Language

The language

The language used by Winston Churchill in “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” can be characterised as solemn and determined but also very explicit and easy t…

...

Choice of words

The choice of words reflects the topic of warfare including words and phrases like: “war cabinet” (l. 5), “extreme urgency” (l. 8), “prosecute the war with Germany” (l. 23), “greatest battles in history” (l. 26), “an ordeal of the most grievous kind” (ll. 36-36), “a monstrous tyranny” (l. 39-40), “dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime” (ll. 40-41). Such phrases are formal (and may appear old-fashioned today), and are used by the speaker to convince the audience that waging war against…

...

Sentence structure

As the speaker also mentions, the speech was delivered with “lack of ceremony” (ll. 32-33). Most of the sentences are short and to the point. In the first part of the speech, they are used to form a clear narrative describing Churchill’s recent actions and his hope that the House of Commons will support him: “A…

...

Tone

If you listen to the audio recording of the speech, you will notice that Churchill speaks very slowly and clearly and raises his voice at the end. However, the recording is made years after the speech was delivered, so it is hard to know how Churchill spoke originally.

What you can take from the re…