Graham Hill Ap Language

Graham Hill presented his speech “Less stuff, more happiness” in March 2011. He explains how Americans have many belongings, but these belongings are unnecessary. The speaker, Hill, explains that by “editing out” these belongings, people will be happier, save money, and help the environment. Hill started the website lifeedited.org and has already minimized his living space. He presented his findings at a TED Talk to highly educated, wealthy people and businessmen. His goal was to encourage people to minimize waste, and thus live better lives. Hill’s speech on editing out unnecessary belongings best utilized ethos and strong diction through repetition to persuade his audience. Hill is able to obtain the audience’s attention and respect by

In the second paragraph, the first three sentences are simple sentences, which state strong points and make the audience think them over. Hill questions the audience, “Did you know that we Americans have about three times the amount of space we did 50 years ago? Three times.” These two sentences show the audience that this is crucial to his argument, and that they should pay greater attention. Then, Hill follows this with a complex sentence, which expands upon his point. The next sentences are simple, and then complex, which makes a strong idea and then explains it well. His sentence structures are carefully chosen to affect the audience in certain ways, then explain his

One of Hill’s common motifs is the use of the word “stuff.” By using this word, Hill reminds them of his main idea, and helps him relate to the audience. Not only does everyone have “stuff,” but he shows that it is not important. Hill also uses the phrase “editing out,” which is a clean, concise way to explain his topic. This phrase has a positive connotation, and thus the audience will think more positively about his topic. To maintain his casual word choice, Hill uses words such as “nope, among other things, couple, and pretty happily.” All these word choices relax the audience, while Hill places some formal words throughout his speech such as “digitized, extraneous, and editing” to show his knowledge of the topic. Hill is able to use varied words to create a comprehensive, clear speech. He maintains his semi-formal word choice throughout to keep the audience interested, yet