The Right Way to Ask Questions in English [Pronunciation Lesson]

Hey, it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English and for this week's Confident

English lesson I want to share with you four different kinds of questions that

we have in English and the intonation that you should be using for clear

pronunciation and to sound natural and English conversation.

Did you know that different questions require different intonation?

If you listen closely,

you'll notice that native speakers use different intonation patterns all the

time when communicating, particularly when asking questions. In today's lesson,

you'll have the opportunity to learn and practice.

Plus at the end of the lesson I'm going to share with you one thing you should

definitely not do with your intonation if you want to sound confident in

English.

Now first I know you might be thinking what exactly is intonation?

Intonation plays an important part of English pronunciation.

It is the rise and fall of our voice when we speak.

Understanding and knowing how to use intonation correctly can immediately

improve your English pronunciation.

So let's take a look at the four different types of questions we have in English.

We have, yes/no questions, question word questions,

choice questions,

and we can actually turn statements into questions as well and intonation plays

an important role for all of those.

And don't forget at the end I've got one important thing that you absolutely

need to know about using intonation and sounding confident in English.

The first type is yes/no questions and these will get you a yes or no for an

answer.

Most of the time these questions start with a word like is, are,

do, did, can, would, should and could.

I want you to listen closely to an example I'm going to share with you.

I want you to listen to my voice and see if you can identify whether I use

rising intonation or falling. Are you going to be home tonight?

Are you going to be home tonight?

What did you notice about that question?

Hopefully you heard that I definitely used rising intonation at the end of that

question.

This rising intonation with yes/no questions indicates that we're looking for a

short answer. We don't want a lot of details. We just want something quick.

So let's practice with a few examples.

I want you to listen and then I'll pause so that you can repeat after me and

really focus on using that rising intonation at the end of these questions.

Is your mom feeling better?

Is your mom feeling better? Can you make it to my birthday dinner?

Can you make it my birthday dinner? Do you want to see a movie tonight?

Do you want to see a movie tonight? Did you get a haircut?

Did you get a haircut? At the end of all of those examples,

I hope you notice that my voice went up at the end of the question and I hope

that you practice doing the same. Now, one important thing about yes, no questions.

These are great when you need quick answers or to confirm information,

but they're not the best for conversation.

The next group of questions is much better if you're trying to make small talk

or get to know someone.

Question type number two is question word questions and of course these start

with a question word like who, what, when, where, why, how,

how many, how often, how much and so on.

These questions are fantastic for starting conversations and continuing them

because they require longer answers.

It makes it easier to keep the conversation going and learn something

interesting along the way.

So let's try listening to another example and I want you to see if you can

identify whether my voice goes up or down.

Who's coming to your birthday dinner,

who's coming to your birthday dinner. When our voice goes down,

it indicates that we're finished speaking and we're waiting for a longer answer

to our question. Here's some more examples and again,

I want you to listen and then repeat after me and focus on using that falling

intonation at the end of these questions. What did you think of the movie?

What did you think of the movie? Why are you so busy lately?

Why are you so busy lately? Where should we go for dinner?

Where should we go for dinner? And finally,

when are you going to watch the final episode?

When are you going to watch the final episode? Excellent.

Now you've got questions with rising intonation and falling intonation.

Before we go onto group number three, one quick note,

if you want more or lessons on how to effectively ask questions in English to

start conversations, make small talk and do networking,

I've got several lessons for you and I'll be sure to include links to all of

them below the video. Now, group number three is choice questions.

Life is full of choices. In fact,

just this morning I was at a coffee shop and I had choices between a latte and

iced coffee, mocha, Cappuccino, a Matcha Latte,

and so much more so when we are communicating in English,

how can we use our voice to let someone know that we're asking them to make a

choice? Let's try an example and again, listen to how I use my voice.

Do you want pizza or pasta?

Do you want pizza or pasta?

What did you notice in that question?

I definitely used a combination of rising intonation and falling intonation and

doing so makes it immediately clear that I'm offering a choice with option

number one. My voice goes up and in the last option my voice goes down,

pizza or pasta.

Here's another example where I have more than two options and again I'm using

that combination of my voice going up and down.

Do you want pizza, pasta or steak?

Using that combination lets the listener know that we're offering different

choices and when our voice goes down it lets them know that the list is finished.

So let's try it with a couple of practice opportunities.

Remember to focus on your voice going up, up,

up and down. Can you help me now or later?

Can you help me now? Or leader,

is it best for you to meet on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

Is it best for you to meet on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

Would you like vanilla, strawberry, caramel or chocolate ice cream?

Would you like vanilla, caramel, strawberry, or chocolate ice cream?

Excellent.

Now we have just one more group to go and this one is really fun because using

intonation lets us turn anything into a question.

By using our intonation,

we're also able to turn statements into questions without changing the grammar

structure or using a typical question format.

We often use this type of question when we're surprised or shocked by something

when we want to make sure that we understood something correctly or clarify it

and when we simply want to add variety to our grammar use.

I'm going to share a couple of examples with you and you'll notice there are no

question words and the grammar is not what we usually use for asking questions.

Instead,

I'm only using my voice to change it from a statement to a question.

She's going to call you later today?

She's going to call you later today? As you can see,

that looks exactly like a sentence,

but what did you notice about my intonation?

Hopefully you notice that it went up at the end and that rising intonation

allowed me to change that statement into a question to confirm or clarify

information. Here's another example.

You cleaned the whole house? You cleaned the whole house?

Again, this looks just like a statement,

but I use that rising intonation to change it into a question and why do you

think I did that?

I definitely wanted to show some surprise or shock about somebody cleaning the

whole house so I didn't have to do it.

Here's another great example of expressing surprise or shock.

This is the movie of the year?

This is the movie of the year? Again,

I'm using that rising intonation to change that statement into a question and

express a little bit of surprise.

Now that you have the correct intonation for four different kinds of questions

in English,

let's talk about one thing you should definitely not do with your intonation.

If you want to sound confident in English,

if you consistently use rising intonation at the end of phrases or sentences

when they are not questions,

it will make you sound less confident when you're communicating or we'll make

you sound unsure or unprepared.

Using this particular intonation pattern is called uptalk or upspeak in English

and it's something you definitely want to avoid.

I'll give you an example of how it sounds using rising intonation.

At the end of every phrase or at the end of every sentence can definitely

undermine your credibility and make you sound less confident when you speak.

Did you notice that I had several examples of rising intonation in that sentence

in English?

Doing so can definitely undermine or remove some of your credibility.

It can make you sound unsure about what you're saying,

so to avoid that you can simply focus on using falling into a nation at the end

of sentences.

A great way to practice doing that is to simply mirror or shadow what you hear

me saying.

Listen to a phrase or a sentence and try to repeat it exactly the way you hear

it. Now, I've got a challenge question for you.

I want you to practice what you've learned today.

Imagine that a neighbor has just told you something that really surprises you

and do you want to respond with a question that indicates your surprise?

How could you do that and want you to tell me exactly what you would say and

what kind of intonation you would use. And you can do that just below this video.

If you love this topic, I have several more videos on intonation, stress,

and pronunciation so that you can communicate clearly in English.

You can get all of those in my playlist and be sure to subscribe to this channel

so you never miss a future Confident English lesson.