

• Why is Communication Important?
• Ways to Improve Communication Skills

Verbal Communication Styling

This section will teach you to stylize your verbal communication by using the best of words.

Positive Construction of Sentences

Adding positive vocabulary to your sentences while speaking, increases the scope of your emotions and thoughts. For example ‘I believe this’, ‘I know that’ or ‘I assure you that’, makes your audience pay more attention to what you have to say.

Storytelling

Narrating a small story at the beginning of your speech or your message, adds an element of interest. Verbal communication style of adding narratives makes the listener keen to know what happens next and keeps them glued to you.

Right Questions

Asking your listeners correct questions such as ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘when’ and so on, will give you a lot of explanations, reasons and understandings. This will allow you to use up the information to give better answers, thus making your communication more effective.

Avoid Fillers

A lot of people use sounds when they cannot come up with words. These sounds are known as fillers. They make your speech disrupted and make it seem distorted. Avoid them as far as possible. To do this, rehearse what you have to say before hand and then say it.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Think twice before you speak. Sometimes people end up using the wrong words at important places. This happens due to lack of vocabulary, experience and illogical thoughts. Hence, script what you want to say before hand and then say it.

Encourage Reading Aloud

Often children feel shy and uncomfortable while speaking in foreign languages. Reading aloud helps in improving speech, pronunciation, voice modulations and intonations. This tip is especially meant for children with poor verbal communication skills.

Read more about

• Intercultural Communication
• Workplace Communication Effective communication tips will come in handy while trying to prepare for an important speech. To be able to convey your message it’s important to know verbal communication styles. Often, negative statements used against us or irrelevant comparisons between siblings make children rebellious towards speaking up. This hinders their communication skills for a long period of time. However, this problem can be helped by realizing the importance of communication skills in life.