A collaboration between Lewis Mclain & AI
“The secret is in the diction.”
—A lesson often associated with Morgan Freeman
I have a simple request.
Please… slow down.
And please… enunciate.
If you’re speaking to a room that includes senior citizens, understand that many of us are not asking you to speak louder. We’re asking you to finish your words.
There is a world of difference.
As we grow older, many of us develop hearing loss. Ironically, we often hear voices well enough. What we lose first are the higher frequencies—the crisp consonants that distinguish one word from another. We hear the vowels. We miss the endings.
When a speaker races through a sentence, lowers the volume on the final words, or swallows the last consonants, the message becomes a puzzle.
We’re not hearing less.
We’re hearing less clearly.
That distinction matters.
The Vanishing Last Word
One of the greatest frustrations is what I call “the disappearing sentence.”
A speaker begins with confidence and volume. Then, somewhere near the end, the voice fades away until the final word simply evaporates.
That last word often carries the meaning of the entire sentence.
It is the difference between singular and plural.
Present and past.
Affirmation and negation.
One missed consonant can force the listener to reconstruct the entire sentence from context.
After doing this for thirty or forty minutes, listening becomes exhausting.
Morgan Freeman Was Right
Morgan Freeman possesses one of the most recognizable voices in the world.
People often assume the secret is his deep voice.
It isn’t.
Freeman has explained that one of the greatest lessons he learned was diction.
He was taught to speak distinctly and to hit his final consonants.
That is wonderful advice—not only for actors, but for pastors, teachers, professors, broadcasters, politicians, and anyone who speaks to groups.
The authority of a voice doesn’t come from how deep it is.
It comes from how clearly it communicates.
Faster Is Not Better
Somewhere along the way, we’ve mistaken speed for enthusiasm.
We have speakers who talk at auctioneer speed.
Podcasters who never pause.
Preachers who sprint through Scripture.
Teachers who finish one sentence before the previous one has landed.
Communication isn’t a race.
The purpose of speaking isn’t to finish.
The purpose is to be understood.
A thoughtful pause is not dead air.
It is a gift to the listener.
Churches Need to Hear This
Perhaps nowhere is this more important than in the church.
Many congregations include people in their seventies, eighties, and nineties.
These faithful members have spent decades supporting the church, teaching Sunday school, serving on committees, raising families, and praying for the congregation.
Now they simply want to hear the sermon.
Yet too often the microphone is excellent while the diction is poor.
The preacher rushes.
Scripture is read at breakneck speed.
The last syllables disappear.
The congregation misses words—not because they aren’t listening, but because they cannot distinguish the sounds.
The tragedy is that a sermon may be full of wisdom while parts of it never reach the ears that long to hear it.
Finish the Sentence
One habit would improve almost every public speaker.
Finish every sentence as strongly as you began it.
Don’t let your voice drift downward.
Don’t mumble the ending.
Don’t swallow the final consonant.
Complete the thought.
Complete the word.
Complete the message.
Your audience will thank you.
Never Make the Audience Work Harder Than the Speaker
That may be the greatest rule of public speaking.
If listeners spend their energy trying to decode your words, they have little energy left to absorb your ideas.
The responsibility belongs to the speaker.
Not the audience.
A Gift to Every Generation
Although I write this as a senior citizen, this isn’t only about seniors.
Young people benefit from clear speech.
Children benefit.
Those learning English benefit.
People joining by livestream benefit.
Anyone sitting in the back row benefits.
Good diction is an act of courtesy.
It says, “Your understanding matters to me.”
My Plea
So, if you stand behind a pulpit…
If you teach a classroom…
If you lead a meeting…
If you host a podcast…
If you speak from a stage…
Please remember those of us whose hearing is not what it once was.
Slow down just a little.
Pause between thoughts.
Pronounce every word.
Hit the final consonants.
Finish the last syllable.
Because sometimes the most important word in the sentence…
…is the last one.
And we’d really like to hear it.
I think this would resonate with many readers, especially if published in a church newsletter, denominational magazine, or senior adults’ publication. It makes a practical point without sounding bitter, and it closes with a memorable appeal.