Intonation in English

INTONATION GENERAL RULES: Falling intonation indicates definiteness and completeness Rising tone indicates uncertainty, incompleteness and politeness Falling- rising tone indicates contrast, implication, disagreement, contradiction, warning, etc A Falling intonation Falling intonation describes how the voice falls on the final stressed syllable of a phrase or a group of words.It is commonly found in statements, commands, wh-questions (information questions), confirmatory question tags and exclamations Examples: Statements: Nice to meet ↘you Poverty is the lack of ↘ money Commands: Write your name ↘here Show me what you’ve ↘written Wh-questions: What country you come ↘from? Where you ↘work? Confirmatory question tags: I failed the test because I didn't revise, did ↘ I? Exclamations: How nice of ↘ you! That's just what I ↘need! B Rising intonation Rising intonation describes how the voice rises at the end of a sentence It is normally used with yes/no questions, and question tags that are real questions Examples: Yes/no questions: Do you like your new ➚teacher? Have you finished ➚already? Question tags that are real questions: We've met already, ➚haven't we? You like fish, ➚don't you? C Fall-rise intonation: Fall-rise intonation describes how the voice falls and then rises We use rise-fall intonation for choices, lists, unfinished thoughts and c onditional sentences… Example: Choices: Are you having ➚soup or ➘salad? Is John leaving on ➚Thursday or ➘Friday? Lists: We've got ➚apples, pears, bananas and ➘oranges The sweater comes in ➚blue, white pink and ➘black Unfinished thoughts: Do you like my new handbag? Well the ➚leather is ➘nice ( but I don't like it.) What was the meal like? Hmm, the ➚fish was ➘good (but the rest wasn't great) Conditional sentences: If he ➚calls, ask him to leave a ➘message Unless he ➚insists, I'm not going to ➘go D PRACTICE Look at the following short passages Use the symbol ↗ with a rising intonation and ↘ with a falling intonation Then read them aloud with your partners In higher education, some argue that it is especially important for students to be assigned projects and material suitable for self-learning, so that they may exercise and develop intellectual independence and explore subject matter they personally find interesting One study suggests that self-study, in addition to being more affordable and convenient, is surpassing classroom learning as far as effectiveness Self-study and traditional classroom learning complement one another When used together, they help students learn and retain information better Levels of illiteracy and innumeracy remain startlingly high in the developing world, and will continue to be so until the West provides or sponsors new education initiatives, preferably also getting directly involved A better education is a prerequisite should the impoverished masses of Africa ever wish to hold any genuine hope of gaining their emancipation from the metaphorical shackles of poverty Education initiatives for young people as well as life-long learning programmes will also help to breach the gulf that separates the working classes from their ruling elite, a privileged few who enjoy the trappings of Western wealth and the lifestyle that goes with it, while those in their midst are completely preoccupied with the daily struggle for survival Human have always risen to any challenge, and unlike most species on this planet we have an insatiable desire to see what is around the next corner… and the next… and the next Primitive man may well have migrated at first for reasons of survival, as did other species, but at some point this must have developed into a thirst for adventure and a hunger to discover more about his surroundings 4 This itch of curiosity has led to great feats of exploration Our achievements are enormous – think of Everest, the North and South Pole, the Amazon, the Sahara and even the Moon Next on the list could be Mars, and that’s corner we’re already peeping round How many other corners are waiting for us, how many more places will humans manage to explore? Are the possibilities endless or will our physical limitations prevent us one day from going any further? ... leave a ➘message Unless he ➚insists, I'm not going to ➘go D PRACTICE Look at the following short passages Use the symbol ↗ with a rising intonation and ↘ with a falling intonation Then read them... and innumeracy remain startlingly high in the developing world, and will continue to be so until the West provides or sponsors new education initiatives, preferably also getting directly involved... intellectual independence and explore subject matter they personally find interesting One study suggests that self-study, in addition to being more affordable and convenient, is surpassing classroom