Intonation Essay for BA students

-

Intonation

Intonation means using a tone while speaking.

The use of proper tone is important in our day – to – day communication.

If a proper tone is not used the listener may misunderstand us.

The two important tones are Falling Tone and Rising Tone. Falling tone is marked by down arrow and Rising tone is marked by up arrow as seen in the diagram.

Intonation Patterns

1.Falling tones are used in ordinary statements

Eg. Kamala is a dancer.

My Brother is a lawyer.

Sona is a pretty girl.

Our college starts at 10.

Mala is a singer.

2. Wh-questions ( who, when, where, how, etc ) are falling tone.

Eg. What are you doing?

When will the school start?

Who is your class teacher?

What is your name?

When are you going to London?

3. Commands are uttered with a falling tone.

Eg. Shoot a sight.

Do not bear False witness.

Follow me.

Be mute.

4. Exclamation are spoken with a falling tone:

Eg. What a lovely scene!

Alas!

O Lord how great thou art!

What a piece of work is man!

What a surprise!

Wow what a great surprise!

5. Yes or No questions are asked with a rising tone.

Eg. Can you drive?

Can you speak English?

Are they your sisters?

Can you fly?

Did you attend the meeting?

6. Polite requests, invitations, suggestions are made with a rising tone.

Eg. May I open the door.

Shall I help you.

Could you please open the door.

Shall we go for a tour.

May I sit here.

7. In a complex sentence the first half of the sentence is spoken with rising tone and the second half is spoken with falling tone.

Eg.  It was getting dark, and we weren't near the cabin yet.

 Cats are good pets, for they are clean and are not noisy.

 We have never been to Asia, nor have we visited Africa.

He didn't want to go to the dentist, yet he went anyway.

if you work hard, you will pass.

8. When a few things are enumerated, the beginning part of the sentence have a rising tone followed by falling tone.

Eg.Mala is good in dancing, swimming, singing and eating.

 I like to play tennis, swimming and chess.

I like gold, silver and diamond.

Gold, silver and platinum are very precious metals.

 China, India and Russia are highly populated countries.

Tone mainly depends on contexts.

For example the word Reena is spoken in different tones on different occasions may mean different things.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summary for At the Church Door

-
Image
At the Church Door -         Guy De Maupassant Guy De Maupassant is a prolific French Writer. He was influenced by a French writer Flaubert. His short story “At the Church Door” reflects real life and real people. This story is about a worried couple who have lost their son 20yrs before. The theme of this story is parent love for their children. The story centers around a Wheelwright and his wife. Both are looking for a peaceful and happy life. The only comfort is Jean, their son. Jean was born to them after a long period. Their life gets scattered when they discover their son missing at the age of five. Unable to bear the loss of their son both gathered all their wealth and went in search of him. They travelled to different places for around twenty years in search of Jean. Hearing to the advice of an innkeeper both travel to the crowded city, Paris.  They often stood in front of a church door. The Parish priest appoints the Wheel wright at the church door. The
Read more

Like an Old Proud King in a Parable A. J.M. Smith, Summary for BA Students.

-
Image
  Like an Old Proud King in a Parable A. J.M. Smith The Poem Like an Old Proud King in a Parable was written by the Canadian Poet, A.J.M Smith. This poem appeared in McGill Fortnightly Review in the year 1926. In this poem Smith narrates the story of an Old King who abandons his Kingdom to become a poet. This poem depicts the poetic career of Smith. Smith breaks some of the old poetic conventions and brings novelty into the society. A king is bored to forego the pleasure of the Kingdom. He renounces his kingdom, and leave his flattering courtiers and adoring wife. The king readily sacrifices the existing kingly life and moves to a lonely land, “a meadow in the Northern Stone”. Northern Stone is in the northern parts of Canada, a land of mountain, snow and forest filled with nature. The King rejoices to live his life along the meadow. In the meadow he feels like an uncontrollable swan, “the heart that controlled liked swan”. The King desires to give up his worldly life and aspir
Read more

Summary for the Play Strife by John Galsworthy

-
Image
                                                                                        Strife -        John Galsworthy Strife is a three-act play written by John Galsworthy. It is his third play and the play highlights the social issues. It was produced in the year 1909 at the Duke of York Theatre. The title “strife” has a biblical meaning which means bitter conflict. The theme in this play is capital and labour. The action takes place on 7 th february at the Trenartha Tin Plate Work. The factory workers involve in a prolonged strike. There arises a conflict between the company chairman John Anthony and the workers leader Roberts. Both are very stern and adamant to compromise. Anthony was the chairman for 32 years and he is determined to fight and win. In his thirty two years of experience he has won four strikes. He was certain that he could win the strike once more. The directors felt unfair about the stern nature of Anthony. The directors were aware about the outcome of this
Read more