Interesting insight from Richard Nordquist’s Grammar & Composition Blog on “Obama’s Secret for Stirring a Crowd.”

One of his secrets:  He uses the “rule of three.”

Meaning, that when he gives examples he always gives three of them and he always starts them with the same word(s).  It’s pleasurable.  It’s hypnotic.  It’s effective.

Job interview coming up?  You can use this same tool.  Say a prospective boss asks, “Why do you want this job?” 

You might say, “I want this job because I respect what your company is doing in the field of X, because I feel I can make some real contributions to X, and because to me it’s the natural next step in my career.”

Three is the perfect number–enough to feel substantive but not so many that the interviewer boggles or gets bored.  Starting each example with the same word (e.g., “because”) makes it easy for your listener to follow your train of thought.

You can use the “rule of three” a LOT without people noticing that you are always naming three examples.  All they will notice is how pleasant it is to listen to and understand you.

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