Showing 61-34 of 34 results

Point of Clarification (or “POC”)

2022-07-21

General Definition: A point of clarification is offered if the speaker has said something that the opponent missed or did not understand. See also “Points of Information“. Public Forum: Not used in PF, where “Crossfire” and “Grand Crossfire” are used for asking questions instead. World Schools Debate: see general definition. …

Point of Information (or “POI”)

2022-07-21

General Definition: A point of information is a question or statement posed to a speaker during the unprotected time of their speech. Questions offered should be limited to 15 seconds in length and should not be offered more than once every 20 seconds during an opponent’s speech time. See also …

Point-By-Point

2022-07-21

General Definition: Going down the flow in order and addressing each argument one-by-one, or “point-by-point”. See also “Line-By-Line“. Public Forum: Not a common phrase in PF, where “Line-By-Line” is used instead. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: see general definition.

Prep Time

2022-07-21

General Definition: Time alloted for debaters to prepare upcoming speeches. Public Forum: In PF, debaters have 4 minutes of prep time over the course of the entire debate to use as needed. Typically, debaters will keep track of how much time they have used, although the judge may time debaters …

Prime Minister (or “PM”)

2022-07-21

General Definition: The first speaker for the opening government in a British Parliamentary (BP) debate. PM is a five-minute speech. Public Forum: not used in PF. World Schools Debate: not used in WSD. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: not used in CNDF.

Probability

2022-07-21

General Definition: A form of impact weighing that analyzes the likelihood of an impact to occur. See also “Likelihood“. Public Forum: In PF, probability is developed through both the specificity of examples or analysis, as well as statistical analysis drawn from expert research. World Schools Debate: Though not a common …

Proof

2022-07-21

General Definition: A method for demonstrating why a claim might be true, including examples, logic, data, and expert opinion. Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: see general definition.

Proposition

2022-07-21

General Definition: The side supporting the motion in a debate. Public Forum: Proposition is not a common phrase in PF, where “Pro” or “Affirmative” are used instead. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: see general definition.

Protected Time

2022-07-21

General Definition: The first and last minute of a speech allocated for time when opponents are not allowed to offer POIs i.e. speech time that is protected from POIs. Public Forum: Not used in PF, where “Crossfire” and “Grand Crossfire” are used to ask questions instead. World Schools Debate: In …

Re-Dos (or “Speech Re-Dos”)

2022-07-21

General Definition: A practice technique that involves giving a speech a second time, usually after judge or team feedback, to improve persuasiveness, word economy, and strategy. Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: see general definition.

Reason for Decision (or “RFD”)

2022-07-21

General Definition: The judge’s analysis of why they voted for the winning team. Public Forum: see general definition. World Schools Debate: see general definition. British Parliamentary: see general definition. Canadian National Debate Format: see general definition.

Rebuilding

2022-07-21

General Definition: When a speaker both responds to arguments made against their own case and provides extension, or repetition, of key arguments made by their partner(s) in the previous speech(es). See also “Reconstruction“. Public Forum: Not a common phrase in PF, where “Frontlining” is used instead. World Schools Debate: see …