Advanced Intonation in English: Adding Information - Speak Naturally!

35,474 views ・ 2017-03-16

English with Jennifer


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:01
My grandmother, who was a big part of my childhood, was a collector.
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Her small house was packed with things,
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from salt and pepper shakers to stamps.
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I want to share one of her collections with you.
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Or at least some things from that collection.
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We'll also talk about intonation used for giving additional information.
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I gave you an example already when I said:
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[title]
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When we talk, we don't usually have a script.
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A thought comes to mind, and words come out.
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We don't always know what we're going to say.
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But usually when we speak,
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our thoughts are grouped together.
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A short sentence can be one thought group.
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A longer sentence can have two or more thought groups
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Each thought group has its own intonation pattern.
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There are different situations when we add information to a statement,
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and this information basically interrupts our main idea, our main thought.
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We use our voice to signal that this information is a little less important.
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But it's still something we want to add.
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If we were writing, we'd use commas, parentheses, or even dashes
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to separate this additional information
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and mark it off as an independent thought group.
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Here are some examples.
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So how do I use my voice to signal additional information?
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A few different things can happen.
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First, I pause
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I frame the additional information with short breaks
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Listen.
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Second, my voice tends to drop to a slightly lower pitch
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and possibly even to a lower volume
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when I give additional information.
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I'm signalling with my voice that these words are slightly less important.
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Listen.
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That additional comment had a drop in pitch,
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and there is a bit of a drop at the end.
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There's falling intonation.
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The intonation pattern could change if we moved it to another position.
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Especially if it's at the beginning.
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Well, as you recall, at the beginning we can have a low-rise or a fall-rise.
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I could say...
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Lastly, we might speed up our speech when we give additional information.
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That's probably because we don't want to interrupt
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our main thought for very long with less important information.
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Listen.
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It's your turn to try this pattern.
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Listen closely.
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I'll say each statement a few times.
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Then you repeat.
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07:14
Through the model sentences you might have noticed
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words that we use to add information
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or to insert an explanation or a comment.
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Let me highlight some of those for you.
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Similar phrases we use to comment include:
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To give examples, we may use words like these:
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To give additional information about a noun,
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we might use an adjective clause.
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It's the kind of clause we set off in commas
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because it's not really needed to identify the noun.
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We're just giving additional information.
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Here are just a couple more ways we might add information.
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09:10
Do you have a coin collection or a collection of foreign currency?
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I'm very happy that my grandmother's collection is still with me today.
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Money, as we all know, has value all on its own.
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But for me, the real value of the collection I just showed you
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is that it came from my grandmother.
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That's all for now. Thanks for watching and happy studies!
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