Unit 32 Rhythm

Content and function words

CONTENT WORDS FUCTION WORDS

Nouns(table,man) Articles(a, and,the)
Verbs(walk, eat) Auxiliary verbs(am,is,are,have)
Adjectives(beautiful,tall) Personal Pronouns(I, you,him)
Adverbs(quickly,very) Conjuctions(and,or,when,if)
Questions words(What? How?) Relative pronouns(who,which,that)
Demonstratives(that, those) Prepositions(to, at, in,on)
Negatives, negative contractions(not, doesn
´t)

Unit 33 Stressed and Unstresses words

Highlighted words

In many sentences , one content Word expresses the most important information. This Word is
highlighted by pronouncing it with the heaviest stress and usually the highest pitch

Unit 34 Highlighting

Hightlight tt¿he Word that expresses the most important information in a sentence by
pronouncing it with heavy stress and high pitch

Unit 35 Thought groups

Thought groups help the listener identify the parts of a sentence. They help the speaker by
breaking the sentence into shorter parts.

Thought groups and intonation

There is usually a small rise or fall in pitch at the end of a thought group inside a sentence. The
change in pitch isn´t a great as it is at the end of a sentence.

Joining thought groups and together

Lengthen the sound that ends a thought group before you begin the next grou. The
lengthening tells the listener that one group has ended and ano9ther is about to begin.

Thought groups and gramatical phrases

Thought groups often correspond to gramatical phrases

Prepositional phrases In a mínute at the áirport

Verb+Pronoun Búy them bríng it
Determiner+Noun My úncle the párk
Short clauses When you léave cáll me

Unit 336 Rhythm patterns and personal pronouns

Subject pronouns

Reductions of subject pronouns

Before contractions of Will, and are , the vowels in pronouns may be reduced

I´ll dó it (sounds like all)

She´ll dó it (rhymes with still)

We´re hére (/wIr/, /war/)

They´re góne(sounds like there)

Object pronouns

Object pronouns are pronounced like endings on the preceding verb

Ópen it Réad them

Pronouns beginning with h

The /h/ in pronouns like he, her, and hi mis usually dropped when the pronoun is inside a
sentence.The reduced pronoun joins closely to the verb.If this is difficult, you can pronounce
/h/ in pronouns but don´t stress the pronouns

Call him (callim)

What did he do? (What diddy do?)

This is her office (This izzer office)

Fast speech reductions

The reduction described above are common to all styles of english, native speakers also make
other reductions in informal speech. You should be aware of these reductions

1.You in common expressions

You after /t,d/

Where didja go? Wherja go?

(Where did you go?)

I won´t letcha go

I won´t let you go

You after other sounds

Seeya later

(See you later)

I´ll callya tonight

(I´ll call you tonight)

2.Them reduction:/am/

Did you “findam at the store?

(Did you find them at the store?)

UNIT37 Rhythm Patterns:articles

Articles(a,an,or the) are unstressed.They´re grouped with the following noun

A mán an ónion the wéather

1.The

The is often pronounced/diy/ before vowel. The /y/ of /diy/ joins to the following vowel. Be
sure to pronounce the th of the correcrtly.

The is pronounced /da/ before a consonant

2.A,An

Reduce the vowel of a/an to /shwa/.An joins closely to the following Word

Unit 38 rhythm patterns : prepositional phtases, hafta, gonna,wanna

1.Have to/Has to

Have to/Has to are pronounced as one Word :haefta, haesta

I hafta pay my bills She hasta work tonight

(have to) (has to)

2.Gonna

Gonna is a reduction of the future auxiliary going to. The pronunciation is common in informal
english

This year I´m gonna lose weight

Gonna includes to.If you use gonna , do NOT add to

3.Wanna

Wanna is a fast reduction of want to or want a.The pronunciation is common in informal

english.

Do you wanna go shopping? Do you wanna sándwich?

Want to want a

UNIT 39 Rhythm patterns : pharsal verbs

Pharsal verbs often have idiomatic meanings: figure out, for example, means”solve” or
“discover”. In pharsal verbs, the verb is followed by a particle (preposition).The partible is
stressed.

Come ón! Let´s go

When the verb and particle are separated by a direct object, both the verb and particle can be
stressed

Lóok the wórd úp Throw thése óut tomórrow

Nouns formed from pharsal verbs

The first Word from pharsal verbs

The first Word is stressed and pronounced on a higher pitch

Tákeóffs been delayed an hour He had a nervous bréakdówn

UNIT40 Rhytm patterns : as , tan ,if

The conjucntions as, tan, and if are unstressed and join closely to surrounding words

1.As

As is unstressed and reduced to /az/.It joins closely to surrounding words

I´ve dóne as múch as I cán

2.Than

Than is unstressed and reduced to /dan/

Is énglish hárder tan chinése?

3.If

I fis unstressed .It joins closely to surrounding words

Cóme if you have tíme