This post is in partnership with The Muse. The article below was originally published on The Muse. People speak very differently depending on their audience. You might tell your friends things that ...

When I was 24, I gave a speech at my grandfather’s wake. As the oldest grandchild, I took my responsibility seriously, writing my speech beforehand, carefully choosing every word and punctuation mark.

Much of our success rides on persuading people to do a certain thing, make a particular decision, or behave a certain way. That persuasion is almost always in the form of verbal communication -- ...