Cing San Nuam
Professor Lebofsky-Downs
English 711
13 February 2017
Evaluation of Janet Holmes’ Women Talk Too Much In the myth “Women Talk Too Much”, Janet Holmes addresses how society simply assume the fallacy that women talk more than men. In the beginning of her essay, Holmes started with a question, “do women talk more than men?” and provided many proverbs from different countries that claim women talk more and believed to be a universal truth. Throughout the myth, Holmes substantiates her purposes using numerous studies, statistics from talk shows, seminars, comic strips and other means of publicity to confirm the misconceptions between men and women in speech. Holmes concluded that who talks more depends on many different factors …show more content…
She includes many scenarios how men take over issues to insure themselves that their points are getting across in their interviews. An illustration from the New Zealand study shows that men generally controls talking time than women. In the study, the amount of talks used by men and women were compared in interviewing a well-known female TV host and she observes that out of the three interviewers, the men takes over most of the interviewing time. She states “In a situation where each of three interviews was entitled to a third of the interviews talking time, the men took more than half on every occasion” (Holmes 300). This assertion declares that men talk more in public than women. Another prototype that Holmes adds from the study is that men dominate most of the discussion time by patronizing women. For instance, Holmes included a scenario from a work meeting which women are interrupted by a male colleague by stating “What Anne is trying to say Roger is… and I think that about sums it up” (300). This demonstrates that he is giving a message to their colleagues that he knows better than her and that her opinions are less important than his. This is why women often find it hard to contribute in a discussion time even when they hold a position and status along with power, is something that what men seem to be most …show more content…
What makes the essay really persuasive was when she uses the rhetorical appeals. Holmes uses logos by quoting statistics from classroom studies, seminars, business meetings, or talk shows to demonstrate which gender appears to participate in talking. She also uses ethos in the beginning by giving readers herself credibility and introducing her profession, it states “Janet Holmes is a professor of sociolinguistics at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand” (299). Furthermore, she uses pathos as she appeals emotions when Holmes inserts a girl’s conversation in the essay “Sometimes I feel like saying that i disagree,that there are other ways of looking at it.. My teachers thinks I'm showing off, and the boys jeer” (Holmes 303). By this, she gives readers the connections and appealing or rebuttal to the statements. Holmes’s tone towards her essay was also very neutral. Despite the fact that she is trying to persuade people that women does not talk more than men, she does not use strong words or expressions that could angers the readers. Her tone is very neutral, for instance, she uses ‘seems’ several
Professor Lebofsky-Downs
English 711
13 February 2017
Evaluation of Janet Holmes’ Women Talk Too Much In the myth “Women Talk Too Much”, Janet Holmes addresses how society simply assume the fallacy that women talk more than men. In the beginning of her essay, Holmes started with a question, “do women talk more than men?” and provided many proverbs from different countries that claim women talk more and believed to be a universal truth. Throughout the myth, Holmes substantiates her purposes using numerous studies, statistics from talk shows, seminars, comic strips and other means of publicity to confirm the misconceptions between men and women in speech. Holmes concluded that who talks more depends on many different factors …show more content…
She includes many scenarios how men take over issues to insure themselves that their points are getting across in their interviews. An illustration from the New Zealand study shows that men generally controls talking time than women. In the study, the amount of talks used by men and women were compared in interviewing a well-known female TV host and she observes that out of the three interviewers, the men takes over most of the interviewing time. She states “In a situation where each of three interviews was entitled to a third of the interviews talking time, the men took more than half on every occasion” (Holmes 300). This assertion declares that men talk more in public than women. Another prototype that Holmes adds from the study is that men dominate most of the discussion time by patronizing women. For instance, Holmes included a scenario from a work meeting which women are interrupted by a male colleague by stating “What Anne is trying to say Roger is… and I think that about sums it up” (300). This demonstrates that he is giving a message to their colleagues that he knows better than her and that her opinions are less important than his. This is why women often find it hard to contribute in a discussion time even when they hold a position and status along with power, is something that what men seem to be most …show more content…
What makes the essay really persuasive was when she uses the rhetorical appeals. Holmes uses logos by quoting statistics from classroom studies, seminars, business meetings, or talk shows to demonstrate which gender appears to participate in talking. She also uses ethos in the beginning by giving readers herself credibility and introducing her profession, it states “Janet Holmes is a professor of sociolinguistics at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand” (299). Furthermore, she uses pathos as she appeals emotions when Holmes inserts a girl’s conversation in the essay “Sometimes I feel like saying that i disagree,that there are other ways of looking at it.. My teachers thinks I'm showing off, and the boys jeer” (Holmes 303). By this, she gives readers the connections and appealing or rebuttal to the statements. Holmes’s tone towards her essay was also very neutral. Despite the fact that she is trying to persuade people that women does not talk more than men, she does not use strong words or expressions that could angers the readers. Her tone is very neutral, for instance, she uses ‘seems’ several