ADJ
- careful, clear, clipped
- casual
- impaired
- slurred
- She could tell by his slurred speech that he had been drinking
- connected, continuous, fluent
- natural, normal, ordinary
- spontaneous
- direct
- indirect, reported
- free
- The demonstrators were demanding rights of assembly and free speech
- conversational, everyday
- children's, female, human, etc.
- middle-class, working-class, etc.
VERB + SPEECH
- have
- Most people have speech, but significantly fewer have writing
SPEECH + NOUN
- act
- style
- defect, impairment, impediment
- therapist, therapy
- community
- phonological variation in a speech community
PREP
- in ~
- Certain grammatical rules must be followed when describing a conversation in reported speech
PHRASES
- a figure of speech
- When we talk about 'selfish' genes it is just a figure of speech
- freedom of speech
- the right of/to freedom of speech
- the power of speech
- He temporarily lost the power of speech after the accident
ADJ
- brief, little, short
- interminable, long, long-winded, rambling
- keynote, major
- eloquent, excellent, good
- emotional, impassioned, rousing, stirring
- boring
- impromptu
- public
- televised
- political
- opening
- closing
- acceptance, after-dinner, Budget, campaign, conference, farewell, inaugural
- The prizewinner gave an emotional acceptance speech. the Chancellor's Budget speech
- maiden
- her maiden speech in the House of Commons
VERB + SPEECH
- deliver, give, make
- broadcast
- His speech was broadcast on national radio
- write
PREP
- in a/the ~
- ~ about/on
- She made a stirring campaign speech on improving the lot of the unemployed
- ~ to
- In her speech to the House of Commons, she outlined her vision of Britain in the 21st century