Make up your own guessing game

13.** Listen to the dialogues. Write them down. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise and memorize them.

14. Read the following sentences. Observe correct pronunciation of rhythmic groups:

1. John came last night. 2. Don't do that here. 3. What nice soft gloves. 4. John's away on business. 5. Thank you for the letter. 6. They went for a walk in the Park. 7. At the bottom of Kensington Road. 8. At the bottom of Kenton Road. 9. At the bottom of Kent Road. 10. It wasn't so nice as before. 11. It wasn't so nice before. 12. It wasn't so nice then. 13. Come and see him off. 14. Don't be so impatient. 15. He always keeps me waiting. 16. It's the only time I'm free. 17. Would you mind passing the sugar? 18. Can you be here at eleven? 19. She's rather an impetuous woman. 20. Everyone else was on holiday. 21. How on earth can you manage to finish so quickly? 22. I sent them a photo of the children. 23. I should think it would be better to wait till tomorrow. 24. He realized that the bus wasn't going to stop for him.

15.*** This exercise is meant to develop your ability to hear and reproduce intonation. a) Listen to the text "Our Sitting-Room" sentence by sentence. Write it down. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise the text. b) Record your reading. Play the recording back immediately for your teacher to detect the errors. Practise the text for test reading. c) Describe any picture in the same manner.

16.*** Read the text silently to make sure you understand each sentence. Split up each sentence into intonation-groups if necessary. Underline the communicative centre and the nuclear word in each phrase. Mark the stresses and tunes. It is not expected that each student of the class will mark the text in exactly the same way. Your teacher will help all the members of the class to correct their variants. Finally practise reading your corrected variant:

When you enter our sitting-room, the first thing you notice is the large window opposite the door. On the left is an armchair with a small table by it. On the table are some books and an electric table-lamp. There are two other armchairs in the room and a settee.

"Aren't there any small chairs?"

"Only one, which is next to the radio-set, opposite the window. I have also a small cassette-recorder, which I keep in my bedroom."

"Have you many cassettes?"

"Quite a lot... The mantelpiece is on the right of the window and next to it is a bookcase."

"Do you read a lot?"

"Yes, everybody in our family likes reading. There are books in every room."

"What else is there in the room?".

"Nothing else. We don't like a lot of things in our room."

Section Five

I. Accidental Rise

If the speaker wants to make one word of the descending head more prominent than the others he pronounces it a little higher than the preceding syllables thus breaking their descending succession. This non-final rise is called accidental. It never occurs on the first stressed syllable as this syllable is always the highest in the descending head.

Exercises

1. Listen carefully to the following sentences. Concentrate your attention on Accidental Rise:

1. In spring Nature awakens from her long winter sleep. 2. The trees are filled with new life. 3. The earth is warmed by the rays of the sun. 4. The weather gets gradually milder. 5. The fields and the meadows are covered with fresh green grass. 6. The woods and forests are filled with the songs of the birds. 7. When winter comes, we're obliged to spend more time indoors. 8. There's a bus stop just over there. 9. Then he has to take great care of the young animals. 10. I should say that football is one of the most popular sports in Great Britain. 11. He sat thinking of his own children. 12. The scientist is known all over the world. 13. Mary's umbrella is quite spoilt. 14. Ann was wearing a charming blue hat.

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