英语口语ppt-Oral English.pptVIP

Oral English Fall Semester, 2010-2011 Week 3 Intonation and Stress Intonation and Stress Read these two sentences aloud and count how many seconds it takes to read each. The beautiful mountain appeared transfixed in the distance. He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn’t have to do any homework. Intonation and Stress Chinese is a syllabic language. In Chinese, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length). English is a stressed language. In English, we give stress to certain words while other words are quickly spoken (some people say eaten!). So, English spends more time on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, less important, words. Intonation and Stress For example, the modal verb “can”. When we use the positive form of “can”, we quickly glide over the “can” and it is hardly pronounced. They can come on Friday. (stressed words underlined) On the other hand, when we use the negative form “can’t”, we tend to stress the fact that it is the negative form by also stressing “cant”. They cant come on Friday. Intonation and Stress Stressed words are considered CONTENT WORDS such as: nouns, e.g. kitchen, Peter (most) principal verbs, e.g. visit, construct adjectives, e.g. beautiful, interesting adverbs, e.g. often, carefully Intonation and Stress Non-stressed words are considered FUNCTION WORDS, such as: determiners, e.g. the, a, some, a few auxiliary verbs, e.g. dont, am, can, were prepositions, e.g. before, next to, opposite conjunctions, e.g. but, while, as pronouns, e.g. they, she, us Intonation and Stress The beautiful mountain appeared transfixed in the distance. He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn’t have to do any homework. Intonation and Stress Ill have bought a new house by the time Jack finishes school! Youd be surprised at how many people find English almost impossible to understand when spoken quickly. A great way to improve listening skills is to listen to