From ancient Greece to the late 19th Century，eloquence was a central part of Western education，supporting the need to train public speakers and writers to move audiences to action with arguments。
What role do words play in our world？
“If you are an employer，do you prefer the silent or the talkative？”a student wrote in an e-mail to me a week ago。“In my opinion，”he continued，“today it is more critical to communicate with supervisors，classmates，especially teammates，after all cooperation plays a more significant role than ever before。”
Few of us will ever appear in the presence of a general，a statesman，like Cleopatra in front of Caesar。Not too many will become leading politicians or public speakers。But even in an increasingly visual world we still communicate through words。But while social networks flourish language seems to wither。There is no way to be eloquent with poor vocabulary。So how do we achieve eloquence？
There is a very simple answer。Read。Read。Read。It increases vocabulary，trains the accuracy of expression，the use of metaphors and storytelling。It improves the ability to advance a view，to lay out a thought，to present an idea。Listen to great speeches available in the internet。Eloquence is the ability to be able to use，understand and interpret a certain language，and to be able to express yourself in it。With the number of people reading books in constant decline，those who have good reading habits increase their chance to stand out。
“Words define the borders of our world。”The Internet has eliminated the borders of communication，but it is still words that set our limits。How wide or how narrow these limits are depends on you。