Mastering Fluency and Delivery 2 What are intonation, stress and rhythm?

Group of people playing drums during daytime
Image Credit
Pixabay via Pixabay

This lesson focuses on intonation, stress and rhythm, to sound more natural as you speak.

Introduction

You’ve probably heard the words intonation, stress and rhythm in other courses. Can you give an example or definition for each?

Warm Up

Discuss these situations with your teacher.

  1. You are in an exam, and you want to ask the examiner to repeat herself. What do you say? Focus on your intonation.
  2. You are in a loud, crowded conference room, and you want everyone’s attention. What do you say? Focus on what words you stress. 
  3. Read the following poem out loud. Focus on your rhythm.

There once was a child in Spain
Who loved to play in the rain.
One day he tripped
And broke his hip,
And now he's in serious pain!

Language
  1. Intonation is used to stress certain words or show emotion. It’s how our voices go up or down.
  • Yes-No questions have a rising tone at the end.
    • E.g.: Do you like working at your company↗?
  • Other types of questions have a falling tone.
    • E.g.: How are you↘?
  • Sometimes, the intonation can both rise and fall.
    • E.g.: Can I get you some coffee↗, a cup of tea↗, or a glass of water↘? 
  1. Stress is used to show the importance of the information given and can even change the meaning of the phrases!
    • E.g.: I LOVE you! has a different meaning from I love YOU!
  • Stress is also used to show comparison.
    • E.g.: I can see that the GENERAL financial statement looks correct, but THIS NUMBER seems off. 
  1. Rhythm in English comes from both the intonation and word stress above. Clap along to the words you hear:

Teacher: HOW are YOU↗? (pause)
Student: FINE↘. HOW are YOU↗?

Practice

Try the Warm Up section again. Taking what you learned, focus on your intonation, stress, and rhythm. 

 

At-home study: Read a story or poem in English out loud, paying attention to your intonation, stress, and rhythm.