Thought groups are another aspect of spoken English rhythm that can have a beneficial impact on your intelligibility. Thought groups allow you to organize your speech into groups of words that make up a single idea (Grant, 2010). They help your listener(s) better understand the information in your speech by organizing your ideas into comprehensible “packages” that are easy to process (Grant, 2010).

And so even though / we face the difficulties / of today and tomorrow / I still have a dream / it is a dream / deeply rooted / in the American dream / I have a dream / that one day / this nation will rise up / and live out the true meaning of its creed / “We hold these truths to be self-evident / that all men are created equal” I have a dream / that one day on the red hills of Georgia / the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners / will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood / I have a dream / that one day even the state of Mississippi / a state sweltering with the / heat of / injustice / sweltering with the heat of oppression / will be transformed / into an oasis of / freedom and justice I have a dream / that my four little children / will one day live in a nation / where they will not be judged by the color of their skin / but by the content of their character / I have a dream today!