Speech into writing
Both speech and writing can be formal or informal. Whether language is formal or informal depends on who our readers and listeners are, for what purpose we use the language and the situation in which we use it. For example, an official notice would be written in formal English, whereas the same information would be more commonly written informally by an individual in a less public situation: …

speech | American Dictionary

speech
noun
us/spitʃ/

speechnoun (TALKING)

[ U ]
the ability to talk, or the activity of talking:
People who suffer a stroke may experience a loss of speech.
[ U ]
Your speech is also your way of talking:
His speech became slurred and indistinct.
[ U ]
Speech can also mean the language used when talking:
Some expressions are used more in speech than in writing.

speechnoun (FORMAL TALK)

[ C ]
a formal talk given usually to a large number of people on a special occasion:
an acceptance speech
I’m nervous about the speech I’m making tomorrow.

Examples of speech

speech
In political speeches and policy documents the tensions between equity, need and choice are reconciled into a seamless narrative of the move towards modernity.
Political speeches and policy documents offer several different resolutions to this tension.
His speeches were peppered with reviews of national legislation, along with foreign and imperial affairs.
The substance of his speeches is usually nothing said in schoolboy florid rhetoric.
The versification is mixed, but several long speeches, as well as much of the dialogue, is in octosyllabic couplets.
Although responses on flag burning are significantly correlated with data on protest speeches (r 0.33) and public rallies (r 0.37), the relationships are moderate.
Surprisingly little use is made of the protagonists' own writings and speeches, which should have been the first line of study.
As the volume approaches the present, more and more space is taken up by lengthy quotations from speeches and documents rather than accounts of them.
Workmen did not always listen in silence ; ' mutinous courses ' and ' contemptuous speeches ' expressed a more ugly mood.
Several speeches at the 1897 congress alluded to the perceived significance of theatre beyond mere entertainment.
Like a poet laureate, this professor often had to write poems and speeches for festive occasions, such as the king's birthday or the university's birthday.
Interviews and press conferences differ from speeches and, even more, from written documents, because one's interlocutors are physically present and are there to ask questions.
The bridge was formally opened amid a fanfare of self-congratulation, reinforced by a parade, official speeches, fireworks and massive press coverage.
In reporting speeches, as in reporting the ' hard news ', a commitment to nonpartisan ' newsgathering ' could limit the effectiveness of a particular policy advocacy.
The first layer are those written almost contemporaneously, on the basis of speeches, public documents, and newspaper reports.
See all examples of speech
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations withspeech

speech

These are words often used in combination with speech.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

after-dinner speech
It might be said that this or that was wrong in somebody's after-dinner speech.
From the
Hansard archive