1. Speech

lecture ▪ address ▪ talk ▪ sermonThese are all words for a talk given to an audience.speech a formal talk given to an audience:

Several people made speeches at the wedding.

lecture a talk given to a group of people to tell them about a particular subject, often as part of a university or college course:

a lecture on the Roman army

a course/​series of lectures

address a formal speech given to an audience:

a televised presidential address

speech or address?A speech can be given on a public or private occasion; an address is always public: He gave an address at the wedding.talk a fairly informal session in which somebody tells a group of people about a subject:

She gave an interesting talk on her visit to China.

sermon a talk on a moral or religious subject, usually given by a religious leader during a service:

to preach a sermon

*Patterns

a long/​short speech/​lecture/​address/​talk/​sermon

a keynote speech/​lecture/​address

to write/​prepare/​give/​deliver/​hear a(n) speech/​lecture/​address/​talk/​sermon

to attend/​go to a lecture/​talk

2. Target

objective ▪ goal ▪ object ▪ endThese are all words for something that you are trying to achieve.target a result that you try to achieve:

Set yourself targets that you can reasonably hope to achieve.

 attainment targets in schools

objective (rather formal) something that you are trying to achieve:

What is the main objective of this project?

goal something that you hope to achieve:

He continued to pursue his goal of becoming an actor.

The object is to educate people about road safety.

end something that you plan to achieve:

He joined the society for political ends.

That’s only OK if you believe that the end justifies the means (= bad methods of doing something are acceptable if the final result is good).

Patterns

to work towards a(n) target/​objective/​goal

a(n) ambitious/​major/​long-term/​short-term/​future target/​objective/​goal

economic/​financial/​business targets/​objectives/​goals