4. "Do you really want to hurt me?" (intonation)
Introduction to English intonation
A good exercise to show the variety of meanings through intonation changes is to take a single sentence, try stressing each word in turn, and see the totally different meanings that come out.
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Imagen de Pilar Acero Banco de recursos del ISFTIC C.C. |
- I didn't say he stole the money.
- I didn't say he stole the money.
- I didn't say he stole the money.
- I didn't say he stole the money.
- I didn't say he stole the money.
- I didn't say he stole the money.
- I didn't say he stole the money.
Now that you have listened to these sentences repeat them aloud yourself.
Listen to the song: Do you really want to hurt me?, by Culture Club. It is one of Paco's favourites. Paco likes music a lot and he also learns English through songs.
English is a very rhythmic language because only certain, important words are accented.For this reason, you should practise listening as much as possible.
Notice the rising intonation in some questions you are going to hear in this song.
Vídeo de CultureClubVEVO alojado en Youtube |
Do you really want to hurt me?
Do you really want to make me cry?
Every language has melody in it; no language is spoken on the same musical note as the time. The voice goes up and down and different pitches of the voice combine to make tunes. That is intonation. Watch the following video about intonation:
Video de JenniferESL alojado en Youtube |
Let's see some examples of intonation in context:
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Read the following sentences and pronounce them yourself.
Intonation is variation of pitch or music while speaking. Rising intonation means the pitch of the voice increases over time, in contrast with falling intonation, which means that the pitch decreases with time.
The classic example of intonation is the question-statement distinction. However, statements end in a falling tone, which signals the end of an utterance.
Rising tone is used at the end of 'Yes/No' questions: Is Paco coming today?, while a falling tone is used at the end of 'Who/What/Where/When/Why/How' questions: When is Paco coming?
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Finally, in section five, we will learn some vocabulary related to free time (we can also say spare time).