Molly Worthen's Vocabulary 'Stop Saying' I Feel Like

A person’s vocabulary is not limited to the specific words he uses. Vocabulary extends to different phrases used. For example, adding different sentence adverbs, such as “frankly”, “in fact”, and “obviously”, to the beginning of a sentence changes the tone of the speaker’s message. “I enjoy a challenge” is a simple statement, but its tone is perceived differently when changed to “Obviously, I enjoy a challenge”. The tone is more matter-of-fact, possibly less polite, to the speaker’s audience. This case can also be seen with the overuse of the phrase “I feel like”. In Molly Worthen’s article “Stop Saying ‘I Feel Like’”, she analyzes today’s overuse of “I feel like” among college students. This phrase has the power to change a fact into an opinion. “Global warming is an issue” loses its definite meaning when it is changed to “I feel like global

It conveys emotion. Similar to the situations formally mentioned, a speaker’s audience is able to detect the speaker’s confidence based off of how the material is said. If the speaker’s voice is strong and not weak, the audience is more likely to perceive that he is confident in both public speaking and the material. In the article “Just Don’t Do It”, Deborah Cameron discusses the implications of using the word “just” in the professional setting. One phrase can carry multiple meanings, depending on how the speaker says it. Cameron gives the example of asking “Is it OK if I just ask you a couple of questions?” as support that using the word “just” is not always used to show uncertainty or to provide an out. How the person says it affects the meaning of the statement greatly. The question can be asked politely or rudely. It adds a second dimension to what the speaker intended to say. Audience members take a second meaning from the tone of the speaker’s voice as he speaks. A person’s inflection leaves another impression about his