These days we are watching the slow death of one of English's seemingly most important elements – the declarative sentence.  From what I gather through listening, nothing is certain anymore.  Statements – definite or otherwise – no longer end confidently with the unequivocal period, but rather trail off into the interrogative with a slight questioning tone and the ambiguous 'You know?"

"I was walking to History yesterday?  And I saw John?"  Was the speaker walking to history yesterday?  Did she see John?  Or is she in fact asking her listener for an answer?  Nothing is asserted anymore; rather, we present to others semi-certain ideas for which we desire some sort of verification, whether that be an encouraging "Mmhmm" or the slightly more eloquent "Yeah."

Do we really need to question ourselves as such?  Maybe this is just another, you know, symptom of our increasing disarticulate...osity?  And also partly due to a lack of vocabulary for getting our thoughts across to others and…stuff.  We need encouragement from others…so…yeah.   I think maybe it's kind of a thing where we have no idea what we're saying – you know, what our ideas are even in our own head – so, like, how is anybody else going to get it? You know what I'm saying?

Eloquence is a trait of conscientious people who understand that communication is the basis of life as we know it, and who therefore strive to maintain a level of coherency in all their words, both spoken and written.  There is no need to speak with doubt when you understand what you're saying and know that you're saying it in such a manner that others will understand it too.  So go ahead, throw back your shoulders, look your listener straight in the eye, and do what few people today dare to do – speak declaratively.