Critique a Speaker’s Diction and Syntax

When you critique an oral or media presentation, two of the most important things to evaluate are its diction and syntax. Those words are sometimes used interchangeably, but they actually mean different things:

Diction means a speaker or writer's choice of words, while syntax means how those words are put together.

In English, there are many different ways to say the same thing. So diction and syntax become the hallmarks of a writer or speaker's style.