Style of language

Ronald Reagan uses a formal style of language in the 1982 “Evil Empire” speech, which suits the political context and the important topics he addresses. 

When it comes to sentence structure, Reagan mainly uses a combination of sentences of different lengths that mirror the complex nature of his ideas or which allow readers to focus on what he says. For example, long sentences are used when Reagan talks about the Western allies’ plans for the future:

The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy, the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities, which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.

In this example, th...