Weekly Blog 4_Lunkun Deng

To uphold the words of the Charter in the face of this challenge, every nation in this chamber has responsibilities. As sovereign states, we have an obligation to govern responsibly, and solve problems before they spill across borders. We have an obligation to prevent our territory from being used as a sanctuary for terrorism and proliferation and human trafficking and organized crime. We have an obligation to respect the rights and respond to the needs of our people. (George W. Bush)

This final address that President Bush made to the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2008 is indeed an excellent sample for political speech.

Generally speaking, this period follows those “Rules” for political/public speech. First almost all the words are short, simple yet powerful! Those verbs such as “govern”, “respect” and “respond” figure out the obligatory action of our government. Also the adjectives, for instance, “responsibly”, exactly modify those actions. Second, there’s seldom a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon. So it’s easy for the public to understand the contents. Third, every word seems indispensable. All these words build up this well-organized paragraph.

Also the structure of the paragraph is very nice. From the second sentence on, the three sentences with “we have an obligation to” use the PARATAXIS to enhance the statement. Although “have an obligation” seems to be an example of nominalization, it is in perfect usage because it sums up and names a concept to all the following specific factors. It is the key element of the PARATAXIS structure as well.

However, it will be better if we improve it at some minor aspects. The third sentence, “We have an obligation to prevent our territory from being used as a sanctuary for terrorism and proliferation and human trafficking and organized crime.”, uses the passive voice. The “prevent….from….”is a set phrase, but if we change parts of the sentence into active voice, the expression will be more direct and easy to understand.



To uphold the words of the Charter in the face of this challenge, every nation in this chamber has responsibilities. As sovereign states, we have an obligation to govern responsibly, and solve problems before they spill across borders. We have an obligation to prevent terrorism and proliferation and human trafficking and organized crime from spreading in our territoriy. We have an obligation to respect the rights and respond to the needs of our people.