By the same Author LIVING ENGLISH STRUCTURE LIVING ENGLISH STRUCTURE FOR SCHOOLS LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH STRESS AND INTONATION PRACTICE FOR THE FOREIGN STUDENT By W. STANNARD ALLEN, B.a. (LOND.) LONGMANSWe are indebted to the Proprietors of Punch for per- mission to include Mum's the Word, by Marjorie Riddell, which appeared in the issue of March qth, 1953. WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT This book is designed for use in English classes for foreign students, its purpose being to present the basic principles of stress and intonation and to provide copious practical exercises. The vocabulary of the exercises is deliberately simple, many of them being quite suitable for students who have been learning for less than six months. This book is not a course in itself, but rather a graded set of supplementary exercises for providing practice in stress, rhythm and intonation at all stages of learning English. The notes and remarks are intended for the teacher, to acquaint him with the point of each exercise and suggest how it might be practised. Exercises appro- priate to the standard of the class can be worked through as part of the conversation or spoken English hour, pre- ceded where necessary by a blackboard exposition of the points to be practised. The teacher’s notes and remarks are deliberately telegraphic and concentrated, and for that reason, if the teacher feels that they would prove helpful to the class, they should always be re-stated and elaborated before an exercise is done. Apart from the stress exercises with polysyllabic words, the vocabulary of even the advanced exercises is fairly simple (falling for the most part well within the range of the well-known Essential English series), so that little difficulty is experienced in switching from one group to another if the ability of any particular set of students seems to warrant it. As this book is intended for the use of all types of foreign students of English, and not only students vitvill LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH specializing in the language, it has not been written in a phonetic script. Examples and exercises are in the normal orthography apart from a few isolated instances, where a broad type of transcription (as found in Daniel Jones’s Pronouncing Dictionary) is used. It would be an unneces- sary obstacle to the average student if he had to learn to read a phonetic script fluently first. The diacritics necessary as a guide to the required stress or intonation have been added to a normal script, and by combining these with cer- tain typographical devices it has been possible to present even complex patterns in the form of exercises that ate readily understood. I must conclude these introductory remarks with sincere thanks to the many anonymous students who have un- wittingly contributed to the book whenever they opened their mouths; to my wife for providing a lot of extra prac- tice material; and to Milica Rekalié of Belgrade for de- voting so many of her spare hours to making a typed draft from my original hieroglyphics, a feat only possible to one brought up on cursive cyrillics. W. S, ALLen Belgrade April 1953 BOOK LIST Although a number of familiar intonation patterns in English appears for the first time in this book as deliberate practice material, the general background of this subject has already been covered in many books and articles. On these the writer of this book has based many of the exer- cises, and students or teachers who are curious to make a more detailed examination of this aspect of English should consult the standard textbooks on the subject. The follow- ing books would probably be the most useful for an average gencral student: D. JONES: Outline of English Phonetics, Ch. 28-31 (Teffer). ARMSTRONG AND WARD: Handbook of English Intonation (Heffer). IDA WARD: Phonetics of English, Ch. 15-16 (Heffer), PALMER AND BLANDFORD: Everyday Sentences in Spoken English (Heffer). R. LAS VERGNAS: Les piéges de l'anglais parlé (Hachette). KENNETH L, PIKE: The Intonation of American English (Univ. of Michigan). ROGER KINGDON: Articles in English Language Teaching (British Council). Volume II, Nos. 4, 5, 6. Volume ITI, Nos. 1, 7. Published as separate brochure entitled Teaching of English Intonation.SUMMARY OF NOTATION AND TYPOGRAPHY ‘The following list of signs and types is for reference only. More detailed explanation is given in the notes to the appropriate exercises, Stress and rhythm lis placed before a syllable or word having stress. E.g. belfore. Ooo0 pictorial representation of rhythmic groups of stressed syllables (big squares) and unstressed syllables (little squares). E.g. 'take it alway Oo0O Music notation is used in addition where it is necessary to show the exact stress-pattern or uneven rhythms, Eg. 2 Jaldt | in a tbook £7 d | ‘attitude 2 a d | laptitude Intonation Introductory unstressed syllables are printed in ttalics. The stressed syllable that begins a fall or a rise in the ‘une is printed in bold type. ‘The accent to indicate this fall is * ‘The accent to indicate this rise is, A new high pitch in longer sentences is preceded by t x SUMMARY OF NOTATION AND TYPOGRAPHY x@ Examples: He will \come to‘day, 'Can you 'come to,day? He lasked us to 'tell him the f right way to “do it. The intonation of the model sentence at the beginning of each exercise is also shown graphically between two parallel lines. These lines represent the approximate upper and lower limits of the voice, with dashes to show stressed syllables, and dots to show unstressed ones. The three examples just used would be shown graphically as follows: (a) He will ‘come to‘day. a ee (b) 'Can you !come to,day? = ay (c) He lasked us to !tell him the t 'right way to ‘do it. . SS ge ao tes Syllables taking a stress in order to convey a special meaning, that is, in order to give them particular promi- nence in the speaker's thoughts, are printed in CAPITALS. Example: But ke wrote ‘YOUR name in ‘MY book, The above sentence shown graphically; But he wrote YOUR name in ‘MY book. Ae ee ee es TT This kind of stress, when occurring together with axn LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH rising *ntonation, produces the characteristic wave (fall- rise) that is found at the end of so many English sentences. It is printed here as follows :— Example: But J ‘CAN'T come to¥DAY, The above sentence shown graphically: But I*CAN'T come toYDAY. sid OO aha The division between two intonation patterns in one sentence is shown by a vertical stroke. Example: They were ‘too ‘late | ,weren't they? ‘The above sentence shown graphically: They were too ‘late, ;weren’t they? # oy OL INTRODUCTORY NOTES An English course for foreigners must necessarily con- centrate on the structure of the English language. It cannot teach much about the spoken language apart from offering a guide to pronunciation. Most of the practical work in spoken English must be devised by the teacher; normally he uses either more or less spoken English in his classes in proportion to his own ability in the language. This book is designed to give systematic practice in the spoken lan- guage. It assumes a basic knowledge of the sounds of English and provides graded exercises in the less easily defined world of stress, rhythm and intonation. Stress, rhythm and intonation should really be considered as a whole, for they are very closely connected elements of a single aspect of the language that we might call Speech Flow. Speech is essentially movement, However accur- ately we learn to pronounce the isolated sounds of a language we mfust still train ourselves to set them in motion in the right manner if we wish to make ourselves easily under- stood, A student of music learns the theory of combining sounds into harmonic sequences, yet he does not create music until he can make this material move in a melodic shape. Music has its Stress in the regular recurrence of beats; it has its own Rhythm; and melody is its Intonation. Spoken language behaves in a broadly similar way. The sounds of English and isolated syllables, like notes or chords in music, only become intelligible when set in motion. This movement-—its beats, its rhythms and its melody— xiiixiv LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH is the theme that this book develops throughout its series of controlled exercises, Broadly speaking, a reasonably correct speech-flow is more important for intelligibility than correct sounds. It is possible to carry on an intelligible English conversation in a series of mumbles and grunts, provided the voice- movement is correct. English people often do this when exchanging a few words on a trivial topic, though we do not suggest that foreign students should take examples of this kind of intercourse as their models, On the other hand, some foreign speakers of English, even though they learn to make English sounds quite well, fail to acquire a suffi- ciently accurate speech-flow. The result is that English- speaking people find it quite difficult to understand them; and they, for their part, complain that English people mis- pronounce or swallow half their wards. This book consists of exercises on all the aspects of spoken English that contain problems for a foreign student. There are, however, no drills on individual sounds, Most class text-books on modern lines contain sufficient practice material on the sounds themselves.’ Here you will find material to practise typical English speech patterns, Al- though it is wiser not to make a rigid division between the elements of Stress, Rhythm and Intonation, this book does in fact present its exercises to the student in that order. The carlier exercises are purely on the stressing of words in phrases and sentences; this leads to speech rhythms, with exercises on typical English rhythmic patterns; and the final (and longest) section of the book deals with intona- tion, presupposing some knowledge of stress and rhythm. Nevertheless, teachers will find that exercises can be ! The graded pronunciation drills thar run through the first three books of the well-known Essential English method, by C. E. Eckersley (Long: mans, Green), provide an excellent example of this. INTRODUCTORY NOTES xv practised from all three sections simultaneously. The vocabulary is simple and up-to-date; and, except for the exercises on the secondary stress of long words, it is well within the range of fairly elementary students. The book is not intended to be “ worked through” in the manner of an ordinary text-book, An exercise or two should be used at every opportunity for oral practice as part of the classwork in spoken English. An important feature of a large number of the exercises, especially thase on stress and rhythm, is repetition. Phrases or patterns are to be repeated two or three times, and the teacher must insist on unhurried regularity, taking care to start off the next phrase himself at the same regular pace, This kind of exercise can be kept steady more easily by practising a group of people rather than individual students. The tapping of a ruler or pencil, or hand movement as for the restrained conducting of a choir, will certainly be needed from time to time. If any real progress is to be made towards a type of spoken English that sounds natural, faulty speech-flow should be corrected at every opportunity; an exercise in grammar done orally should at the same time be treated as an exercise in the spoken language. It is important to start good habits right from the very first lessons, for five minutes’ drill in the early stages is worth fifty minutes at a later stage when bad habits have already been allowed to form. It is not necessary to spend too much time on trying to perfect the pronunciation of elementary students, but they should be made to imitate the broader features of the spoken language whenever they use it. By spending too much time on the sounds of English im the early stages of 1 Oxford Progrestive English for Adult Learners, by A. S. Homby, published by Oxford University Press, 1953, hag work on stress and in- tonalion as 49 integral part of the carly atayes of learning.xvi LIVING ENGLISH SPEECIL learning the language a student will fail to see the wood for the trees; for the key to intelligibility lies more in knowing how to move the voice according to accepted patterns of stress and melody than in making or recognizing correctly the component sounds. STRESS AND RHYTHM When English is spoken, we can hear that some syllables stand out above the others. This can be quite an objective feature of specch, since it is just as marked when reading a list of words from a dictionary as when we are engaged in conversation. We can also give special point to our ideas by stressing certain vital words as we speak. In print we put words specially stressed in this way in italics, or in writing a personal letter we can underline such words when we Wish to be sure that the reader has exactly the shade of meaning we wish to express. This special stress for em~- phasis, unlike the natural stress of words in an objective setting, usually affects the intonation. For this reason exercises on it are delayed until the appropriate place among exercises on intonation. We shall begin with exercises on the stress and rhythm of words in phrases and sentences, (The complicated subject of the correct stressing of individual words of several syllables will be found ag an appendix with further exercises at the back of the book.) Spoken English shows a marked contrast between its stressed (strong) and unstressed (weak) syllables, a fact which largely accounts for its character- istic rhythmic patterns. Some languages' make very little difference between syllables in the matter of streas. Native speakers of such languages find it especially difficult to achieve a natural speech-flow in English; they would be advised, therefore, to do the stress and rhythm exercises carefully and to return to them from time to time, *e.g. French. 12 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH For the sake of the exercises that comprise the greater part of this book, work on stress and rhythm has been somewhat artificially separated from that on intonation. It is stress, however, that largely dictates the significant moves of the voice up or down, and an ability to stress a phrase correctly will help to guide the speaker to use the correct intonation, for the voice changes its direction only on stressed syllables, Stress and rhythm are even more closely connected; we might draw a useful musical parallel by likening stress to the main beats or pulse, and rhythm to the various patterns of movement that fill the spaces from one pulse to another. One cannot rely too much on this musical analogy, however, since the pulse and rhythm of conversational speech or of prose-reading will be of a much freer pattern than the moré regularly recurring musical bars. Nevertheless, for the sake of practice, many of the exercises that follow should be done under a kind of musical discipline with an insistence on rhythmic regularity. Sentence stress It can be generally assumed that in any normal sentence we shall stress (or give full sound value to) the significant words only. These are briefly: 1. Nouns (and some pronouns, notably interrogatives). 2. Demonstratives (this, that, etc.). 3. Adjectives. 4. Most adverbs, 5. Verbs (and auxiliaries in certain circumstances). The other words in a sentence, mostly form-words to join together the words that carry meaning, are normally unstressed, many of them having special weak forms, Prepositions, auxiliaries, conjunctions and pronouns make up the greater part. The syllables bearing stress proceed at a STRESS AND RHYTHM 3 fairly regular pace, the unstressed syllables being accom- modated between them in varying rhythmic sequences. The latter provide one of the greatest difficulties for the foreign student, who generally tries to give them a fuller pronunciation than is due to them. We can see this most clearly by comparing sentences with many significant words (and therefore many stresses) with sentences consisting mainly of form-words (and therefore of few stresses), Consider the following four sentences: the first and second have rr and 12 words respectively, 10 of them being stressed; the third and fourth have 14 and 16 words respectively with only 4 stresses each. Yet the longer sentences take only half the time to say that the shorter ones take. The unstressed words, crowded to- gether between the steadily moving pulses, are spoken quite quickly compared with the shorter sentences full of the stressed syllables. it. 'Bert’s 'friend 'John has ‘just 'sold !two !very Ifine lold ‘paintings. 2. The 'Daniel 'Jones Pro!nouncing ‘Dictionary 'lists Imost ‘versions of ‘modern 'English pronunci‘ation. 3. 'What would you have ‘done if he had 'talked to you in the ‘street? 4. It mould have been "better not to have 'paid for it be'fore you had re‘ceived it. The last two in a phonetic transcription: . lwot wud ju av dan if hi ad 'tozkt ta ju in da 'strizt. 4. it wud av bin 'beta not tu av !peid fr it bi!f:jud ri'si:vd it, The ability te move smoothly and steadily from one stress to the next, and to fit in the unstressed syllables between them, forms the basis of a good natural English accent. For that reason our first forty exercises or so are devoted to we4 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH practising points of stress and rhythm only. In all these first exercises the students, whether practising in groups or individually, should aim at regularity and a steady well- accented speed. There should be no attempt to hurry be- cause so many of the exercises seem easy. Group practice is most valuable, possibly more valuable than with single students, and the group should be guided by the teacher. He can do this by “conducting” his choir, or by beating the necessary pulse on his desk. Exercises on stress or rhythm should always be done by repeating each phrase three or four times; care should be taken to keep the rhythin moving smoothly over the whole set of phrases, pausing between each repetition of the phrase if the regu- larity of the stress seems to require it. EXERCISES ON STRESS AND RHYTHM Exercise r. Adjacent stresses Note. The following word combinations in English usually have a full stress on each word: adjective-noun; adverb-adjective; adverb-verb. In this exercise the second of the two words is to be read with a falling intonation, viz.: 'very ‘cold s Read each of the following groups three times after the teacher's single reading. "brown ‘dog, 'sharp ‘pen, !round ‘table, 'curly “hair, ‘blue ‘shirt, ‘large ‘house, ‘beautiful ‘girl, ‘green ‘grass, 'fresh* fruit, 'very ‘hard, 'quite ‘pleasant, "badly ‘written, ‘nearly “finished, !all ‘gone, lalmost ‘everything, 'fairly “quick, ‘half-‘dressed, ‘well ‘done, ex!tremely intelligent, lvery-ex‘pensive, 'bright ‘light, ‘sweet ‘voice, !clear ‘sky, \best ‘hat, wrong ‘answer, !good ‘luck, 'English ‘language, 'far ‘prettier, ‘carefully pre‘pared, ‘bitterly ‘cold, 'badly “written, ‘hot ‘water, ‘main ‘road, "heavy ‘traffic, !modern ‘writer, 'quite ‘useless, ‘heavy ‘rain, 'Bank ‘Holiday, ‘empty ‘bottle, 'lead ‘pencil. "Least 'said, 'soonest ‘mended. (More ‘haste, less ‘speed, See also Appendix, Exercise 153, for loss of one stress in certain of the above types because of adjacent stressed words, 56 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Exercise z. Several adjacent stresses Note, When several “content” words occur together, care must be taken to give them full stresses, The stressed syllables in this exercise should be spaced in a regular rhythm. Read the following barred sections, The teacker reads a section once, the students repeat it three times in steady rhythm before the teacher proceeds to the next bar. 1. a ‘book / a 'good ‘book / a 'very !good ‘book / a 'very ‘good “text-book /a 'very Igood !school ‘text-book. 2. a ‘cloth / a 'piece of ‘cloth / a 'piece of 'white ‘cloth | a ‘large 'piece of ‘white ‘cloth / a ‘large 'piece of 'Ipure Iwhite ‘cloth. 3. a ‘doll { Mary's “doll f 'Mary’s '!new ‘doll f !Mary’s 'new 'china ‘doll / "Mary's 'two 'new !china “dolls. 4. a ‘boy/a 'naughty ‘boy /a 'very 'naughty ‘boy /a ‘very ‘naughty 'English ‘schoolboy. 5. the ‘day /the 'whole ‘day / '!nearly the ‘whole ‘day / ‘very 'nearly the Iwhole ‘day / 'very 'ncarly the 'whole ‘day ‘long. 6, a ‘cup / an lempty ‘cup / an lempty !cup and ‘saucer / an lempty lcup and a 'broken ‘saucer / 'two ‘empty ‘cups and a 'broken ‘saucer. 7. a ‘lorry | a "heavy ‘lorry / a theavy 'lorry with a ‘load / a theavy "lorry with a ‘load of ‘wood / a ‘heavy 'lorry with a 'full "load of ‘wood /a ‘heavy "lorry with a full load of 'two 'tons of ‘wood. 8. ‘whisky / 'Scotch ‘whisky / a 'bottle of 'Scotch ‘whisky [a tbortle of ‘genuine 'Scotch ‘whisky / 'half a !bottle of 'genuine 'Scotch ‘whisky. g. a ‘clock / my 'friend’s ‘clock /the 'hands of my lfriend’s ‘clock / the Imetal ‘hands of my 'friend’s ‘clock / the ‘two 'broken 'metal 'hands of my 'friend’s ‘clock. 1, 13. Tq. 15. 16, 17. 19. 20, STRESS PATTERNS ” a “hat /a ‘straw ‘hat /a ‘dirty 'straw ‘hat /a ‘very Idirty Istraw ‘hat. a ‘church / an !old ‘church / an lold 'Catholic ‘church jan ‘old 'Roman 'Catholic ‘church fa ‘very 'old 'Roman 'Catholic ‘church. . ‘shoes a 'pair of ‘shoes /a ‘dirty 'pair of ‘shoes / a Idirty '!pair of 'brown ‘shoes / a ‘dirty 'pair of 'brown. Neather ‘shoes / a 'yery 'dirty !pair of 'brown ‘leather ‘shoes | Itwo !very 'dirty 'pairs of !brown ‘leather ‘shoes, the ‘palace / the 'Crystal ‘Palace / the !Crystal 'Palace Exhi‘bition / the great 'Crystal Palace Exhi*bition / the 'great 'Crystal 'Palace Exhi‘bition of 'eighteen- fifty-‘one, a ‘cloth / a linen ‘cloth /a linen ‘table-cloth / a !white linen ‘table-cloth / a 'clean white 'inen ‘table-cloth. ‘soap-flakes / a 'soap-flake ‘packet / a 'Lux 'soap-flake ‘packet / an ‘empty 'Lux 'soap-flake ‘packet. a ‘desk / an ‘oak ‘desk / an 'oak Idesk with ‘drawers / a 'polished 'oak 'desk with ‘drawers / a ‘polished 'oak ‘desk with 'large ‘drawers. a “telephone /a ‘public “telephone { !two 'public ‘telephones | 'two ‘public ‘telephones on 'Platform ‘4 / Itwo ‘new 'public 'telephones on 'Platform ‘4. . av‘light fan electric ‘ight / an electric “ight with a ‘shade / an e'lectric “ight with a ‘coloured ‘shade / ltwo electric Hights with 'coloured ‘shades, a ‘chair J an ‘arm*chair / 'Granny’s 'arm*chair / 'Granny’s !favourite !arm‘chair / the 'back of 'Granny's favourite 'arm‘chair. a ‘pic / an ‘apple ‘pie / a ‘blackberry and lapple ‘pie /a Marge 'blackberry and lapple ‘pie /a 'very "large 'black~ berry and ‘apple ‘pie /a ‘very ‘large 'well-'cooked 'blackberry and apple ‘pic /a !very ‘large! well-!cooked 'blackberry and ‘apple ‘pie with ‘whipped ‘cream.8 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Exercise 3. Stress patterns Note. The next twenty exercises are based on common patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables, They should all be prac- tised in the following manner. In accordance with the key pattern at the head of the exercise, the teacher reads the first phrase: and a student (or group of students) repeats it at least three times in succession, The teacher immediately reads the second phrase and the next student (or group) repeats it three times. The whole exercise should be performed in a regular unbroken rhythm as far as possible. In the key patterns a large square indicates a fully stressed syllable and a small square an unstressed or only partially stressed one. To make the method clear, here is the beginning of Exercise 8 as it should sound in a regular rhythm (T=Teacher; S=Srudents): Key-pattern: (Oooo 'T. I've eaten them all. S. I’ve eaten them all, I’ve eaten sHiTis HIT MT them all, I’ve eaten them all. T. A beautiful one, S.A Mio d AT Img beautiful one, a beautiful one, etc. 1ITI J Practise in this manner the following series, Key pattern: C0 come here / look out / what for? / where to? / inside / on top / no more / speak up / sit dawn / downstairs / say “yes” / try hard / wash up / break down / ask John / go slow / not now / where from? / which one? / hold tight / in time / /’ve ‘eaten them all. STRESS PATTERNS 9 no use / please da / no, thanks / yes, please | no good / all right / run fast / work hard / who's that? / not quite / quite right / that's true / just then / half way / arm-chair / write soon / read this. Exercise 4. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: OOO try again / not enough | look inside {show me yours / do it now / not so fast / lend a hand / cut the bread / make the tea / run away / go to sleep / have a drink / drive a car / break it up / what is that? / what's it for? / practise hard / sing a song / write it down / draw a line / that’s a lie / take it home / have a go / having lunch / who're you? / where’s he from? /hurry up / move slong /light the fire / fast asleep {cold as ice / change your shoes / where's your hat? / time for bed / here's some tea / lemonade / half an hour / long ago / can't be done / quite unknown / just in front / ring me up / ill in bed. Exercise 5. Stress patterns Note, See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: 000 I think so / I thought so / I'd like to / to please them /a handful / a pity / of course not / I'd love to / he couldn't / as wellas / for ever / they may be / to try it / at breakfast / the paper /she had to/it’s early / she’s ready / with pleasure / I'm sorry /just listen {but why not? / I've read it fa lot of / without me / in daytime / a nuisance / the answer / I'd rather / it’s broken / in winter.10 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Exercise 6. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions. Key pattern: 0000 I “think it is*/ I'd ‘like you to / to ‘practise it / a ‘bucket- ful / it’s ‘possible / we ‘oughtn’t to / he ‘wanted it | he ‘wants us to / they ‘knew it was*/to ‘borrow it / a ‘little one /a ‘pocketful /a ‘lot of it / they've “Minished it / he “thinks he can*/ I ‘thought it was*/ I’ve ‘heard of it / it ‘used to be / they ‘must have been / get ‘rid of it / we ‘asked them to /he ‘lent me one / he’s ‘used to it / let's ‘give her some / be ‘nice to her / a “friend of mine | it’s ‘beautiful / she’s ‘polished them /she ‘came with us / be‘cause of it / we ‘spoke to them /I ‘studied it / there ‘isn’t one / I’ve ‘paid for it / chry‘santhemum / a ‘pair of them. * See also Exercise 9 and Exercises 138-40. Exercise 7. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions. Key pattern: Occ writing it ‘now /'send him a‘way / 'reading a‘loud / \terribly ‘slow / 'give him a ‘book / !what is the ‘time?/ ‘sing us a ‘song / !running a‘way / 'quick off the ‘mark / top of the ‘class { 'hardly e‘nough / !are you a‘wake?/ ‘throw it a‘way /'send me a ‘card / !give me a ‘ring / Iplaying a ‘game / !meet me to‘night / !where have they ‘gone?/ where have you ‘been?/ !what have you ‘done?/ what is it ‘for?/ show me the ‘way / 'pouring with ‘rain / Igone for a ‘walk | come for a ‘swim / 'heavy as ‘lead / Ikilled in the ‘war / !give him some ‘food / time and a‘gain / 'nearly as ‘good / 'beautiful ‘girl / Shandsome young ‘man / !no-one is ‘in / 'cutting the ‘grass / !chop- ping some ‘wood | !leave it alone / 'not before ‘tea / lready STRESS PATTERNS mW for ‘lunch / when you have ‘time / Inot before ‘then / ‘wait till I ‘come / !falling a‘sleep / 'what can you ‘see? / just for a ‘while { what did you ‘do? / 'get into ‘bed / 'top of the “hill / leave it be‘hind / 'do it a‘gain / 'write it in ‘ink / ‘quarter past ‘nine / 'quarter to ‘ten / 'see you tonight / ‘lots to be ‘done / 'now we're a‘lone / 'out of the ‘way / !carefully ‘read / 'switch off the ‘light. Exercise 8. Stress patterns Note, See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions. In this pattern the voice falls lew and stays low after the stress, even if one of the following syllables is partially stressed. Key pattern ; 00000 I've ‘eaten them all / a ‘beautiful one / I ‘think it will be | I ‘promised him it / to ‘satisfy them / I “thought it had been /a ‘tablespoonful /in‘terrogate them {he ‘wanted us to /a ‘penny or two/in ‘spite of it all / he ‘ought to have had /a ‘long time ago /an ‘exercise book / I've ‘written to them / we ‘know what it is / I ‘asked if I could [to ‘polish it with / the ‘middle of it / a ‘quarter of them [I ‘gave it to her / it’s ‘necessary / a ‘party-member / we ‘had to do it / the ‘railway station. (Further examples of this kind of stress can be found in Exercise 67 on Intonation of Special Stress, and in the Appendix on Word-stress, Exercise 150.) Exercise 9. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: 0000 I 'think he ‘might* /1 'want to ‘know / to Ido it ‘well J a'nother ‘time / it’s ‘quite all ‘right / I 'think it ‘is* / he Ithought he ‘could*/I 'thought it ‘was* /she 'tied it12 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH ‘up {a lrubber ‘band /a 'piece of ‘string / he ‘had to ‘go /it’s Wery ‘goad / it's 'hard to ‘say / but ‘hurry ‘up | she 'took it ‘off / they put them ‘on / she’s !most up‘set Ja'nother ‘day / they 'mustn’t ‘know /he ‘locked the ‘door | it’s 'much too ‘big / to ‘intro‘duce / a 'waste of ‘time / they've 'gone ‘away / it’s 'all for ‘you / he !wants to “earn / I'd Nove to ‘help ja ‘glass of ‘wine / a!cross the ‘road / it’s !not for ‘sale, " See note to Exercise 6, Exercise 10. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions. Key pattern: COm0 I twanted to ‘know / I 'think that he ‘might / Tl finish it ‘now /a ‘spoonful of ‘salt /she ‘asked me to ‘go /I ‘thought he had ‘gone / we 'wanted to ‘see /a lwalk in the ‘park / a 'plateful of ‘soup / he 'told me he ‘would / the 'best in the ‘class / I’ll 'see to it ‘now / it's ‘warmer in‘doors / he ‘left it outside /it lused to be ‘mine {a ‘hole in your ‘sock {he 'borrowed a ‘pound /he !can't pay it ‘back / she's !gone to the ‘shops / I've ‘finished my ‘lunch /an ‘excellent ‘meal /in ‘spite of the ‘rain / the ‘house is for ‘sale /it lisn't allowed / you 'promised to ‘write {she 'wasn’t gone ‘long / he’s 'on his way ‘back / it’s ‘started to ‘rain /he ‘drank it all ‘up /the ‘engine won’t ‘start / I’m Isorry I ‘came / I’m glad you have ‘come. Exercise rx. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern; Dom0 lfinishing to‘day / ‘doing it alone / !carry it a‘way / 'put it on the “oor / 'dirty under‘neath / 'clean it with a ‘brush / !tell me all you ‘know / 'follow my advice / !mind STRESS PATTERNS 3 how you behave / !try to do it ‘now / half of them have ‘eft / get in touch at ‘once /'send them out to ‘play / ljust in time to ‘see / !up above the ‘clouds / 'sitting all a‘lone / Iwaiting for the ‘train / 'hoping that he'll ‘come {task him what he ‘wants / ‘have another ‘cake / !have a ciga‘rette / ‘what about a ‘drink? / 'bring along your “friend / 'come and have a ‘meal | 'how is Uncle ‘George? ] ‘why has no-one ‘come? / ‘hang it up to ‘dry / 'let me take your ‘hat / 'put it on the ‘shelf / ‘don’t be such a ‘fool, Exercise 12. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions. Key pattern: 000000 I ‘think it will be ‘fine /I 'wanted you te ‘know / te ‘finish with it ‘now /a 'bucketful of ‘ice / there ‘isn’t any ‘need {you ‘ought to go to ‘bed/the ‘hospital was ‘bombed / he ‘waited half an ‘hour / you ‘only have to “try / I Inever have a ‘cold / it 'doesn't make much ‘sense { the middle of the ‘road / im'possible to ‘say / be'ginning with a “v’ / we 'thanked him very ‘much / I 'didn’t know the ‘way / the 'bottom of the ‘class / I'll ‘show it to her ‘then / we !promise to be ‘good / I'll 'try to be in “time / it’s. 'difficult to ‘learn {he ‘doesn’t go to ‘school | I've ‘heard of it ‘before / they've 'cleared it all a‘way / he’s ‘eaten all the ‘cream / you're lwanted on the ‘phone / I'll ‘see him in a ‘week /he ‘borrowed half a ‘crown / I Yhaven’t any ‘ink / it’s labsolutely ‘true / so 'don’t forget to ‘write / she ‘isn’t on the ‘phone / the !children are in “bed.14 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Exercise 13. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions. Key pattern: 0Oo0o I Ithink he ‘wants to / 1 'want to ‘meet him /TI ike it ‘petter /a!nother ‘spoonful / I 'think he ‘ought to / they ‘want a‘nother /he’s !playing ‘football {you !mustn't Meave her / he "left on ‘Monday / she ‘has to ‘practise / I'm ‘not offended / per!haps they ‘didn’t / with!out your ‘hat on /I 'couldn’t ‘help it / we 'never ‘noticed / you Ineed a ‘haircut / it Idoesn’t ‘matter / I'll 'have to ‘leave you / we'll 'have a ‘party / it’s 'time for ‘supper ja 'great occasion / a 'pretty ‘picture / ac!centu‘ation / he ‘hasn't ‘got one / I 'don’t be‘ieve you / we 'leave to‘morrow / an lawful “nuisance / she Iwrote a ‘letter / a !glass of ‘cider / a'nother ‘sandwich / 'suppose he ‘saw me/a 'streak of Mightning / a 'clap of ‘thunder / a 'piece of ‘chocolate / a ‘cup of*cocoa / she’s 'gone out ‘shopping. Exercise 14. Stress patterns Note, Sce Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: DOoo0o5 he 'started to ‘talk to me / I 'think that he ‘wants us to / she 'wanted to ‘write to him / they’ve 'practised it ‘per- fectly /a ‘gallon of ‘paraffin / I'll 'borrow a‘nother ane / it ‘wasn’t ap‘propriate / you'll ‘get it on ‘Saturday / they've !all gone on ‘holiday /it’s 'very unfortunate / per'haps you'll have ‘heard of it /it’s 'not the right ‘atti- tude /I lasked for it ‘specially {a Metter from ‘Germany / 1 'don’t want to “frighten her /she ‘wants a ther‘mo- meter / it’s ‘not what I ‘asked you for /it Iwants a new ‘battery / they’ve 'bought a new ‘wireless set / she’s 'sewing the ‘buttons on / they’ye "left Yugo'slavia / a 'Becthoven STRESS PATTERNS 15 ‘symphony / we travelled by ‘aeroplane / he !came on a ‘bicycle / some ‘carrots and ‘cabbages / it’s \just what I ‘thought it was / let’s !open the ‘other one / he’s 'Shelley's contemporary / it’s 'quite incon‘ceivable / ll ‘take it a‘way again / re!peat it a‘gain for me / the Iclock on the ‘mantelpiece / the ‘soup isn’t ‘hot enough / the 'price has gone ‘up again / he 'hasn’t yet ‘paid for it, Exercise 15. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: Coooo0ooo I 'wanted you to ‘write about it / they ‘shouldn’t need their ‘mackintoshes / it’s ‘not the one I ‘borrowed from you /I ‘didn’t think it ‘interesting [intarestin] / it’s linteresting [intrastin] to ‘read about it / she 'doesn't want to ‘talk about him /re!member what your ‘teacher tells you / you ‘won’t forget to ‘thank him for it / he Ineedn’t be so ‘rude about us / I 'took it to a ‘watch-repairer / the ‘doctor didn’t ‘see the patient / she ‘bought some new py‘jamas for him / but 'where’s the glass you’re ‘drinking out of? / this lisn’t quite the ‘moment for it / per!haps you didn’t ‘realize it / I'd 'like it with some ‘soda-water / you'll '!need a rather ‘bigger saucepan /I 'think he did it ‘beautifully / to ‘satisfy the ‘school inspector / a !teaspoon- ful of ‘salad dressing, Exercise 16, Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: Oooo show fim up to his ‘room / Ithrow it into the ‘fire / walking along the ‘road / 'that’s to be left aMione / !ready to go a‘way / !standing behind the ‘door / lwhy did you tun a‘way? / !tell her not to be ‘late / 'sew it on to my16 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH ‘coat / ‘ask them where they have ‘been / show me what you have ‘done / 'sing me another ‘song / 'what’s the name of the ‘book? / ‘multiply it by ‘three / !opposite the ho‘tel / 'suffering from a ‘cold / 'bury it in the ‘ground / 'polish it with a ‘cloth / !fillit up to the “top / 'finish it if you ‘can, Exercise 17. Stress patterns Noie. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: COCO I 'think he 'wants to ‘go /it’s not the lone I ‘want / it lisn't 'quite the ‘same / I 'haven't ‘been be‘fore / I ‘can’t believe it’s ‘true / the 'train is 'very ‘late / he 'hasn’t !got a ‘chance /I'm ‘sorry 'I forgot / there ‘isn’t ‘time to ‘change / a letter ‘in the ‘post / I 'hope you 'under*stand / on 'Friday 'after‘noon / they !played a !game of ‘bridge {the Iconcert 'starts at ‘eight / he !goes to 'work on ‘foot [he ‘travels 'home by ‘train / I’m 'sure my ‘husband ‘knows / a!fraid my 'wife is ‘ill / she has to 'stay in ‘bed {the Hire is nearly ‘out / it’s 'time to 'light the ‘fire / I'd like a 'piece of ‘bread / it’s !all the 'same to ‘me / ex'cuse my 'being ‘late / I !didn’t 'know the ‘way / the !roads are tyery ‘dark / I 'couldn’t 'see the ‘house / perhaps you'd lcare to ‘wait / I'll 'see them 'both at ‘once / it 'doesn’t Imatter ‘much /I can’t aflford a ‘car /he 'practised levery ‘day / a ‘spoonful !every ‘hour. Exercise 18. Stress patterns Note, See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions. Key pattern: Con0o000 I ‘think that he ‘wants us to \go / it lisn’t the 'same as be‘fore { I !didn’t ex'pect to be ‘asked / we 'shan’t be n ‘time for the ‘play:/ you'd 'best be as. 'quick as you ‘can STRESS PATTERNS 17 [it ‘doesn’t much !matter to ‘me/ I’ve !written the Netter in ‘French / she's !gone for a 'walk in the ‘park / it’s 'time we were ‘having our ‘lunch / I’ve !taken my !coat to be ‘cleaned / the office is 'open at ‘nine / this 'shop doesn’t ‘sell what I ‘want / I’m ‘looking for 'paper and ‘string / this ‘envelope 'hasn’t a ‘stamp / we Idon’t want to !trouble you ‘now / a!nother af!fair for the police / you 'shouldn’t have left it to ‘her / she'll Inever rel member a ‘thing / she’s ‘sure to for!get what to ‘do / perhaps you can 'ring her to‘night / and 'tell her to 'leave it a‘lone / I ‘wanted to ‘meet him a‘gain /he 'practises lonce in a ‘while {a 'spoonful of 'apricot ‘jam. Exercise 19, Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: OOo0n0ooc I 'think it was an excellent af‘fair / I 'wonder if he'll lask me in ad‘vance / we !hayen’t got an envelope to ‘match j the 'office-boy will 'show you where to ‘ga / the !factory is 'working day and ‘night / the "light should be in !quite another ‘place / there lisn’t really 'quite enough for ‘two 1 ‘didn’t want to ‘put him off a‘gain / I 'don’t suppose you'll ‘understand my ‘point / the 'bus is more con!venient than the “tram /the ‘concert’s being 'broadcast after ‘six / it’s Just as good as 'being in the “hall / we'll ‘switch it on as 'soon as we've had ‘tea / I’d "ike a lump of Isugar in my “tea/I 'shouldn’t be sur!prised if they for‘got / ap'proximately 'ten of you can ‘come / the lothers must wait ‘here a little ‘while / we'll ‘fetch you in a 'car in half an ‘hour /he ‘wanted me to ‘listen to his ‘song / we 'finished it the 'day before he ‘came / a 'basketful of lapples from the ‘shop.18 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Exercise 20, Stress patterns Note, See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: OOn0o0o I ‘think he !wants to ‘go there / we ‘ought to 'give an ‘answer / he’s !never 'very ‘punctual / she !married 'Mary’s ‘brother / I 'want a 'pound of ‘sugar / I'd ‘like to ‘have a‘nother / she’s 'cleaned the 'kitchen ‘windows / my 'hus- band 'wants his ‘dinner / we 'had to 'go on ‘business / T’ve 'got to Ido some ‘shopping / you ‘ought to 'buy a ‘wireless / I'll 'show you 'where to ‘put it / you 'mustn’t waste a ‘moment / you’re "looking 'smart this ‘morning / in 'case you're 'late for ‘dinner / with 'no-one 'there to ‘help her / it’s 'time we ‘went to ‘dinner / a 'dance to- lmorrow ‘evening / with 'peas and 'baked po*tatoes / I ‘didn’t Iwant to Misten / he 'doesn’t speak much ‘English / it's Inot for want of “trying / he Istudies 'every ‘evening {he always 'does his ‘homework. Exercise 21. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: oOoo000000 I think that he !wants us to ‘take him there / I !told him to Iwait in the ‘corridor / now 'what have I 'done with my ‘handkerchief? | remember to 'get me a‘nother one / it's ‘cheaper to 'go to the ‘cinema / I ‘wonder if 'Davyid has ‘heard of it? / the !ambulance 'took him to ‘hospital / ap!'ply for a 'post as a ‘lecturer / he 'played usa 'tune on the ‘gramophone / he "looked for a 'stick to de‘fend him- self / I ‘ought to have 'sent her a ‘Christmas card / when- lever you 'can you must ‘visit us / Sep!tember is 'best for a “holiday / you !must have it !ready by ‘Saturday / we've "hundreds of 'places to ‘take you to / 1 Iwanted to ‘finish STRESS PATTERNS 19 my ‘library book /a ‘terrible 'cold in the ‘head again / that’s Inething to 'do with the ‘argument / the !other boys lwouldn’t a‘gree with him /she !promised to 'carry it ‘carefully. Exercise 22. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions. Key pattern: Oooo) 'buy her a pretty new ‘dress / ‘honey and strawberry ‘jam | ‘when are you going a‘way? / ‘what have you done with the ‘ink? / 'hurrying off to the “train / 'working as hard as they ‘can / '!probably will in the ‘end / ‘coming back home in a ‘bus / !take it away to be ‘cleaned / 'that can be seen at a ‘glance / ‘wearing a funny old ‘hat / giving him a ciga’rette / 'why have they left you a‘lone? / where have you hidden the ‘key? / !go to another hotel / Inearly as far as the ‘bridge. Exercise 23. Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions, Key pattern: OOo0o000 I 'think he ‘wants to 'go there ‘too / you 'ought to ‘know the Iway by ‘now / he 'did his 'best to 'save the ‘child / the 'snow was 'falling !thick and “fast / I 'know you 'didn’t 'mean to ‘hurt / that’s ‘not the Iway to !fold a ‘coat | I Itold him 'not to 'go a‘way / she 'ooks a ‘little 'pale to ‘me / he 'has to !go to !work at ‘eight / I always 'like a 'cup of ‘tea / it’s Itime the 'children !went to ‘bed / they lused to Igo to 'bed at ‘six /a 'glass of 'beer is 'what I ‘need / he “eft the !room withlout a ‘word / he lused to Iplay it 'very ‘well / I 'saw her 'standing ‘all aMone / I ‘can’t for'get the 'things he ‘said / they 'said they ‘had to ‘leave at ‘once / you'll 'haye to 'do it 'all a‘gain,20 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Exercise 24; Stress patterns Note. See Exercise 3 for detailed instructions. Key pattern; OOoo0oo0ioo0 . . . ete. He says that he 'wants us to 'take it a‘way / we lought to be ‘grateful we 'haven’t to ‘pay / you ‘know that we 'ought to dis!cuss it to‘day /a 'woman has !fallen and 'broken her “eg / I 'never say 'no to a thot cup of ‘tea / then 'turn. to the Iright at the ‘end of the ‘street / I 'shouldn’t have ‘thought he could Iget here in ‘time /he 'tied up the ‘parcel and 'took it a‘way / the ‘gramophone 'record has ‘broken in ‘two /it 'won’t be the 'first time I’ve 'gone without ‘Munch / ex!cuse my dis'turbing you !when you're so “tired /the 'tram-stop is 'just a bit !farther a‘long / you Icouldn’t have 'come at a 'more incon'venient “time / it’s 'Inot what I 'wanted to 'ask you ‘about / a 'friend of mine's Imarried a ‘girl from a‘broad / the 'paper and ‘ink have been !put on your ‘desk / I 'see he’s for!gotten ta 'leave his ad‘dress / we ‘haven't got 'time to ar!range for it ‘now jan lapple a 'day keeps the 'doctor a‘way / the 'beok you've just ‘ent me is better than Imany I’ve ‘read / I like to sit 'down with a !good ciga'rette and a ‘book, Exercise 25. Plosives and rhythm Note. Smooth rhythms of the type d da a ete. are broken into the uneven rhythms of J Jd d ete. under the influence of certain combinations of plosives (p, bjt, d; k, g). ‘When two or more plosives follow one another, only the lastone is really “exploded” audibly, and the regular speech-flow is held back to allow the preceding plosives to be formed. This principle can be more easily understood by comparing words PLOSIVES AND RHYTHM 2r like Friday and mid-day. The first ‘d’ of midday is not sounded, but the voice pauses slightly for it before uttering the second ‘d’. A similar slight pause, with the suppression of the plosive, is often heard when a plosive precedes a nasal (m, n), an affricate (t[, d3; tr, dr), ora fricative (f,v;0,8;9,2;J, 3). With this last group the plosive is usually less completely suppressed, Read the following combinations, suppressing the plosive(s) in tralics, but allowing time for its imaginary appearance. The teacher should read each group once, the student{s) re- beating it three times after him, cheap book / ripe corn / hope to / hoped to / dust bin | sick baby / Saint Paul's / big dog / black dog / lamp-post / handbag / top branch / meat tin / jump down / Hampton [| damp cloth / top girl / help me / stop now / drop by drop fa stopgap / ripe cherries {top drawer j card trick / steep track / drop down / Thompson / stamp these /a ripe fig / grape vine / soap bubble / rub very hard / cob nut / rub down / tip-top / don’t talk / white chalk / rué gently / globe trotter / webbed toes / rubbed | hot toast / sit down / wet ground / posf-card / sweet fruit / let me help them! / let go! / milk chocolate /a gold nib / that German / the right thing /.put that down! / a red cover / a red train / a good pudding / we had to / a bad dog / a good girl / a sand pit / a postman /a good brother / hard times / cold meat ja loud noise / good jam ja cold drink /an old friend Ja good view / the Grand Theatre / a state theatre / I haven’t thanked you / a bad thing / now add them | eight pounds / in mid-stream / we made sure / look sharp! / quick march { noz now / a black pig / back to front | take carel / a book- case / the back garden / he drank gin / he drank neat gin / we picked some flowers fa sick child / we like jam /a bookmark /a mock trial {to knock down /a locked door22 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH {a cake-dish | a dark valley / take this / take that book / take three / a dog-collar / a log cabin / an egg-cup / a big girl / a pigtail / fig jam / a fog signal. Exercise 26. Plosives and rhythm Note. Sce also Exercise 25, which practises the (partial) sup- pression of plosives. The presence of adjacent plosives in Phrases is mainly perceived through the changed rhythm, caused by the pause made for the unexploded plosives. Read the following groups, giving adequate time to the groups of suppressed plosives. The teacher reads each phrase JSirst, the student(s) repeating it three times after hin. stop eating / stop talking / he stopped talking. a pet hen /a pet duck / a pecked duck. lock up! / lock doors! / locked doors. a dry tea-cup / a white tea-cup / a wiped tea-cup. to knock out / knocked out / knocked down. a hatter / an actor / act two. to ask us / he asked us / he asked twice. we hope it does / we hope to go / we hoped to go. a stamp album / stamp paper / stamped paper. stop himl / we stopped once / we stopped twice. drop it! / I dropped it / I dropped two. a docker / the ship may dock today / she docked today, tap oncel / he tapped again / he tapped twice. kick him! / kick Tom / he kicked Tom. Exercise 27. Plosives and rhythm (advanced practice) Note. See also Exercises 25 and 26 on the (partial) suppression of plosives. Here are longer phrases and sentences to practise the characteristic pauses and uneven thythm occasioned by adjacent plosives. Be careful to make no pause in the general BECONDARY STRESS AND RHYTHM 23 flow of speech, particularly between the sounds linked by a tie, viz.:*. In longer sentences the sign + is placed before a convenient syllable for introducing a higher tone (see also Exercise 50). Read the following, making adequate pause when forming the suppressed plosives in italics. It may be necessary for the teacher to divide up the longer sentences before reading them in full. He ‘stopped by a "lamp-post to !read the*ad‘dress. I 'can’e ‘think today. A ‘postcard to*'England t 'doesn’t ‘cost much. He ‘stopped to ‘write the ‘streef-name. I 'picked ‘nearly t ‘eight 'pounds~of 'fruit to 'make ‘jam. ITake care 'nof to*!eat t 'too ‘much"at the party. I helped 'two ‘doctors tot 'start their 'car*aftersit had Istopped ‘dead. He 'picked the 'best plums from the t !topmost ‘branches. We'd 'picked \quite the 'bes¢ !paré for“our'selves. He 'met me at !mid!day to fT !take me ‘out to ‘lunch. 'Thaz ltap 'dripped t ‘twice as |fast 'two days*a‘go. He ‘cooked 'two*leggs and t 'put 'two more“in-an t legg- cup to“ea? them. Exercise 28. Secondary stress and rhythm Note. In any phrase or sentence the stressed syllables are not all given the same weight of emphasis. Some are less forcefully ‘uttered than others, and the alternation of these groups of heavy and medium stresses helps to establish certain common rhythmic patterns. To understand the nature of this better, let us consider the main and secondary stresses of our example in the introductory remarks to this section on stress and rhythm. Here is that sentence, with its muscial counterpart in duple24 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH rhythm, (‘The actual length of the notes is nat of course quite so strict as suggested, but the altemation of the main and secondary beats of each bar approximates to the natural speech- stress.) "Bert’s 'friend ‘John has ‘just 'dought 'two 'very 'fine ‘old ipaintings. Fd did Pld d]d Adal The student is asked to note thal the secondary stresses (in italics) cannot change places with the main stresses. A version which reverses the scheme and begins: Bert's 'friend \Fohn ... is simply Staak z d | j d | For this reason it is most important to add bar-lines to a musical notation if it is used to show stress and rhythm. For example, the rhythm shown by fg) g can represent both lappetite and we are 'wrong; but the former belongs clearly to the rhythmic pattern 2 Fa J | while the latter must be shown as 2 J)| J 2 | ‘The next cight exercises offer material for practising a few of the commoner rhythms of English speech and their parallel forms with the main and secondary stresses reversed. Read the following groups, the teacher once and the stt- dent(s) three or four times after him, Try to keep the rhythmic pattern as steady as possible throughout the whole exercise. Pattern: 2| 53 d | ‘appetite / ‘buy him one / ‘recipe / ‘heavily / ‘ordinary } ‘usual / “terrible / ‘talk about / ‘everyone / ‘terrify / ‘give SECONDARY STRESS AND RHYTHM 25 him it / ‘afterwards / ‘beautiful / ‘perfectly / ‘everywhere [cauliflower / ‘pay for it / ‘think of it / ‘natural / ‘telephone j ‘answer me / ‘differ from / ‘offer them / ‘dinner-time } ‘send us one / ‘lend him it. Exercise 29. Secondary stress and rhythm Note: See Exercise 28. ‘The same rhythmic figure now begins with the weaker stress. Pattern: 2J3|J2] go a‘way / in a “book / at a ‘glance /to my ‘friend / it is “true {we are ‘wrong / what a ‘shame! /if you ‘please / come a‘gain / do it ‘now / lemo‘nade / ciga‘tette / as you Mike / can you ‘come? /out of ‘tune /cup of ‘tea / by your‘self {ten o’Sclock / half-a-‘crown / every “day / not at ‘all / later ‘on / do it ‘up! / put it ‘on! / fairly ‘cheap. Exercise 30. Secondary stress and rhythm Note: Sce Exercise 28. The same pattern is now shown in its uneven form of JJ J The extra initial length is most clearly felt in the presence of suppressed plosives (sce Exercises 25-27), but can also be caused by a long vowel or diphthong, adjacent nasals and fricatives (or affricates), or even purely subjective influences. Pattern: 2104 Jl ‘talk to him / ‘aptitude / ‘practical / ‘amplify | ‘factual / (an} ‘empty one / ‘magnify / (it was) ‘sent to him / ‘envelope / (a) ‘book to read / ‘octopus / ‘photograph | ‘wait a bit! / ‘show me one! / ‘that’s enough / ‘educate | ‘afterwards / (some) ‘cake to eat / ‘thank them, pleasel | (he) ‘picked them all / (it) ‘must be true / (you) ‘ought to know.26 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Exercise 31. Secondary stress and rhythm Note. See Exercises 28 and 30, Pattern: 2 fad :| chapter ‘one / Doctor ‘Brown / up-to-‘date / let me ‘help it's a ‘shame / (he) stepped a'side / (he) asked the ‘way { (he) stopped to ‘ask / what’s the ‘time? / what's it ‘for? fask them ‘now / after ‘all / ginger ‘beer /(it’s) up to ‘you / (you) can’t come ‘in / after‘noon | eightpence ‘each /up the ‘street / take them ‘all / put them ‘down | (it) must be ‘true / (you) ought to ‘know. Exercise 32, Secondary stress and rhythm Note. See Exercise 28. Patten: 3 S| dd) at PII d J] he ‘took it from me / the ‘proper answer / a‘nother ques- tion / a ‘railway engine / he ‘can’t have seen them / we ‘thought about you /some ‘chamber music / we ‘asked about them /a ‘shoe repairer / he’s ‘looking for them / I ‘never knew that / you're ‘late, as usual / he’s ‘sure to blame me / you ‘won’t be made to / you ‘must have known him / that’s ‘not the best way / I ‘beg your pardon, Exercise 33. Secondary stress and rhythm Note, See Exercise 28. Pattern: PPPiPres| and Jad de] ex‘amination { a 'cup of ‘cocoa / ap!precia‘tion / he twould’nt ‘ask us /a ‘lack of ‘kindness / he !never ‘got there fa ‘clever ‘answer / we'll Ithink it ‘over / I'll 'do it “later / SECONDARY STRESS AND RHYTHM 27 he’s !never ‘been there / a 'piece of ‘chocolate / he 'doesn’t ‘want to/I 'shouldn’t ‘think so /1 ‘always ‘try to / it’s ‘nearly ‘midnight / I 'couldn’t ‘help it | it 1doesn’t ‘matter {a ‘pretty ‘picture /a ‘tin of ‘grapefruit / it’s Inot the Mirst time / if ‘you'll ex*cuse me / we 'mustn’t ‘blame them / you ‘ought to ‘ask him. Exercise 34. Secondary stress and rhythm Note. See Exercise 28. Pattern: PPP d2| and | J 4] ‘order it for them / ‘lightning conductor / ‘symphony con- cert / (a) ‘parachute jump / (a) ‘sewing-machine / (I’m) ‘thinking about them / (a) ‘factory worker / (the) ‘differ- ence between them / sur‘prised at his rudeness / re‘minded me of them / (a) ‘secondary school / ‘dinner at eight / (we're) “talking about you / (I’m) ‘writing about it / (he’s) ‘leaning against it. Exercise 35. Secondary stress and rhythm Noter See Exercise 28. Pattern: gJTI] 1 J) and [J] | 1 P37] Ido it a‘gain / !travel by ‘train / 'up in the ‘bedroom / lover the ‘hills / 'give me a ‘pencil / (he) 'took us to ‘London | (I) !couldn’t be‘lieve it / lopen the ‘window / 'write on the ‘blackboard / (we'll) !ask a po‘liceman / 'telephone Mater / Inot before ‘eight / 'how is your ‘husband? / !per- fectly ‘well / 'thank you for ‘asking / 'what is your ‘name? / Write it in ‘ink / 'send them a ‘postcard.28 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Final note The foregoing eight sets of practice phrases show very briefly the changes that are possible in one rhythmic pattern by varying the positions of the secondary stress and main stress. It is, of course, possible for the stress to fall on any syllable of the rhythmic phrase. The following short series shows how the pattern dda d changes from that of Exercise 34, namely a dad d >| to that of Exercise 35, namely 8 JJJ lJ > by gradually shifting the stress, ‘secondary school |JJJ >| my ‘parachute d\IT) >| in a ‘meadow dd | d 2 >| Ido it a‘gain Jdd[dri>| Exercise 36. Regularity of stress Note, The examples given earlier of sentences containing many stressed words and others containing only few stressed words show that the apparent speed of utterance is largely dictated by the number of stressed syllables. The fewer the stresses, the more rapidly the voice skips over the intervening unstressed syllables. If we read any piece of prose at random so that we have a fair sample of mixed stressing, we find that the overall effect of this is to create the impression that stressed syllables occur at fairly regular intervals. When two or three stresses REGULARITY OF STRESS 29 come close together, the speed of utterance is noticeably slower; when they are separated by several unstressed syllables, these syllables flow along more rapidly. The stressed syllables themselves move along at a much more regular speed. The following exercise has a gradually increasing number of un- stressed syllables between the stresses. As their number increases, it may be necessary to slow down the speed of the stresses slightly, but care should be taken to read each new group at least three times in a steady and deliberate rhythm that is based on the stressed syllables. To facilitate reading, these stress-peaks will be printed in bold type. The teacher reads each sentence once, the student(s) re- peating it at least three times at a steady, regular speed before the next ts taken up: 1. You 'came to ‘see him. You should ‘come in order to ‘meet him. You should have 'come before it got so ‘late. 2, We 'bought a ‘book. We have 'bought another ‘book. We could have ‘bought you another ‘book. We ought to have 'bought ourselves another ‘book. 3. It was !good to ‘speak to him about it. It would be 'better if you ‘spoke to him about it. Tt would have been 'better if you had ‘spoken to him about it. 4. I Ican’t 'come ‘now. I 'eouldn’t 'come just ‘now. I 'couldn’t have 'come be‘fore. I lcouldn’t have ‘come any ‘earlier. I 'eouldn’t have ap'plied before ‘yesterday. I 'shouldn’t have been able to ap'ply any earlier than ‘yesterday.30 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 5. He lasked me to give him a “ticket. He should lask if we could 'give him a ‘ticket. He should 'ask us if we could 'give him another ‘ticket. He ought to have 'asked us if we could have 'given him a few of the ‘tickets. 6. He 'can’t 'quite ‘read it. I 'doubt if 'he can ‘read it. I 'don’t really ‘think he can ‘read it. I'd thardly have !thought he could ‘read it. I '!shouldn’t have thought it !possible for him to ‘read it, 7. 'Tell her to !put it ‘down. 'Tell the girl to 'put it ‘down. 'Tell the girl to ‘put the book ‘down, 'Tell the girl to 'put the book on the ‘table. 'Tell the other girl to |put the book on the ‘table. 'Tell the other girl to !put all the books on the ‘table. 8. We'll 'tell him to 'clean it a‘gain. We'll !tell the boy to !clean the things a‘gain. You must !tell the young man to 'clean all the things a‘gain. You should have 'told the two of them to 'clean the whole bucketful a‘gain. g. He 'wrote the ‘letter on 'Monday ‘morning. He had 'written all the letters by (Monday after‘noon He could have 'written nearly all the 'letters by Inine o'clock on Monday ‘morning. to. He 'cut the 'bread with a 'sharp ‘knife He cut the loaf of 'bread with a 'sharp ‘knife. He ‘cut the loaf of 'bread with a ‘badly sharpened ‘knife. REGULARITY OF STRESS. 31 He 'cut the piece of 'cloth with a 'pair of ‘scissors He ‘cut the piece of Icloth with a [sharp pair of ‘scissors. He 'can’t cut the piece of !cloth with a yery ‘blunt pair of ‘scissors. Exercise 37. Regularity of stress Note. See Exercise 36. The following exercise consists of miscellaneous stress patterns to be practised as explained in the note to Exercise 3. The stressed syllables should in all cases be fairly regularly spaced out and the unstressed syllables be made to accommodate themselves to the steadier movement of the stresses. To facilitate reading, the stressed syllables will be printed in bold type. The teacher reads a phrase, the student(s) repeating it after him at least three times consecutively in asteady rhythm: I've loften !wanted to ‘meet you / he !came late to the ‘office / we ‘travelled all ‘night in the ‘train / John 'wanted to 'take it atway from her/ it’s Inot !quite what I ‘wanted / !please ‘call back ‘later / 'would you mind 'ealling back ‘later? / I'm 'sorry you 'can’t ‘come / please help your'self to some ‘more ; there’s ‘none Meft / I 'don’t ‘want to / !every Icloud has a 'silver ‘lining / I’m 'not very ‘well today / I 'think he’s feeling 'better than he did ‘yesterday / we 'shan’t be ‘there / we shall see you again 'after the ‘play / I’m !not ‘sure of the ‘number / it’s 'very ‘kind of you to ‘ask me / you can !always !find me at !this ad‘dress / we shall be !very 'pleased to ‘come / 'some 'people are 'always a few minutes ‘late / it’s ‘no ‘trouble at ‘all / we can eave a little Inote if he 'isn’t ‘in / there’s a ‘shorter way 'there across the ‘park / what Iname shall I ‘ask for? / 'that’s the ad!dress you must ‘send it to / ‘have a ciga‘rette!32 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH | please 'try one of ‘mine / it's !not !far to 'walk if you 'don’t want to Igo by ‘tram / 'let’s 'start as learly as we ‘can. Exercise 38. Unstressed pronouns Note, Personal pronouns (we, you, him, it, etc.) and prop-words {one, ones, some, etc.) are normally without stress, even when they are at the end of a phrase. The next four exercises offer reading practice on this topic. Students should endeavour to place no stress at all on the pronouns, allowing them to form a single sound-unit with the preceding stressed syllable. The teacher reads each of the following phrases once, the student(s) repeating it after him at least three times; the whole exercise should continue smoothly without a break as far as possible: ‘cut it / ‘help me / “tell her / ‘ask him / ‘break it / ‘make one / ‘buy some (sam, not sam)! / in‘vite them / ‘guard them [em] / ‘watch her / ‘stop him / ‘lock it / ‘cook some | “feed him / ‘take one / ‘punish her / ‘save some / ‘send them / ‘get some / ‘mend it / ‘teach him / ‘visit us / ‘find them / ‘try one / ‘eat it / ‘drink some / ‘bend it. Exercise 39. Unstressed pronouns Note, See Exercise 38. The following exercise contains longer phrases, with the unstressed pronouns (in italics) in varying positions. The teacher reads each of the following sentences once, the student(s) repeating it after im three times: 1, 'Give me a‘nother one, 2, F \want her to ‘show you ‘round, She 'told him not to !ask you a‘gain, ‘Let me |help you ‘do zt. I lasked her to 'take them a‘wav. She'll \give you one ‘next time you ‘come, PY Pe UNSTRESSED PRONOUNS 33 7. I lasked her to buy me some [sam] this ‘morning. 8. I lknew she "had one to ‘give you. 9. I lsaw him ‘give you them. to. He in'vited ws to 'go and ‘see them. ti. He 'caught one and ‘gave me it. 12. She lasked him to \find her a ‘bigger one, 13. J !wanted him to 'give you a ‘new one, 14. 'Give her one if she ‘wants tt. 15. Alllow me to ‘buy you some, Exercise 40. Unstressed pronouns (with adverbial particles) Note. Verbs of the pattern “‘take off, push away, throw down” ete, take a stress on the adverb when the phrase ends with it, A pronoun preceding it is unstressed. The teacher reads each phrase once, the student(s) re- peating it three times after him, The unstressed pronouns are printed in italics, Iput ‘on / 'take them ‘off { 'do it ‘up / "lift them ‘down | 'show him ‘out / 'drink zt ‘up / 'switch af ‘on / !turn it ‘off | lwake them ‘up / 'read i ‘out / 'put 7t ‘back / leat them “up | 'put it ‘down | 'cover him ‘up | 'take them a’way / "look 2t ‘through / !use them ‘up. Exercise 41. Unstressed pronouns (preposition and pronoun) Note, The final combination “talk to him” etc. needs careful practice to acquire its characteristic rhythm. Both the pre- position and the pronoun are normally unstressed, though there is a tendency to place a slightly heavier pulse on the preposition. This weak secondary stress is readily apparent if the final stressed syllable is gradually removed from the pre- position + pronoun. In the examples: Mook at it / ‘looking at it / ‘wondering at it34 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH there is already an appreciable but low-pitched stress on the third “at”. It is alsa present, but to a lesser degree, in the other two examples. The pronoun “it” is completely un- stressed. In this exercise, the pronouns (in italics) are always quite unstressed; the preposition may be given a very weak stress if joined closely to the pronoun, viz.: ‘laugh at-Aim. If the three words are spoken as one clase group, both the last words will be unstressed, viz. : Maugh-at-Aim. The teacher reads each phrase, the student(s) repeating it three times after him: ‘think of it / ‘goto him / ‘wait for me / ‘wait on her | ‘look for him | Nook at them / ‘walk with him / ‘read to her | ‘ask for him | ‘dream of ker / ‘call for them / ‘cut with it | ‘talk to them [ ‘sit by me | ‘laugh at them | ‘wish for if j ‘sleep on it / ‘listen to me / ‘run up i# / ‘argue with them | ‘whisper to her, Exercise 42. Unstressed pronouns (preposition and pronoun) Note, See Exercise 41. Do the previous exercise again, reading it in the present participle form throughout, viz. ‘thinking of #, etc. Give the preposition a low secondary stress, but do not stress the pronoun. Exercise 43. Unstressed pronouns (preposition between pronouns) Note. See Exercise 41. A common final phrase is the group verb + pronoun + preposition + pronoun, e.g. “take it from Aer. In this pattern the slight stress on the preposition is clearly felt, whereas the two pronouns are completely unstressed. UNSTRESSED PRONOUNS 35 The teacher reads each phrase, the student(s) repeating it at least three times in a regular rhythm, making a slight but low-pitched secondary stress on the preposition: ‘give it to me | ‘take it from her | ‘hide it from them | “choose one for me | ‘clean it for me | ‘read it with me | ‘break it for her | ‘cut it for him / ‘steal it from them | ‘throw if.to me / ‘take it to him / ‘tell it to me / ‘eat some with me / ‘buy them for them | ‘sell it to me / ‘stand it by me | ‘pin it on jim | ‘keep them for me | ‘play it with me | ‘show it to der | ‘open it for me / ‘study it with me / ‘practise them with her | ‘hold et for me / ‘lay them under it | ‘place it over Aim / ‘interview her for me. Exercise 44. Unstressed pronouns (miscellaneous) Note. See Exercises 39-43.’ The following are longer examples of the foregoing types. The unstressed pronouns are printed in italics. The teacher reads each sentence, the student(s) repeating it three times after him: "Let me ‘see them | 'take them a‘way from them | where did you see them? / why didn't you ‘give it to Aim? / go up to Aim and “tell him about it / 'take them all away with you | 'fold them 'carefully and “give them to him | "et me ‘look at you { I've 'told Aim T'll look ‘everywhere for them | 'take ‘care of ker for me, won't you? / 'I'lllook ‘after them for you ] ‘what can I ‘do for you? | the as!sistant will ‘wrap it ‘up for you / 'put them in my ‘car for me, please / ‘read tt to him | “write it for them | ‘spell it to me [tell ma about rt | ‘show if to me | ‘give it to hint | my !father ‘bought me them | L "bought them for him ‘yesterday / they ‘asked us about if / ‘what did he “tell you about us? / he'll 'sell me ‘two of them | you ‘promised us them / he 'doesn’t 'want us to ‘see them | |show them the ‘books / ‘show them them | ‘show them to them.36 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Final Notes on Stress and Rhythm In a book that consists mainly of exercises on the more characteristic and normal forms of English speech, it is not possible to devote much space to exceptions to general rules and patterns. The statement made earlier that content- words are stressed and form-words remain unstressed (see notes preceding Exercise 1) is true in general, but one or two apparent exceptions are worth mentioning, When a content-word is repeated within the same reference, it is normally without stress at its second appearance. Here are a few examples: 1. If the feet and hands are warm, the whole body will be warm. 2. Love you? Of course I love you! 3. They called the place Beechwood, though there wasn’t a beeckwood for miles. 4. “How many dogs did you see?” “Four dogs.” 5. We can stand these desks on the other desks, 6. “Have some wine,” said the March Hare. “IT don’t see any wine,” remarked Alice, But sometimes a feeling for rhythmic balance dictates a repetition of the stress, especially in sayings and proverbs. 'Handsome lis as handsome ‘does. What’s 'sauce for the Igoose is !sauce for the ‘gander. MORE and MOST When used merely as form-words to make the com- parative and superlative degrees of adjectives, they are usually without stress. "You're the most ‘beautiful !girl I’ve ever ‘met. The stress is kept when these words are adjectives or pro- nouns, UNSTRESSED PRONOUNS 37 'Most of them 'speak !English ‘well. 'Most ‘small 'children 'like ‘toys. 'More 'haste, 'less ‘speed. SOME As part of the indefinite article (a, an, some) it is normally unstressed. As an adjective in contrast to OTHERS it is always stressed. ‘Let me !pour you 'out some ‘coffee. [sam] or [sm] 'Some people don’t ‘like coffee. (Repetition of “coffee”.) [sam] (Note in this last sentence that ‘‘people”’ is also unstressed, because of an implied contrast with ‘‘other people.”’) There is also an intermediate form of SOME, pro- nounced [sam] but with no stress. It is commonly found as an indefinite pronoun or with the not particularly com mon meaning of “one of a type.” ‘Take some for me. 'Let me !pour you ‘out some. 'Find some ‘English 'girl to ‘practise with. STREET Always without stress. 'Oxford ‘Circus; !Oxford ‘Road; ‘Oxford Street, PROP-WORDS These are words standing for something that has already been mentioned or implied. They are unstressed, 'Please ‘take one. I !asked for ‘red ones, ‘Someone, ‘everyone, ‘everytady, ‘no-one, etc, "Let's Italk things ‘over. 'That’s ‘my business. It's Ino business of ‘yours,38 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS These are without stress, 'Buy yourself a ‘new one. The 'children can un'dress themselves and 'put themselves to ‘bed. Important exception: 'Please 'help your'self! (when final only). ‘The same forms are used as emphatic pronouns, and with this meaning they have end-stress, 'Do it your'self. He 'asked me himself, 'He him!self ‘told me. WORD-STRESS The problem of syllable-stress in longer words is out- lined in Appendix I], The student will also find exercises and samples of words and phrases with Level Stress in the same section of the book, INTONATION Introductory remarks By intonation is meant the “melody” of speech, the changing pitch of the voice. It is to a certain extent con- trolled by stress, for important changes of pitch occur only on stressed syllables. The remainder of the exercises in this book are designed to practise methodically all the commoner and unexceptional patterns occasioned by the rise and fall of the voice. Practically any phrase or sentence can be spoken in a number of ways, each carrying a different shade of meaning; consequently any given sentence appears in more than one set of exercises, A number of the subtler and more unusual patterns are omitted from this book as being refinements of simpler ones that have been included. Broadly speaking, we can classify all the English intona- tion patterns under two types. Both types normally begin with the first stressed syllable fairly high, and fall step-wise from stress to stress until the last significant (meaningful) stress is reached. Type 1 then falls, remaining low for any further unstressed syllables; type 2 rises from a low tone, continuing the rise for any further unstressed syllables. An example of each of these main tunes will make this clear. In the graphic transcription between parallel lines representing the approximate upper and lower limits of the voice, the musical movement of the yoice is shown by dashes (—) and dots (...), which stand for stressed and unstressed syllables respectively. In the exercises the intonation is indicated by the follow- ing typographical devices: 3940 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 'house; stressed syllable, ‘house: significant (final) stress; falling jyhouse: significant (final) stress; rising but he: unstressed initial syllables. (Other symbols will be explained at their first occurrence.) Examples. Tune 1. But he 'didn’t 'see me ‘leave the ‘house. sal ap Sake! FS Printed form: But he 'didn’t 'see me 'leave the ‘house. Tune 2, 'Did you !see me 'leave the ,house? CO eo ae Printed form: ‘Did you 'see me ‘leave the ,house? Tune 1 (final fall) is used for definite remarks, orders, and question-word questions, and carries with it a sense of completion and finality. Tune 2 (final rise) is used for other questions, all doubtful remarks, especially those with mental reservations, and carries with it a sense of incompletion. ‘The two types are capable of very great variety and many combinations, the most important of which can be practised methodically over the next eighty exercises or so, Exercise 45. Tune I (one syllable only) Pattern; ‘No Me Repeat each of the following words three times on a falling Intonation : FALLING INTONATION 41 yes {look / pull / push / wait / stop [ where? / why? / when? [ here | there / don’t | help / well / come { who? / which? [ quick / oh! / hark! / speak / fine / good / write / start / sure | right / try / do! / next! Exercise 46. Tune I (with introductory syllable) Note, Introductory unstressed syllables are usually on a fairly low tone. Pattern; He ‘can't «oN Repeat each of the following phrases three times according to the above pattern: we're ‘ate / I ‘know | just ‘now | it's ‘mine / at ‘night / by ‘day | in “time | ix ‘tune / up “there / from ‘here / by ‘now | he’s ‘gone | they've ‘come / he ‘won't | from John [we've “heard | up ‘high / down Mow / at ‘school | you ‘must | down ‘town /on ‘top / by “heart | at ‘sight / in ‘step / it’s ‘true | you're ‘right / they're ‘wrong | of ‘course / at ‘last / J ‘will / as ‘well / as ‘yet /im ‘bed [from “home | he’s “ill / a ‘match / the ‘box / you ‘see [her face | his ‘name | in ‘sight / on ‘fire. Exercise 47. Tune I (two or three stresses, with intro- duction) Note. From the examples given before Exercise 45 we can see that the voice descends step-wise on each stressed syllable. The unstressed syllables between them are indicated as being at the same level as the stress that immediately precedes them. They may, however, move downwards towards the next lower stress, and, in fact, usually do this if they are a large group. In excit-42 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH able or enthusiastic speech they may even move upwards from the preceding stress, thus making a bigger leap down to the next stress. Here is a sentence to show the normal form and the two above-mentioned variants, I’m surprised that you ‘haven't for‘gotten me, 75, SL, (normal) 2. = 2. 'F —— te (unstressed * ~ « falling} _— - * no © tha- . a A avg ae The forms 2 and 3 are mentioned here for the sake of complete- ness but will not be specially practised. Stressed and un- stressed syllables will be shown in horizontal steps as in t above and the variants ignored, In exactly the same way a group of unstressed initial syllables may rise gradually to the first stress, as in second example above, but they will always be shown at a low pitch as in examples 1 and 3 above. It does not matter at all whether they are spoken at a level pitch or moving up to the first stress. Read each of the following sentences three times: we \haven’t ‘time | you must !take him ‘home / we !went for a ‘ride in the ‘ear / I'/! lcome as 'soon as I ‘ean / thelp your‘self! / there are some 'more ‘books on the Isecond ‘shelf / we'll Imeet you at the ‘station / J ‘like your 'new ‘hat / J shall thave to pump the ‘tyres up / my wife smokes as much as ‘I do/ 'that’s the 'best 'shop for ‘shoes /J must 'get my “hair cut / the ‘birds are Isinging in the ‘trees | he should have ‘asked 'how to ‘do it { they were ‘up before !five o’‘clock this morning / it would be ‘better to ‘leave it / we've been 'trying to get in FALLING INTONATION 43 'touch with you all ‘day / she will be ‘coming along ‘later / you should have ‘told me ‘everything / it’ 'soon be ‘spring | we should have eft ‘earlier / it "looks like ‘rain / 'let's 'go for a little ‘walk | ## would be ‘better to 'phone for the ‘doctor / !mind you don’t 'miss your ‘train / !both the 'children are ‘playing outside / we've been ‘walking through the ‘forest / she is Iknitting a 'green ‘pullover / you had ‘better ‘leave it till later. Exercise 48. Tune I (question-word questions) Note. Questions beginning with what? why? when? who? how? ete, are normally spoken with a falling intonation (Tune I). Pattern: ‘Where did you 'put my “hat? NN The teacher reads each sentence, the student(s) repeating it three times after him: 'what’s the ‘time? / 'when can you, ‘come? | 'who's ‘there? /{ 'which is the ‘way? / !where have you ‘put it? | ‘what ‘day is it? / 'what’s the ‘date? / 'how ‘far is it? | Wwhet have you ‘got? / 'where ‘are you? / when do you have ‘dinner? / !where does he ‘live? / ‘how can I ‘help you? | lwho would ‘like some ‘chocolate? / ‘why ‘can’t you? / twhat’s 'on at the ‘cinema? / !what’s the ‘matter? | ‘which one? / 'how ‘much? / 'when did she eave? | ‘what have they ‘done? / !which is ‘yours? / 'how ‘are you? / 'what do you ‘want? / 'who’s coming ‘with me? | ‘when do the ‘shops open? / !why are you so ‘late? / |who is the ‘author? / 'which do you 'like ‘best? / 'where do you ‘want to ‘sit? / lwhy don’t you ‘listen? / 'what do you “want me for?44 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Exercise 49. Tune I (miscellaneous longer examples) WNofe. Revision of Exercises 45-48. The teacher reads each sentence, the student(s) repeating it three times after him: . 'George plays 'football every 'Saturday after‘noon. . ‘What 'time does the 'night-train for ‘Glasgow leave? 'How 'far is it from 'here to ‘London? ‘Why didn’t you 'do as I sug‘gested? I should like you to 'come im!mediately !after ‘tea, . "Where did you !say you had 'put my ‘glasses? They ‘watched him 'repairing the ‘water-pipes. He \promised to 'send a !telegram 'on his ar‘rival. 'What is the 'best thing to ‘mend it with? . ‘Which is the '!best way to 'get to the 'station from ‘here? 11. I hwonder if I 'ought to !take my ‘“mackintosh with me, 12, We 'shan’t be lable to 'go there a!gain for a ‘long time. 13. 'Where did you 'buy the 'pretty ‘blue one? 14. It's about the ‘worst 'time of the 'year for 'catching ‘cold, 15. J2’s been a ‘very en|joyable ‘evening for ‘all of us. SO SY Sane bn Exercise 50. Tune I (broken tune) Note, With longer sentences, as in Exercise 49, it is not easy to let the voice descend throughout; it would get uncomfortably low if there were many stresses. To avoid this difficulty, and in general the monotony of a continuous descent, it is normal to raise the voice a little at any convenient stressed syllable and continue the descent from a new high tone. Syllables thus raised in pitch are given rather more importance thereby, an effect which produces a more lively impression than the same sentence spoken as a continuous descent. Compare the two following intonations. PALLING INTONATION 45 We !managed to !carry the 'boxes as 'far as the 'end of the ‘street — A We \managed to !carry the 'boxes as !far as the 'end of the ‘street % The falling intonation is interrupted at “far” in the second example, though the voice dees not rise so high as the first stress “‘man ...”.. The first sentence sounds monotonous. This “second start” in longer sentences will be shown in the exercises by a } in front of the syllable to be lifted, E.g. We 'managed to carry the !boxes as t !far as the 'end of the ‘street. In lively conversation these interruptions of the tune will be fairly frequent. If there is a strong feeling to exaggerate any part of a remark, the voice may even rise to a higher pitch than its initial stress. This purely emotional reaction does not, however, change the general pattern of the tune, which, in Type I, will have its final fall on the last stressed syllable as usual. Excited emphasis merely produces greater extremes of pitch. In this exercise, however, we shall assume that we are raising the voice at the place indicated merely to avoid the monotony of a long descent step by step. The teacher reads each senience, the student(s) reading it twice after him: 1, I sup|pose it !couldn’tt possibly ‘happen a‘gain. 2. They Imanaged to 'catch thet "ast 'bus into ‘town. 3. The 'doctor lordered at 'tonic to be 'takent Ithree times a 'day after ‘meals, 4. Pm sorry I !couldn’t t 'quite make lout lwhat you were ‘saying.46 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 5. She 'must have 'been ont holiday for lover a “week. On ‘Easter ‘Sunday the 'church was t 'more ‘crowded than ‘usual. 7. The 'children !put on their t 'best Idresses in + 'readi- ness for the ‘birthday party. 8. 'Where have you 'put the (t) 'box of Isweets that I t left in the 'bottom of the ‘cupboard, 9. My ‘husband ‘always 'does the t washing ‘up for me. 10. We ‘went fora 'day’s walk in the 'forest int 'spite of the ‘rain, 11. I’m \reading a 'most ¢ linteresting 'book by at Inew “writer just now. 12. I hear ‘old Mrs. 'Brown is + !laid up with ‘rheuma- tism again. 13. You have ‘not given me a satis t 'factory explanation of your t 'strange be‘haviour. 14. Z's a ‘long 'time since we've ‘had sucha ¢ 'bad ‘thun- derstorm. 15- 'Most of the 'time she wast 'trying to 'prove that she 'hadn’t gone 'out of the ‘kitchen. 16. My ‘eldest ‘daughter has det ‘cided to ‘take up + Inursing as a ca‘reer, 17. The 'meadows at the !end of the "lane are t !thick with 'buttercups and !daisies t !all the !summer ‘long. 18. I have ‘never 'seen such at \crowd as there 'was ‘there. 19. You must be quick if you 'want to get your t shopping done in ‘time. 2o. 'All the ‘children from thet 'whole '!neighbourhood came t leagerly to ‘help !pick the ‘strawberries. 21. My ‘father likes tot !take a little ‘nap im + 'mediately lafter his “dinner. 22. It would have been a |good ildea to have asked some t Mriends ‘in to t 'celebrate the 'New ‘Year, 6. FALLING INTONATION 47 23. We 'hope to 'moye into our t Inew 'house be!fore the ‘month is out. 24. I lwonder if I ‘ought to !take my t ‘mackintosh with me? 25. 'George 'plays 'football t every ‘Saturday after‘noon. Exercise 51. Tune I (repeated) Note. The same principle is carried a stage further in sentences of co-ordinate: clauses, or through the addition of non-defining relatives or other loose adjectival or adverbial phrases. Longer sentences of this type most naturally break themselves into smaller groups of Tune I. Pattern: She ‘gave him a “letter and 'told him to ‘post it, but 'not . Nahe No alps to be too ‘long about it. Seton A vertical stroke will be used in the exercises to indicate the completion of any one intonation pattern, viz.: She igave him a ‘letter | and 'told him to ‘post it, | bur Inot to be too ‘long about it. The teacher reads each of the following sentences, the student(s) repeating it twice after him: 1. They had ‘dinner at a ‘restaurant | and then 'went to a ‘show. 2. It was |very ‘cold, | so she 'lit the 'sitting-room “fire. 3. She 'signed the ‘letter, | ‘folded it, | and 'put it in an ‘envelope.8 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 4. Poe ust 'been into a ‘shop and bought a ‘watch, | and ‘walked out without ‘paying for it. 4 (alt.) I’ve ljust ‘been into a 'shop and 'bought a ‘watch, | and 'walked ‘out without ‘paying for it. 5. 'Crowds of !people t 'soon !gathered in 'front of the ‘palace | 'cheering ‘loudly. 6, He loffered her a cigalrette from the ‘box | and ‘lit it for her. 7. The ‘children 'spent their ‘holiday in the ‘park | and 'down by the ‘river. 8. P'H come as 'soon as I ‘ean, | so 'don’t ‘wait for me. 9. The Imist ‘rose, | but it was ‘still too 'dark tot 'see 'down into the ‘valley. 10. The grocer 'weighed the ‘butter, | 'wrapped it ‘up, | and 'gave it to his ‘customer. 11, The ‘engine 'wouldn’t ‘start, | so the 'driver ‘lifted the 'bonnet and t Hooked to 'see what was ‘wrong. 12. I'd like a “long drink, | 'gin and ‘Lime, | but 'not 'too much ‘gin, please. 13. The ‘referee 'blew his ‘whistle, | and the !game ‘started. 14. J lwent to the 'cobbler’s tot Hfetch my ‘shoes, | but the ‘door was ‘locked | so J !couldn’t ‘get them. 15. He !works in an ‘office all ‘day | and 'spends his levenings 'studying for a de‘gree. 16. 'Take the !first turning on the ‘right, | 'keep straight 'on till you 'come to a ‘railway-bridge, | 'then take the 'next lturning on the ‘left. 17. You should eat ‘more ‘fruit and ‘vegetables, | but 'keep off po!tatoes and ‘bread. iu, Ihe 'Boy 'Scouts 'pitched their ‘tents | and 'lit a 'fire to ‘cook their ‘dinner. ay. She laid the ‘table, | '!put the ‘kettle on, | and '!then ‘cut the 'bread for ‘tea. RISING INTONATION 49 20. You must ‘wash the cut, | ‘clean it with 'anti‘septic, | 'then 'put a ‘plaster over it. 21. She ‘has her pilano lesson t !twice a ‘week, | on ‘Mondays and ‘Thursdays. 22. You've 'done it ‘quite ‘well, | ‘much ‘better than ‘last time. 23. It’s a ‘film for aldults ‘only, | !not ‘suitable for ‘children. 24. We can \meet in my 'office at “five | and 'talk about it ‘there. 25. They were ‘all 'planted in a ‘line, | like the ‘railings round a ‘park. Exercise 52. Tune II Note on the graphic transcription to be used, In the notes preceding Exercise 45, the example given asa specimen of this second type of intonation was: 'Did you ‘see me 'leave the ,house? Sy This final rise on the word “house” is quite distinct, as the whole of it is felt on one syllable. It is, of course, only audible over the vowel-sound, but is still mentally present throughout the final “‘s”, When the lowest point, at which the rise begins, comes on any non-final syllable, the subse- quent syllables continue to rise to the end of the phrase and are mainly unstressed. If this lowest point begins on a com- paratively long and open syllable, the upward movement of the voice is evident throughout. Read the following slowly: 'Did you 'see me 'leave the ,school-rcom? = st 750 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH The rise on “school” is comparatively slight, and the leap to “room” more marked. A shorter, closed syllable in the same position would scarcely show a rise in itself at all, but as it is still subjectively a form of the same pattern with a clearly heard rising intonation through the final stressed syllable (such as “house”’), the rise will always be shown graphically to begin on the last significant syllable itself. Viz. 'Did you 'see me ‘leave the ,office? —-+ yy Most transcriptions using a dot-dash system similar to that used in this book have shown the rise only when it occurs finally (... house? /). In other positions the stress has been shown low with any subsequent syllables rising (. . . office? __*). We shall, however, show the rise of the second intonation pattern as starting on the last stressed syllable always, whether it is final or not. A similar sign will be used in the printed texts for practice, viz.: 'Did you 'see me 'leave the ,house?... ,school-room? ++. Office? This will make intonation marking and the printed symbol uniform and also make the reading of the exercises both clearer and easier. The following exercise practises the rise only, as in queries of one syllable, Pattern: You? / Read each of ihe following three times on a rising intonation beginning on @ very low tone: RISING INTONATION 51 me? / him? / them? / all? / these? / those? / mine? / yours? { hers? | his? / theirs? | whose? / who? / when? / where? } four? / five? Exercise 53. Tune I (single stress) Note, See Exercise 52. As for examples of Tune I, the last signifi- cant stressed syllable will be printed in bold type throughout the exercises. The following exercise practises the rise over two or three syllables. Pattern: May we? ,Couldn’t he? a gee The teacher reads each phrase once, the student(s) repeating it at least three times after him: -must you? / shall I? / does he? / ,will they? / ,ought I to? / should we? / shouldn't I? / ,is it? / isn't it? / were they? / ,wasn’t he? / ,has he? / ,hasn’t he? / ,do they? / ,will he? / ,could it? / ,have you to? / aren‘t they? / ,mustn't you? / can’t we? /,shan’t I? / ,was it? | doesn’t she? Exercise 54. Tune II (two stresses, final rise) Note. See Exercise 52. Pattern: '\Can you ,hear? Will you be jin? = Ly ra EP The teacher reads each phrase, the student(s) repeating it three times after him: thave they ,gone? / lwas it ,you? / 'can you ,see? | 'do you ,know? / 'will you be ,there? / Imay I come jin? / ‘did he ,go? / !were you in ,time? / lare we late? / Idoes it ,work? / ‘is it yours? / 'have you time? /'may I5z LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH try? / 'are you afraid? / 'was it all ight? / !must you jo? | laren’t you ,well? / 'couldn’t you ,ask? / 'can I yelp? | 'oughtn’t we to ,pay?/'have you heard the mews? /'would you like to ,eat?/'are you on the Phone? / 'can you do it now? / 'have you got enough? Exercise 55. Tune II (two stresses, rise not final) Note. See Exercise 52. It is a useful convention to show all the syllables following the significant fall (of Tune I) or rise (of Tune IT) as unstressed syllables. Compare the following examples, You 'spoke to him this ‘morning. « 3.5. 'Did you 'speak to him this ,morning? a ae poo 'Did you ,speak to him this morning? fa ee The second question has ‘‘speak” for its last significant syllable, and the rise continues through the rest of the sen- tence, shown as a acries of unstressed syllables. In reality “tails” of this kind are not entirely unstressed, for they always retain a weak echo of their natural stress and rhythm, In this example a weak secondary stress is still perceptible on “mom- ing”, but not strongly enough to need any special signs in either marking or typography. The longer the “‘tail” the moredistinctly is the original stress and rhythm felt. (See Exercises 141 etc.) Pattern: ‘Will you ,tell me? 'Have they spoken to you? 7 7 RISING INTONATION 53 The teacher reads each question, the student{s) repeating it three times after him: 'did he en,joy it? / ‘may I ,borrow it? / 'can you »,make one?/ tare you ,eady?/'has he ,got to? /'did you promise to? / thas she finished with it? / 'can you ;man- age? | 'does it ,matter? / !must you ,go now? / !did you ask them? / 'is she ,likely to? / 'will you fetch me one? j lis it ,raining? / ‘did he ,visit her? / 'have they ,dam- aged it? / 'can I jhelp you? / did ‘anyone ,telephone? / ‘were you looking for me? / 'have they ,eaten them all? { ‘shall we ,ask him for it? / 'do you ,like it? / lis ,tea ready? / 'did the bell ring? / !was it the telephone? / lare we in,vited? / lare you ,working? / !will you be free in a minute or two? / 'have you ,answered the letter? / ‘will you be ,writing to him about it? Exercise 56. Tune II (many stresses) Note. See Exercises 52-55. This exercise practises longer examples of the foregoing types. See Exercise 50 for the sign t . The teacher reads each question, the student(s) repeating it twice after him: 1. 'Did you 'have a 'good ,holiday? 2. 'Have you ‘heard the 'latest mews? 3. 'Were you ,out all day? 4. 'Has that ‘letter been answered? 5. ‘Shall I 'bring some t 'sandwiches for 'you, ,teo? 6. ‘Is that ,your little girl? 7. 'Is it 'possible to 'get it ,out? 8. 'Have you asked 'Mary and ,John to come? 9. 'Shall I lanswer the ,door? 1o, Will ‘someone 'meet you at the ,station? » 'Did you go alway for Easter? 12. ‘Would you ‘like it painted red?54. LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 13. 'Are you 'sure it can be done? 14, 'Can you 'come to lunch tomorrow? 15. ‘May I luse your , phone? 16. 'Do you ,usually work so late? 17. Did 'anyone re'member to t ‘lock the 'front door? 18. lAre these 'sentences too ,hard? 19. Did 'anybody jhelp you with your homework? 20, 'Has the ,postman come? 21. 'Can you 'buy me a ,newspaper while you're out? 22, '\Do you like 'reading in ,bed? 23. "Do you like ,breakfast in bed? 24, Do ‘you like 'breakfast in 'bed, too? 25. "Is it your ,birthday today? 26, 'Are you ,angry with me? 27. 'Can you 'eat ,more than one? 28. Would you ‘like a!nother 'slice of ,bread? 29. 'Can you !come to the ,pictures with me tonight? 30. 'Have you got the 'tickets for the football match? 31. "Must we !buy the t !tickets now? (+ is optional) 32. 'May I ‘wait ‘here till they 'come ,back? 33. 'Do you !mind if I open the ,window? 34. 'Will you be 'staying there long? 35. Are you 'going ,camping again this year? 36. 'Did the '!postmant '!bring any letters today? 37. Have you ‘ever 'been in an ,aeroplane? 38. 'Can you !get it 'mended by tomorrow? 39. Can lanybody 'tell me the 'name of the t 'young 'man who was ,speaking to me just now? 40. ‘Were you in 'time for the ,concert last night? Exercise 57. Tune II (not questions) Note. So far we have used only questions of the “‘yes-no” type as examples for Tune II. This tune is also used in its simple form for statements made as requests, for polite commands, RISING INTONATION 55 remarks of concern, sorrow, apology and almost any emotion that makes an objective statement less definite. The following exercise contains typical examples of Tune II that are not “yes-no” questions. The teacher reads each phrase, the studeni(s) repeating it two or three times after him: . 'That’s right. . Don’t ,trouble! . 'Please sit downl 'That’s ,all. 'Don’t jleavel . Hf you like. . I'm 'so sorry. . ‘Don’t ,movel! . 'Keep on trying! . ‘See you soon! . 'That’s ,good. 12. 'Pass the salt, please! 13. !'That’s enough. 14. ‘Don’t thurt the ,poor thingl 15. !That’s funny. 16. 'Good,bye. 'Good ,morning. 17. ‘If they ,want to. 18, 'O.,Kl 1g. J2's lall the same. 20. 'Don't ,bother! 21. 'That’s the ,way! (=that’s how to do it) 22, It's lall right. 23. I 'beg your ,pardon? 24. ‘Don’t forlget to ,write. 25. 'Come algain ,soon. 26. We 'shan’t be "long now. 27. 'That’s the ‘one I »meant. HOS OY Ante bo56 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 28. I ‘hope you'll ‘let me know. 29. ‘Let me 'know ‘how you get ,on. 30. 'Don’t !go a,way! All the above sentences can be spoken in a more vivid form by using one of the patterns of special stress. The intonation given above is that of matter-of-fact and casual speech, not very forceful or lively. (Examples of special stress begin at Exercise 64.) Exercise 58. Tune II (not questions) Note. See Exercise 57. A common variety of this has a few pre- liminary unstressed syllables leading straight to the rising tone itself. Pattern: A. I ex'pect he ‘knows. B. J shouldn't be surprised 28 \ $2 LA LS. Be B’s response is more casual, less interested, than J Ishouldn't 'be sur,prised, The teacher reads each of the following, the studeni(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: . I'm not sur prised. . 1 shouldn't have thought so. . It doesn’t surprise me. . It's what I expected. - You can if you ,want to. . That's xight. ~ If you ike. I don’t suppose it »matters, . It’s no business of yours. . You've finished ,early today. OS OI AH bed ” RISING INTONATION 57 ut. I didn’t ,see you there. 12. I didn't ,ask you to. 13. You can't expect anything ,hetter. 14. 1 don’t suppose he ,cares. 15. It’s all the same to ,me. 16. It’s none of ,my business. 17. I hardly ,think so. 18, It isn’t the first time, 19, it’s not ,»bad. 20, It's what she’s ,paid for. Exercise 59. Tune II (significant stress varied) Note. The significant stress is the one that takes the beginning of the final fall or rise that marks it as Type Tor Type I. The choice of this syllable depends on the speaker’s thoughts, for by “significant” we are to understand the last syllable (or word) that is of importance for the speaker’s meaning. ‘Thus the most usual reading of No. 26 of Ex. 56 is lAre you ,angry with me? € But the speaker may assume the anger, and be asking either:* (a) is it we you are angry with? or (b) is it you who are angry with me? These would change the significant stress as follows :— (a) 'Areyou langry with ,me? (b) !Are ,youangry with me? gy, Tt is also possible to begin with this low stress, but examples of this will be given in Exercise 79.58 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH The teacher reads each question with the intonation turn as marked, the student(s) repeating it twice or three times after am: 1. 'Do you 'know the 'shortest »way? 'Do you 'know the ,shortest way? 'Do ,you know the shortest way? 2. ‘Must you Igo ,now? ‘Must you ,go now? "Must ,you go now? 3. 'Has my 'book been ,found? 'Has my ,book been found? 'Has »my book been found? 4. 'Do you want to 'stay ,here? 'Do you ‘want to ,stay here? 'Do you ,want to stay here? 'Do ,you want to stay here? 5. "Can you come to 'lunch to,day? 'Can you 'come to ,lunch today? ‘Can you ,come to lunch today? 'Can ,you come to lunch today? 6. 'Willyou "havea !little !more ,meat? 'Will you thave a ‘little ,»more meat? ‘Will you 'have a little more meat? Will you ,have a little more meat? 'Will ,you have a little more meat? 7. Is Mary 'going to !wear that ,hat? ds \Mary 'going to ‘wear ,that hat? Zs (Mary 'going to ,wear that hat? 'Is "Mary ,going to wear that hat? 'Is ,Mary going to wear that hat? COMBINED INTONATIONS 59 8. 'Can you 'break an 'apple in ,two? 'Can you 'break an ,apple in two? 'Can you ,break an apple in two? 'Can ,you break an apple in two? g. 'Have you 'met my !wife before? 'Have you 'met my ,wife before? 'Have you Imet ,my wife before? ‘Have you ,met my wife before? 'Have ,you met my wife before? 10. 'Can you 'buy mea 'second ,copy? 'Can you 'buy me a ,second copy? 1Can you buy ,me a second copy? 'Can you ,buy me a second copy? iCan ,you buy me a second copy? Exercise 60. Tune II + Tune I Note. Sentences beginning with a subsidiary clause or phrase normally have Tune II for this introductory part, followed by ‘Tune I for the main clause. 'When he ,came, | J !asked him to ‘wait Flee If there is no sense-pause made between the two parts of such a sentence, as may often happen with shorter phrases not fol- lowed in print by a comma, the whole sentence may be spoken as one group with Tune I only. ‘After the ,game | we 'had some ,tea, ls ee X60 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH ‘After the 'game we "had some “tea. ‘ The teacher reads each of the following {in tewo sense- groups as indicated), the student(s) repeating it twice after him : 1. 'When he ,saw us, | fe 'ran a‘way. 2, If you like, | PW '\send the ‘ear for you. 3, 'As she was 'coming down the stairs, | her foot shipped. 4. ‘After we've 'had our ,dinner, | we cam 'sit in the ‘garden. 5. Ju ‘spite of the ,rain, | they 'all lcame as they had ‘promised, 6, Al'though your !work + 'still "has some mistakes, | it # ‘better than be‘fore. 7, Belfore I had 'time to t open the door, | ke Iknocked a‘gain, 8. Using ‘all his strength, | he aimed a ter'rific !blow at his op‘ponent, 9. Un'less it 'rains in the 'next few ,days, | we shall have a ‘very !poor ‘harvest. ro. 'Since you re!fuse to ,help, | I must 'do it alone. 1x, Since learly ,morning | J have been pre'paring for the ‘party. 12, 'So ‘hard did he ,work, | that he was ‘quite worn ‘out. 13. Whenlever I |have a ,headache, | J 'take a ‘cup of \strong ‘tea, 14. After ‘all I've 'done for my ,children, | they ‘simply 'go and ‘leave me, 15. 'What he ,meant by it, | J !cannot i‘magine. 16. 'If there’s time, | we can thave a game of t Itennis lafter our ‘bathe. 17. ‘Since her illness | she has ‘never 'really ‘looked ‘well, COMBINED INTONATIONS 61 18. Be'fore you ,go, | thave a ‘look at my 'latest ‘photos. 1g. Belfore he ‘knew what was ,happening, | the !car 'skidded and t Imounted the ‘pavement. zo. 'After ,all, | you've 'still got alnother ‘chance. 21. With 'fierce determination, | he 'rowed to!wards the Idrowning ‘girl, 22. Be'neath the 'shade of a tree | was @ Igarden ‘seat. 23. 'Pushing with 'both ,hands, | she !tried to !free herself from his ‘grasp. 24. On the 'stroke of ,midnight | they ‘all raised their 'glasses to t Idrink to the 'New ‘Year. 25. ‘Barking ex,citedly, | the 'dog rushed Jout to the ‘garden ‘gate. 26, Allthough she was 'very ,poor, | she was ex!tremely ‘honest. 27. 'When the 'winter is ,over, | we must ‘have the !house ‘painted. 28. On the 'top of a ,hill | stood an ‘old ‘church. 2g. 'Just as the 'train was ,starting, | ke ‘jumped ‘in. 30. On the 'bottom ,shelf | you'll find a 'blue ‘book. 31. Withlout ‘knowing what she was ,doing, | she be!gan to ‘run. 32. 'When you're !quite ,ready, | 'we can ‘go. 33. Belfore you 'tell us any ,more, | you !must have ‘something to. ‘eat. 34. If #’s ‘all the 'same to ,you, | I'd ‘rather ‘walk, 35- 'Holding the 'key in lone ,hand, | ke !felt for the ‘keyhole with the ‘other, Exercise 61. Tune I + Tune I Note. This is the usual pattern for a sentence where the main clause is followed by a clause or phrase that strongly qualifies it. It is particularly common with conditions spoken in a hesitant manner,6a LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Pattern: I \eat ‘steak, | when I can ,get it. Notice that the Tune II section is commonly without any stresses before the significant one when used (as here) for final qualifying clauses or phrases. The teacher reads each sentence, the student(s) repeating tt ttice after him, Make an appreciable pause at the bar-iine of each sentence. 1. I prelfer ‘red, | if you've ,got it. 2, I should 'ike to ‘read it, | when you've finished with it, 3. We can ‘walk there | if there's ,time. 4. There'll be Inothing ‘left, | after you've had ,yours. 5. You'll be ‘late | if you don’t hurry ,up. 6. I'd 'buy a ‘new one, | if I could afford it. 7. They'll have to 'cross by ‘boat | until the ,bridge is built. 8, We must 'put ‘up with it, | since it can't be helped. 9. You'll be 'dead ‘tired | before the day’s out. ro. I Idon’t under'stand you | when you speak so fast. 11. We ‘didn't 'see the be‘ginning, | being so ,late. 12. It’s Ino use ‘going | until the ,library’s open. 13. I'd ‘like some, ‘too, | if you can ,find any. 14. ‘Everyone be‘lieved it | at the time when I ,spoke to ‘ou. 15. } lalways 'clean my “teeth | affer ,eating. 16, 'I 'think she is un‘kind, | ste you ,ask me, 17. 'Let’s swim 'out to that ‘rock, | if it's nat too far. 18. I 'can’t under!stand t 'why there’s 'no ‘answer, | untess this is the wrong ,house. 19. We must 'do as he ‘says, | since there’s no ,other way. 20. That's !quite ‘right, | as far as ,I know. COMBINED INTONATIONS 63 The intonation pattern of this exercise and the next one should be compared with the type introduced in Exercise 128, where asimilar pattern occurs as a single unit. Exercise 62. Tune I + Tune II Note. The pattern of Exercise 61 is also used in a very similar type of sentence where a remark is followed by a short phrase that qualifies it, rather in the manner of an afterthought. The speaker makes a remark, hesitates, then adds a phrase to make it less definite. This phrase will be heard as a rising intonation (Tune II). Pattern: I'll \ask him my’self, | if necessary. oa hs The teacher reads each sentence, the student(s) repeating it twice after him. Make an appreciable pause at the bar-line of each sentence, 1. J 'think it’s 'quite fair, | on the ,whole. . We were ‘always !good ‘friends, | till last ,year, . "Nothing can 'save her ‘now, | except a miracle. . F lean’t ‘do it | just at the »moment. . 'That’s the “last, | 7 think, She ‘lunches ‘early, | jasually. . Tt'll be ‘ready in a ‘moment, | #f you'll »wait. PI \do it at ‘once | if need be. 9. 'He was ‘right, | nevertheless. 1a. !They knew 'nothing a‘bout it, | 1/7 now. 11, She’s 'very hard-‘working, | on the ,other hand. 12. In spring it 'rains a Mot, | ,generally. 13. She !does 'what she’s ‘told, | of ,course. 14. 'Baby ‘cries t levery ‘night, | from ,my experience, 15. He’s ‘late, | as jusual. 16, We have 'very little ‘snow here | as a ,rule. i64 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 17. They would 'like ‘something to ‘eat, | J i,magine. 18. I'll 'do it ‘now, | if there’s time. 19. We ‘haven't much ‘money left, | ,mind you. 20. !Nor have ‘we, | as a matter of fact. Exercise 63. Tune I (replacing I + II) Note. The two previous exercises deal with a statement followed by a clause or shorter phrase qualifying it as an afterthought. If the speaker consciously incorporates this afterthought into the idea he wishes to express, there will be no pause and the whole statement reverts to the normal factual and objective Tune I, This sometimes needs a different word-order. Pattern: 1. I’ ‘ask him | when he ,calls. (as an ——————_ afterthought) a RA lillies & 2. I'll task him 'when he ‘ealls. (as one idea) : \ Read the following sentences from Exercise 61 and 62 in the two ways suggested. The teacher reads each sentence, the student(s) repeating it twice after him: the variant reading of each sentence should be done by the same student(s). 1. You'll be ‘dead ‘tired | before the ,day’s out. You'll be ‘dead 'tired before the ‘day’s out, 2. You'll be ‘late | if you don't hurry jup. You'll be Mate if you '!don’t hurry ‘up. 3. Pd 'buy a ‘new one | if 7 could af ford it. I'd "buy a 'new one if I could afford it. 4. It’s ‘no use ‘going | until the Jibrary's open. J?’s 'no use going until the ‘library's open. 5. That's ‘quite ‘right, | as far as 1 know. That's ‘quite 'right as far ast ‘I know. FALLING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) 65 6, I 'think it’s 'quite Mair, | on the ,whole. T 'think on the !whole it’s quite fair. 7. ‘Nothing can 'save her ‘now, | except a ,miracle, ‘Nothing can ‘save her 'now except at ‘miracle. 8. I Ican’t ‘do it | just at the »moment. Z ‘can’t 'do it "ust at the ‘moment. 9. She ‘lunches ‘early, | ,usually. She ‘usually ‘lunches ‘early. 10. 'He was ‘tight, | nevertheless. "Nevertheless he was ‘right. tt. 'They knew 'nothing a‘bout it, | 2! now. 'They knew 'nothing a!bout it till ‘now. 12. In 'spring it 'rains a “lot, | generally. Jn ‘spring it !generally ‘rains a lot. 13. We have 'very little ‘snow here, | as a rule. As a ‘rule we have 'very little ‘snow here. 14. They would ‘like ‘something to ‘eat, | J ¢,magine, Is'magine they would ‘like ‘something to ‘eat. 15. PH !do it ‘now, | #f there's time. PH ‘do it ‘now if there’s ‘time, Exercise 64. Special Stress (stress for meaning) Note. Apart from the obvious habit of exaggerating the movement of the voice when emotionally excited, there is the very impor- tant English speech habit of emphasizing one or two words in a sentence to give special point to the speaker's ideas. When this is done in simple objective statements, the word (or syllable) to be made prominent is spoken with a falling intona- tion, starting higher than the previous stress. Syllables to be spoken in this way will appear in the exercises in CAPITALS to distinguish them from the usual significant intonation turn in heavy type. (The first person singular, as it is always a capital letter, will appear in heavy type when it takes this special stress: I.) Fr66 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Pattern: I. (normal) He 'wants me to ‘stay. a ae ee He ‘went to 'bed in the ‘morning. ee 2. (with stress) He 'wants me to ‘STAY. He 'went to 'bed in the ‘\MORNing. He ‘wants me to ‘STAY (though I intended to leave). He 'went to 'bed in the \MORNing (instead of at night, as you might expect). Students should note that the prominence given to such syllables depends for its effect more on the characteristic big leap down than on a stonger stress. The force with which the syllable is spoken need be no stronger than the normal pattern, where no idea is to be made especially prominent. The teacher reads each of the following sentences with special prominence given to the last word, the student(s) re- peating it twice or three times after him: 'these Igoods are for ‘EXport / you're ‘nearly 'falling a‘SLEEP | they ‘stayed until ‘MIDnight / J ‘didn’t 'know you were ‘HERE / he leats tham with ‘MARmalade / he ‘rode his ‘horse up the ‘STAIRS / J ‘couldn't say Ino to “YOU / she 'washes her 'face in ‘MILK | we ‘haven't FALLING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) 67 ‘seen him for ‘YEARS / you !look as lif you’re \ANGry [ke \pays me 'for it ‘WEEKly / you ‘won't ‘listen to ‘ANybody / mother !didn’t !say a ‘WORD /| I've finished the Iwashing, ‘TOO / he !works at ‘NIGHT /[ it’s !more than 'I can af‘FORD /| his 'favourite !game is ‘FOOTball [she ‘keeps it lin her 'POCKet / we ‘used to ‘have a 'garden lon the ‘ROOF /J 'doubt if 'he’ll a‘GREE / they ‘walked from 'London to *“GLASgow /in 'some ‘countries women lwear ‘T'ROUSers / she’s 'earnt it !all by ‘HEART / she’s "leaving to!morrow by ‘AIR / you should have ‘come ‘EARIier / it ‘looks like ‘RAIN / we lought to have 'paid him ‘YESterday / Z 'cut myself on a \piece of ‘PAper / Ae 'did it ‘all for ‘NOthing / J ‘thought you ‘asked for ‘TEA. Exercise 65. Special Stress (Tune I) Note. See Exercise 64. Even greater prominence is given to one idea by giving it the wide leap we have just practised, and at the same time leaving all other syllables unstressed. Paiterns: Tune I with special stress (see previous exercise), is given added force in the form: He wants me ta ‘STAY. ee The above will be the standard way of showing and printing this pattern in this book, but students should notice two slight variations that are commonly used instead of it. 1. The syllables marked as unstressed normally retain a shadow of their normal stresses, which are, however, very much re- duced and on a fairly low tone. He saute we to ‘STAY. - emg i68 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 2. The syllables preceding the special stress are sometimes heard to rise slightly on their way to the high jump of the specially stressed syllable; they may sound completely unstressed, or again, as at x above, a weak echo of the original stressing may be perceived through the rhythm. 2a. He wants me to ‘STAY, 2b. He wants me to ‘STAY. a ees poate EPR It is quite immaterial which pattern is used. The tendency for the voice to rise towards the special stress is more usual when this introductory unstressed group is rather long. The teacher reads the following sentences unstressed, with Special stress on the last word, the studeni(s) repeating it two or three times after him: I don't think I ‘CAN | he wants it at ‘ONCE | I cooked it my‘SELF | I told you to leave it a‘SLONE | she was simply ‘FURious | it'll be ready to‘DAY | the water was ‘BOTLing [it has rained for a ‘MONTH | we couldn’t understand a ‘WORD | it was all a mis‘STAKE | ke was bitten by a ‘DOG | he's done it a‘GAIN | I don’t beewe it’s POSSible | they did what they ‘COULD /yow can’t go out lke STHAT / he fell ill on his ‘BIRTHday [ I’ ring the bell till he ‘ANSwers | it would be better to ‘PHONE | you must do as you're ‘TOLD | they're going to live in a \CAR- avan / I’m told she's his “WIFE | he’s having a holiday in ‘ROME / it's always better to ‘WAIT | this calendar is for nineteen-\FIF ty | this isn't the one I ‘ASKED for. Exercise 66. Special Stress (Tune I) Note, See Exercises 64 and 65, Here are some of the previous sentences with the normal stresses given back to the intro- ductory unstressed sections. FALLING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) 69 The teacher reads each senience as shown, the student(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: I 'don’t 'think I ‘CAN /J !told you to leave it aXSLONE {we ‘couldn’t under'stand a ‘WORD /he was ‘badly tbitten by a ‘DOG/J ‘don’t be'lieve it’s ‘POSSible / they ‘did 'what they ‘COULD | you 'can’t go ‘out like ‘THAT | he 'fell lill on his ‘BIRTHday / 7’i 'ring the Ibell till he ‘ANSwers / they’re 'going to 'live ina ‘CAR- avan | I’m ‘told she’s his ‘WIFE / He’s ‘having a holiday in ‘ROME / it's lalways 'better to ‘WAIT | this lisn’t the lone I ‘ASKED for. Exercise 67. Special Stress (Tune I) Note. Sce Exercise 64-66. In this exercise the special stress is not necessarily at the end. All the other syllables will be in the unstressed form. Pattern: He wants ‘ME to stay, ‘HE wants me to stay. ae ee ee ee He wants ‘ME to stay (I’m the one who has been asked). ‘HE wants me to stay (he’s the one who has asked me. Fr. C'est lui qui...) It is perhaps worth while pointing out that the last syllable of an unstressed tail that would normally have a stress makes a slight but perceptible movement in the same direction as the preceding special stress. The word “stay” in the second example above echoes the stress on “He”, dying away on a downward movement that may go below the normal lower range of the voice.jo LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH ‘HE wants me to stay. te fe OMe yt This fact is of considerable importance for a natural reading of dialogue (see Exercises 141 to 145), and can be observed with increasing frequency throughout the rest of the exercises. The teacher reads each sentence as marked, the student(s) reading it twice or three times after him: I. ow Ap wb 9. Io. 11, 12, 13. 14. 15. 16, 17. 18, 19. 20. aI. 22, 23 24. 25 We ‘TRIED to make them listen . “WE tried to make them listen, . £ told ‘YOU to do it. . “I told you to do it. We're having ‘STRAWberries for tea today. J’ve drunk ‘YOUR coffee, I’m afraid. I saw ‘MARGaret at the theatre last night. . He brought me a ‘PRESent when he came home. He ‘RAN all the way to the station. The gardener has planted po“T Atoes in the front garden. You've used to‘DAY’S newspaper to light the fire. I ‘DON’T like porridge for breakfast. There'll be ‘TEN guests to dinner tonight. They looked ‘EVerywhere for my wallet. He gave me a “NEW one instead of the old. He'll \NEVer do it any better. They are ‘FLYing to America. ‘I told him not to come. Thai's “NOT the best way to do it, He heard ‘YOU were here. They asked ‘ME to come. They ‘ASKED me to come. £*TOLD you who to write to. fe re‘FUSED to bring the book back. Why don’t you ‘BUY yourself a copy? FALLING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) mn Exercise 68. Special Stress (Tune I, two stresses) Note, See Exercises 65-67. If special emphasis is to be given to more than one point in a remark, the fall will be repeated. All the other syllables will remain unstressed. If one of these ideas carries more weight than the other, it will fall from a greater height. This will not be shown in the exercises; the teacher or student may read them as he wishes. Pattern; ‘HE wants me to ‘STAY. ‘HE wants ‘ME to stay. ae west’ Sees ME GON Tie ‘HE wants me to ‘STAY (but SHE would like me to LEAVE). ‘HE wants ‘ME to stay (but SHE would like my FRIEND to). The teacher reads each of these sentences with two special stresses as marked, the student(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: » ‘WE like ‘TEA. . “TI prefer ‘COFFee. ‘JOAN is engaged to ‘JOHN. . ‘NOW’S the time to ‘WORK. - ‘ID like to try asGAIN. . ‘HOLiday trains are ‘A Lways crowded. . ‘THIS book is ‘VERY interesting. . He \GENerally gets up at ‘SEVen o'clock, . He ‘SAID he stayed late at the ‘OFFice. . Lm afraid ‘I shall have to ‘GO now. . We had our ‘LUNCH before we ‘GOT here. . I ‘THOUGHT she was ‘ILL. - “SOME children are afraid of the DARK, . ‘SOME children are a‘FRAID of the dark. . The LAST bus goes at ‘TEN o'clock. COW AHN pw AERA So72 LIVING ENGLISH SPRECH 16. J ‘NEVer drink ‘WINE with my meals. 17. ‘Lknow a‘NOTHer way. 18. It's ‘NOT so far as you ‘THINK. 19. We ‘MUSTn’t forget to ‘TELL him about it, 20. This ‘ISn’t the one I WANTed. Exercise 69. Special Stress (question-word questions) Note, See Exercises 65-67. As with ordinary statements, the syllables up to the one with special stress may be spoken with normal stress and intonation, or they may be completely un- stressed; the tail following the special stress is always un- stressed. This exercise has the normal intonation (Tune 1) as far as the special stress. Pattern: ‘How many 'people 'came to ‘SEE you? The teacher reads each question as marked, the siudent(s) repealing it twice or three times after him: 'Which is 'your ‘*COLDest month? ‘Where have you 'put my “GLASSes? ‘Why do you 'have to 'leave at (ONCE? Which is the 'platform for the ‘NINE o’clock train? "Why tcan’t ‘YOU do it? 'How !much do *YOU think it costs? 'What’s the !matter with ‘YOU? 'Who 'told you to !wait ‘HERE? \Which ‘kind is the ‘BEST? 'How ‘late will they ‘BE? a1. 'What 'date is ‘EASTer this year? 12. 'Who is 'going to MEET them? 13. 'Which would ‘YOU recommend? 14. 'Where do you 'keep the ‘COAL? So my rnee pn FALLING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) 73 15. 'Why !don’t you ‘LISTen? 16. 'How 'long do you !want to ‘KEEP it? 17. ‘When do the 'children get HOME? 18. 'Where are you '!going on ‘SUNday? 1g. 'What’s the name of the ‘TALL girl? 20. 'Whose 'house are we !going to ‘THIS time? Exercise 70. Special Stress (question-word questions) Note. See Exercise 69. As in the earlier examples of statements with a special stress, question-word questions can also be spoken entirely unstressed (except for the special stress itself) to give extra prominence to the point of the question. Pattern: How many people came to ‘SEE you? The variants shown in the note to Exercise 64 also apply to question-word questions, The teacher reads each question as marked, the student(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: 1. What's ‘THAT for? . Which is your ‘COLDest month? Who came in ‘FIRST in that race? Why do you ‘HAVE to go at once? . Which is the platform for the SNINE o'clock train? Why can't “YOU do it? . How much do ‘YOU think it costs? . When is ‘PETer’s birthday? . Where have YOU been? 10. What's the ‘MATTer with you? 11. Who ‘TOLD you to wait here? 12. How ‘LATE will they be? OW Anh .°74 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 13. Why should “YOU bother? 14. Why ‘NOT? £5. What was ‘WRONG with it? 16. Which would “YOU recommend? 17. Where do you keep the ‘COAL? 18, Where are “YOU going on Sunday? 19. What ‘FOR? 20, Why don’t you ‘LISTen? 21. Why ‘SHOULD I? 22. What have “I got to do with it? 23. When do the ‘CHILDren get home? 24, Whose house are we going to ‘THIS time? 25. Why do we always go ‘THERE? Exercise 71. Special Stress (question-word questions) Note: See Exercises 69 and 7o, The pattern of Exercise 7o is here set down with two special stresses; the rest of the sen- tence is unstressed. Pattern: What have ‘YOU got to do with ‘HIS problems? a fa) reer hip en Be The teacher reads each of the questions as marked, the studeni(s) repeating it twice after him: 1, ‘WHY must you go ‘NOW? . ‘WHERE did you put ‘MY hat? - What will \MOTHer say when ‘SHE hears? . What “WILL mother say when she ‘HEARS? When ‘ARE you going to stop that ‘NOISE? Who would have ‘THOUGHT it could be done so ‘QUICKly? . Which ‘DRESS shall I put on for the ‘PARty? . Why ‘CAN’T she be more ‘REAsonable? 9. Hew am ‘I to know what ‘HE means? Auneun cont INTONATION OF QUESTIONS qs 10, Where's the ‘RED book I left on the “T'Able? 11. ‘WHERE ought ‘HE to sit? 12. ‘WHO forgot to wipe their ‘SHOES? 13. “WHY didn’t she re‘FUSE to tell them? 14. How ‘DOES she manage to keep so ‘SLIM? 15. When did your ‘YOUNGest daughter be‘GIN to learn the piano? Exercise 72. Personal Element (in question-word ques- tions) Note. We have already noted the general difference between Tunes I and IT. 1, Definite factual assertion ; objectivity, IL. The addition of some personal element (doubt, query, reproach, concession, innuendoes of all kinds); lack of finality. Question-word questions are mainly of an objective character in that they do not ask for or offer an opinion (which is personal) but a fact. But questions made by verb-inversion (do you? can he? ete.) demand “‘yes” or ‘‘no’” for an answer, and by seeking an opinion are therefore personal in character. So forthe former we normally use Tune 1 (Exercise 49 and others), and for the latter the normal pattern is with Tune II (Exercises 53-57 and others). Pattern: We frequently use Tune II for question-word questions if our mental attitude to the question causes some personal element to be prominent. For example, the question: ‘What is your‘name? — “" * \ is here in its normal pattern asking for information of a factual nature, such as an official filling up a form. A gy is a form showing some interest or sympathy, and might be so used to invite the confidence of a lost child. It is a very usual What is your name?76 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH intonation when question-word questions are used in the little exchanges of everyday conversation, expressing and inviting extra warmth and interest. The teacher reads each of the following question-word questions using Tune II as shown, the studeni(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: ‘where do you live? / ‘what did you ,say? / ‘how ,old are you? / hwhen have you time? / !what can I ,do for you? / ‘what's the ,matter? { !why do you ,want to? / which ‘coat is ,yours? / why 'don’t you ,j;now? / 'how did you 'manage to 'be so late? / 'when do you !get up? | ‘what 'time shall I ,come? / 'where shall we ,meet? / lwhy |wasn’t it finished? /'which 'cake would you jlike? / 'what have you 'got ,there? / how !much do they jharge? | ‘when !may I ,go? / 'where am 'I to ,sit? / ‘who should I ,write to? / ‘when can I ,phone you? / lwhat’s your ,number? / 'what’s ‘got to be Idone ,next? | ‘who do you 'want to 'see mow? / 'where were lyou jlast year? { ‘how ‘much does ,this cost? / 'when’s the 'best time to ,come? / ‘what would you 'like to ,drink? { ‘who'd ‘like another one? Exercise 73. Personal Element (question-word questions) Note, Another important use of Tune II for question-word questions is that used in a question that is asked for the second time. The question-word itself begins on the low tone, lending emphasis to the whole question. The question has been repeated either because the answer has sounded improb- able, or because the speaker has forgotten the answer. All the syllables except the first are virtually unstressed, and will be written so in the exercises; but as always in sentences with Jong ‘‘tails”, trace of the former stress and rhythm can still be felt, as suggested in the pattern below: INTONATION OF QUESTIONS TT Pattern: ,What is your name? gre * or goo? The teacher reads each of the sentences in Exercise 72 as shown in the first few examples below, the student(s) repeating tt twice or three times after him: ;where do you live? | ,;what did you say? / ,how old are you? / ,;when have you time? / etc. taking examples from the previous exercise. Exercise 74, Personal Element (question-word questions) Note: See previous two exercises. Patterns for question-word questions. Normal: ‘What is your ‘name? —_ \ Interested: ‘What is your name? —_ Sf Repeated: ,What is your name? Z Repeai Exercise 72 in the normal intonation of question- word questions, as in the first few examples below: ‘where do you “live? / 'what did you ‘say? / ‘how ‘old are you? / when have you ‘time? / !what can I ‘do for you? / ete. ete. taking examples from Exercise 72. Exercise 75, Personal Element (inversion questions) Note. Questions made by inverting verb and subject (yes-no questions} are normally spoken on Tune II (sce Exercises 53-57 and others). By their nature they are partly personal because they invite the other person’s opinion (“yes” or “no”), and in a sense they are incomplete because the comple- ™ «tary question (“or not?” etc.) is implied, Nevertheless8 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH we often hear such questions spoken with Tune I. ‘The twa principal situations where this intonation is heard with yes-no questions are: 1, Rhetorical questions (expecting agreement and not asking an apinion). 2. Assertive remarks, almost commands; often to keep someone to the point. Patterns for these types: x. lAren’t they ‘pretty? (They obviously arel) Ne za, 'Have you 'brought my ‘coat? (I asked you for it; ae = I expect it.) N\ 2b. Yes, but !will he ‘come? awe S. A. “He's very ‘charming; J’m !sure you'll ‘like him.” B. “ Yes, but 'will he come?” (Never mind the descrip- tion; come to the point that interests me!) The teacher reads each of the following inversion questions with Tune I as shown, the student(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: 'Isn’t that ‘kind of her? 'Won’t they be ‘pleased? 'Haven’t I been ‘quick? IDid you Ido as I ‘said? 'Wasr’t it a good “film? "Don’t they look ‘nice? SN Fe 3) INTONATION OF QUESTIONS 79 7. 'Isn’t it a ‘pity? 8. 'Does it ‘matter? g. ‘Wasn't the !weather ‘awful? to. 'Weren’t we !well ‘looked after? 11. 1Do you a‘gree? 12. 'Aren’t I ‘naughty ?+ 13. But lare you ‘sure? 14. 1Can it be ‘helped? 15. 'Would it be a ‘good thing to do? 16. 'Won’t it be ‘wonderful? 17. "Isn't it Movely today? 18. 'Wasn’t that a ‘difficult examination? 19. 'Aren’t you ‘smart this evening? 20. 'Did you 'put the ‘kettle on? 21. 'Can you !do it by your ‘self? 22. 'Does she ‘know the ‘way? 23. 'Am I Mate? 24. May I lask a ‘question? 25. 'Do you 'think that’s ‘right? Exercise 76. Personal Element (inversion questions) Note. See Exercise 75. An emphatic form of these inversion questions with Tune I has its big downward leap on the verbal inversion (usually the first word). The rest of the sentence remains low and is unstressed, although the original rhythm ig still quietly felt. Pattern: ‘AREN'T they pretty? Yes but “WILL he come? = oe ee The teacher reads each of the following questions in the given stressed form, the siudent(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: 1 Seldom said by men, Usually a playful apology.80 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH ‘ISN’T that kind of her? / ‘WON'T they be pleased? | ‘“HAVEN’T I been quick? | ‘DON’T they look nice? / ISn’t it a pity? | ‘AREN’T I naughty? / but ‘ARE you sure? / ‘WOULD it be a good thing to do? | ‘WON'T it be wonderful? / ‘ISn't it lovely today? / DOES she know the way? Exercise 77. Special Stress (TuneII, inversion questions) Note. A common use of this is the emphatic form of questions spoken with Tune II. The most usual pattern has the emphatic leap down on the inverted verb (normally the first word), the rest of the sentence rising on a series of unstressed syllables. The last syllable that would normally have been stressed re~ tains a shadow of its former importance, and for this reason will still be marked as stressed. It is felt and heard not so much as a heavier accent but rather as a more definite lift in the rising intonation. The key patterns will make this clearer. This emphatic question pattern with Tune II is used mainly for questions repeated (either for insistence on an answer or because the original answer has been forgotten or wasn’t clear); or in order to ask the question in a very doubtful manner, Patterns: 1. ‘HAVE you seen my hat? ‘HAVE you seen my ,tat? (Please think! I'm sure you must have.) N.B.—The final rise will be shown by the usual accent, but the word taking it will be printed in italics to indicate that it is almost without stress, though spoken with a well- defined rise. An alternative pattern is: ‘HAVE you seen my hat? See RISING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) 81 2. ‘DID she say ,six o'clock? ee. fot ‘DID she say ,six o’clock? (I’m not quite sure what she said.) The teacher reads each of the following questions of Tune IT type with special emphasis on the verbal inversion, the student(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: ‘IS it the fourteenth today? / ‘CAN you do it by your- pelf? | ‘DOES she know the ,way? / “WOULD it bea ,good thing to do? { ‘WOULD it be a good thing to ,do? / ‘DO you think that’s ,rwht? | ‘MAY I ask a ,question?/ ‘WOULD you have preferred the ,green one? / ‘SHOULD I have informed the ,police? | ‘ARE they going a,way? | ‘WILL it be too late to buy ,fickets? / ‘DID you turn the ,eht out? / ‘DID you put the ,kettle on? | \WERE you really ill? / ‘IS it the house we went to be,fore? / ‘WAS it the house I ,told you about? / ‘IS smoking pro,hibited here? | ‘WAS I right, after ,alJ? | ‘COULD you come again ymext week? Exercise 78. Special Stress (Tune II, question-word questions) Note. See Exercises 77 and 73. The pattern practised in Exercise 73 is given added emphasis by using the intonation of Exercise 77, the special ermphasis being given to the question-word. The syllable that would normally have been the last stressed one again takes added lift, and will be shown in print in italics preceded by the Tune II rising stress-mark, Pattern: ‘WHAT is your ame? ‘WHAT is your name? ‘WHAT is your name?82 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH The teacher reads each of the following questions, taken from Exercise 73, with special emphasis on the question-word, the student(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: ‘WHERE do you ,ive? | ‘WHAT did you say? / ‘WHAT can I ,do for you? | ‘\WHAT’S the matter? | ‘WHY do you ,want to? | HOW did you manage to be so ,late? / ‘WHERE shall we ,meet? | “WHAT have you got ,there? | ‘HOW much do they ,harge? | ‘WHEN may I ,go? | ‘WHERE am I to it? / ‘WHO should I ,write to? / ‘WHAT'S your ,phone number? / \WHO do you want to see ,zext? | WHAT would you like to ,drink? Exercise 79. Special Stress (emphatic questions com- pared) Note. From the earlier exercises on questions we can see that question-word questions are normally spoken with Tune I, and inversion (yes-no) questions with Tune II. For special reasons, however, these patterns can be reversed (see Exercises 72,73, and 78). The patterns of Exercises 73 and 75 occur with both types of question as follows: Patterns: A. Do you know the answer? yt “Yes-no” question showing great doubt or uncertainty; or asked for the second time. B. ‘DO you know the answer? tw dp Meth fh Insistent form, to keep someone to the point, RISING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) 83 A. ,Where do you want to go? pF Question-word question in its repeated form (Ex. 73). B. ‘WHERE do you want to go? Wr bie .F — ba Tnsistent form, to keep someone to the point The teacher reads each of the following questions on the rising pattern A above, the student(s) repeating it twice after him: . “Have you got enough time? . ;Was she really ill? . , Will anyone want to go? . jHave you locked the front door? Are we to expect any more money? /Have you enough knives and forks? . ,>What are you going to tell him? . ,Where can we put them? . ,Who’s going to carry them? . ,When will the house be finished? . ,Would they agree to such a plan? . )Do people believe he was responsible? . Which book is the most. suitable? . ,Why does he refuse to listen? - ,Could it be done any other way? . ,Was it wise to leave her all alone? . Is there any difference between them? . Did he tell you the result? . ,Who is going to support him? » js there any reason why we should? 21, ,Who do you think was to blame? Doe ee OS RIAA DAOC oI ON pw Wo84 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH 22. ;Where were we supposed to put the cases? 23. ,Who told you to wait for an answer? 24. ;Was there any chance of succeeding? 25. ~Had they done all they could? Exercise 80. Special Stress (emphatic questions com- pared) Note. See previous exercise and Exercise 76. Pattern: The emphatic falling pattern B of the notes to the previous exercise is heard when the speaker insists on getting an immediate answer, probably after a digression from the point. The situation can easily be implied by introducing the question with an unstressed “‘ Yes, but. . .” Yes, but ‘DO you know the answer? The teacher reads each of the questions in Exercise 79 in the above patiern, introducing it with “ Yes, but... ."" The student(s) will repeat it twice after him. The first half-dozen sentences are shown below: 1. Yes, but ‘HAVE you got enough time? Yes, but “WAS she really ill? Yes, but “WILL anyone want to go? Yes, but ‘HAVE you locked the front door? Yes, but ‘ARE we to expect any more money? . Yes, but ‘HAVE you enough knives and forks? . «+. and similarly with the rest of Exercise 79. Sheep Exercise $1. Special Stress (implications) Note. See Exercises 65 and 67 for comments on the weakened rhythm of the unstressed portion of sentences with a special stress, This point is of some importance for the proper under- standing of special stress with Tune IL, RISING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) 8s Patterns: I ‘knew he ‘wasn't ‘present. . = N: (Objective statement with Tune I). I*KNEW he wasn’t present. TNS i ies kes 6 (Special stress to make the speaker’s certainty prominent.) N.B.—Although “he wasn’t present” is now shown as un- stressed, the original stressing of “....he 'wasn’t !present” is still weakly perceptible, If the speaker wishes to give some personal feeling to the statement in the form of an unspoken hint or innuendo, he will use Tune IJ, the rise occurring om what would normally have been the last significant stress, So the example would become: I ‘KNEW he wasn't ,present. a a at (.... although people have tried to persuade me that he was.) The stress on “present” is not strong but the rise of Tune IT beginning on that word is quite definite and unmistakable. The final can rise can also take place over the last syllable itself... I ‘KNEW he wasn’t ,there. ye Sige «++.or the rise can also occur over several syllables,86 LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH I think ‘TEA’S the ,best thing to drink. jome SS) fae t (I hope you agree with mel) In some form or another the emphatic pattern of Tune IT is extremely common in English, as we so often make remarks which carry with them some implication which is not put into words but is quite clearly expressed by the final rising intona- tion. The next few exercises will offer systematic practice material on the principal varieties of Special Stress with Tune I. ‘The first group has its special stress on the first syllable and a rise on the last syllable. The teacher reads each statement as indtcated, the stu- dent(s) repeating it twice or three times after him: ‘THAT’S not the one I ,want / ‘THAT'S not the way to fry an ,egg / ‘I have nothing to ,say / ‘NOW is the time to act | ‘SOON we shall know where we ,are / ‘FARMers will like this rain / ‘NObody’ll notice that / MY way is the ,best / ‘SKI-ing's the sport for ,you / ‘\THERE’S the ,sea! / ‘WE are to blame for that / ‘HERE'S my little boy! / ‘THIS is my ,son / ‘THERE'S St. ,Paul’s! /‘ALL children have to do as they’re told / ‘THIS material's very ,poor / ‘SOMEone must know the truth / ‘TOM will want to ,know / ‘ASpirin will do you ,good / ‘PETer is the man to ,ask / ‘MAYbe I could ,come / ‘NORMally I ,can / ‘YOU won't be there to ,see / ‘THIS hat isn’t jbad | ‘THURSday would be a good ,day / ‘THAT wasn’t what she ,meant / ‘YOU ought to ,know / ‘THAT'S not the ,»way / ‘BLUE'S a good colour fora ,blonde /‘MEAT’S getting very ,dear. RISING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) 87 Exercise 82. Special Stress (implications) Note. See previous exercise. Pattern: the final rise spread over two or more syllables. ‘THAT might be possible. ‘HERE’S the one you ,wanted. SE PRS Te ee The teacher reads each statement as indicated, the student(s) repealing it two or three times after him: ‘THAT’S a good sug,pestion | ‘HE’LL never under- stand them / ‘THIS is the way to ,do it / \HERE’S a nice place for a ,picnic | ‘NObody could have done better {‘NOW’S the ,moment / ‘HERE'S the book I’m ,studying / “YOURS ought to come to,morrow / ‘YESterday you you said you'd let me / ‘WE don’t think it'll be ,possible | ‘YOU'LL have to pay for the damage / ‘THIS book is very interesting / ‘HE ought to be able to remember | ‘MY tea is sweet enough / ‘SPRING is very lovely in England / ‘MOST people prefer riding to ,walking / ‘THAT'S not the way to ,do it / SHERE’S your ,mack- intosh | ‘SOME of us a,greed to it | ‘NO-one listens to -mother / ‘MY house is the nearest /‘KNITting is quite a pleasant occupation / THERE’S the Tower of London! | SSOMEbody must know wha ,did it / “WE have nothing against it / ‘MANY students find this exercise pretty Aifficult | ‘THIS is my ,daughter / ‘GAS stoves are more economical / ‘WE were the first to resmind him of it. Exercise 83. Special Stress (implications) Note. See Exercise 81. Pattern: the special stress not on the first syllable, He doesn't‘\WANT toseeyou mow. ...seeyou mext week. adie Bini a Ae an 2a88 LIVING ENGLISH 8PEECH The teacher reads each sentence as indicated, the student(s) repeating it iwo or three times after him: You ‘CAN if you ,want to / you ‘CAN if you ,like / these po’TAtoes are very jdear / holidays a‘BROAD are more ex,citing | holidays a‘BROAD are more fun / it would be “LOVEly to have a flat of one’s ,own / I’m afraid ‘HE won't be able to ,help you /J doubt if THAT'S any Mood / it’s not ‘POSSible to work any ,harder / it’s not ‘POSSible to work any ,more / you ‘CAN’T sing songs on a ,bus / you “CAN'T sing songs during ,dinner / I don't think it's ‘RIGHT to refuse | it was only ‘YESter- day they decided ,not to / it's ‘DOUBTful whether she'll suc,ceed / I was ‘MOST surprised to ,hear it / he usually ‘ASKS if he ,wants anything / we didn’t “KNOW it would be so difficult | we didu't ‘KNOW it would be so yhard / you ‘MUST try to be more ,careful / it's the *GRAMophone that needs re,pairing / but you ‘TOLD me it was time to ,go / I didn’t ‘KNOW it had to be written in ink / we never ‘THOUGHT of buying a ,car / the food at the ‘OTHer hotel was ,better, Exercise 84. Special Stress (implications) Note. See Exercises 81-83, The final rise of the last three exer- cises is very often given special prominence, too. In this exercise this second special stress extends over two or more syllables. Patterns: That's ‘NOT the piece I ‘\WANTed you to ,play. : Soe alee or ee That's ‘NOT the piece ] \WANTed you to ,play ++. (but I enjoyed it nevertheless). RISING INTONATION (WITH STRESS) 89 I ‘CAN'T come on ‘TUES day oN oe NZ I ‘CAN'T come on “TUES,day .. . (perhaps another day will do). It is clear from this last example that the final rise can occur on an unstressed syllable; as this, however, is the syllable that gives this intonation pattern its special quality that we have loosely called an implication, it will continue te appear in bold type throughout the exercises. The teacher reads each sentence as indicated, the student(s) repeating it two or three times after him: I \NEVer take sugar in \CO,coa / J ‘ALways take sugar in ‘COF fee / ke ‘PROMised to be ‘PUNC,tual / it ‘LOOKED like rain this ‘MORN,ing /he ‘NEVer drinks whisky for ‘BREAK fast / this radio is ‘MUCH better than the ‘OTHer one you ,had / we ‘THOUGHT you would all be ‘UP by six o'clock / 7 ‘OUGHT to go to the ‘DENTist’s ,soon /1t wouldn’t be po‘LITE to ‘TELephone ,him / mother ‘NEVer allowed me to put my ‘ELbows on the ,table {2 ‘CAN'T work ‘EVery minute of the ,day / one ex‘PECTS the weather to be bad in JAN ,uary / we can't af‘FORD to buy a ‘NEW ,one {we ‘CAN'T afford to ‘GIVE them a,way / J ‘KNEW it would be ‘DIFFi,cult / we'll have a ‘SPECial cake on my ‘BIRTH,day / you ‘SUREly don’t practise for ‘THREE hours every day {J didn't ‘MEAN to eat ‘ALL the apple-,pie / J ‘DON'T go to work on ‘SUN,day / she ‘NEVer goes out with her ‘HUS,band / ‘THAT'S why they wouldn’t “LISTen ,to me / it “WOULD be fun to have a ‘BIRTHday ,party.go LIVING ENGLISH SPEECH Exercise 85. Special Stress (implications) Note. See Exercise 84. Very often the second “special stress" of this type of sentence falls on the same syllable as the rising intonation. This produces what is sometimes called a wave intonation, and can be most easily practised over long open syllables such as this exercise consists of. Patiern: She ‘NEVer drinks “TEA... (so it’s useless to offer her any) en Roe oe (the voice makes the fall for the stress on “tea”, and immediately afterwards makes the tise for Tune IT on the same syllable. Note the sign ¥ to show a syllable with this fall-rise or wave intonation in print). The implications suggested by a speaker using Tune IT in one of its stressed forms are of all possible kinds. In this exercise the unspoken thought implied by the final rise (of the wave) is added in small type to each sentence, The teacher reads each sentence as shown, the studeni(s) repeating it twice or three times after him. A suggested implication follows in small type; it is there merely to help the reader to put the remark in a natural context, and should not be read aloud: 1. Well, ‘DON'T a¥GREE (though I do understand your point of view) 2. You ‘OUGHT to YTRY (even if you’re not likely to succeed) 3. Pd ‘LOVE to “GO (if only it were possible) 4. He's ‘NEVer “SURE (so it wouldn’t be wise to rely on him) 5. Ifs ‘MUCH too YHIGH (we like the hill, but we aren't likely to get to the top) 19. II. 19. 20. FALLING-RISING, OR WAVE INTONATION or - You ‘ARE “SLOW (I should have thought you would have been quicker) . ESDON’T believe it’s YTRUE {in spite of all the rumours) . She CAN'T come toYDAY (it’s a pity; what about another day?) . Ft would be ‘BET Ter to “FLY (although the journey is very beautiful by train) Jt*DOESn't look YNEW (but it seems all right, though) That question’s ‘TOO hard for “ME {but no doubt someone else can manage it) » You ‘NEEDn’t YPAY (so don't be put off by the thought of the expense) . Jt would be ‘NICE if you could “STAY 7 (but I suppose you really must go) . I’m afraid that's ‘ALL we can “DO (I'm sorry it’s not very much) I°DIDn’t think she was “SHY (whatever else she might be) . LONLY had YTHREE (and you knew that wasn't enough) . I'd “LIKE to come if I YMAY (I hope there’s no objection) , She has ‘PRETTy VHAIR {though I don’t admire much else about her) I'd ‘LIKE it if it's “BLUE (but I'm not interested in having any other colour) I*LOVE ‘KNIT, ing, | but J CAN'T YSEW Exercise 86. Special Stress (implications) Note. Sec Exercises 84 and 85. Here is the same pattem with the “‘wave" over long closed syllables. This time the implications will be left to the speaker’s imagination,