Unit five

Task 1. Listen to the words, write them in the right column according to the type of a stressed vowel in them.

divorce

verb

court

couple

pronoun

intolerable

become

home

adverb

about

emotion

circumstances

dishonest

conjunction

however

preposition

front

common

interjection

husband

noun

important

broken

flowers

hurt

particle

grown

courage

honest

cause

adjective

conservative

personally

numeral

suffer

article

/			/ /
			//

Task 2. Listen to the recorded pairs of words having the same spelling but different placement of stress. Transcribe the words, mark stresses, define the parts of speech the words belong to and give their stress patterns. Example:

import (n.) – import (v.),

/

–  –  –

ferment (n) – ferment (v)

–  –  –

object (v) – object (n)

 – –- – 

rebel (n) – rebel (v)

–  –  –

conduct (v)– conduct (n)

 – – – 

conflict (v) – conflict (n)

 – – 

perfect (adj) – perfect (v)

–  –  –

progress (v)– progress (n)

 – – – 

record (n) – record (v)

–  –  –

protest (n) – protest (v)

–  –  –

refuse (v) – refuse (n)

 – – – 

subject (n)– subject (v)

–  –  –

transfer (v) – transfer (n)

 – – – 

transport (n)– transport (v)

–  –  –

export (v) – export (n)

 – – – 

desert (n)– desert (v)

–  –  –

accent (v) – accent (n)

 – – – 

absent (n) – absent (v)

–  –  –

discourse (n) – discourse (v)

–  –  –

insult (v) – insult (n)

 – – – 

Task 3. Listen to the recorded words. Write them in the right column according to their stress patterns. Give 10 examples of words having the same stress patterns. Use them in your own sentences. Comment on the shift of stress, if any, in the analyzed words used in connected speech:

blackboard, two-year-old, bedroom, stepmother, come in, looking-glass, sideboard, look at, misfortune, bookstand, writing-table, ex-president, look for, sportsman, submarine, dressing-gown, tablecloth, vice-minister, old-fashioned, birthday, earthquake, flower-pot, well-planed, driving lessons, grasshopper, keyhole, hairbrush, well-read, concentrate, greenhouse, midnight, post-office, situate, housekeeper, outburst, schoolmaster, groupmate, sixpence, tea-party, satisfy, wide-set, twenty two, armchair, classify, eye-witness, dog-tired, hardworking, thunderstorm, good-looking, demonstrate, well-bred, quick-witted, easy-chair, handmade, driving licence, wood-stove, broad-shouldered, well-qualified.

Task 4. Listen to the following “content” words occurring together. Take care to give them full stresses, space the stressed syllables in a regular rhythm. Prepare good reading of them.

1. a church / an old church / an old Catholic church / an old RomanCatholic church / a very ^.old RomanCatholic church.

2. shoes /a pair of shoes / a dirty pair of shoes / a dirty pair of brown shoes / a dirty pair of brown ^.leather shoes / a very ^.dirty pair of brown ^.leather shoes.

3. the palace / the Crystal Palace / the Crystal Palace / the Crystal Palace Exhi bition / the great Crystal ^.Palace Exhi bition/ the great Crystal ^.Palace Exhi bition  of eighteen-^.fifty - one.

4. a cloth / a linen cloth / a linen table-cloth / a white ^.linen table-cloth / a clean white ^.linen table-cloth.

5. soap-flakes / a soap-flake packet / a Lux soap-flake packet / an empty ^.Lux soap-flake packet.

6. a desk / an oak desk / an oak desk with drawers / a polished oak desk with drawers / a polished oak desk with large drawers

7. a telephone / a public telephone / two public telephones / two public telephones / two ^.public telephones on Platform 4 / two new ^.public telephones on Platform 4

8. a light / an electric light / an electric light with shade / an electric light with a coloured shade / two ^.electric lights with a coloured shade.

9. a chair / an arm- chair / Granny’s arm- chair / Granny’s favourite arm- chair / the back of Granny’s favourite ^.arm- chair.

10. a pie / an apple pie / a blackberry and apple pie / a large blackberry and apple pie / a very ^.large blackberry and ^.apple pie / a very ^.large well-^.cooked blackberry and ^.apple pie / a very ^.large well-^.cooked blackberry and ^.apple pie with whipped cream.

Task 5. Listen to a short dialogue. Write it down, lay stresses and tone marks, define the rhythmic structure of each intonation group. Find the utterances in the dialogue, which are exactly the same but their intonation, is different. State how intonation changes the communicative type of the utterances and their meanings. Example: Dinner’s ready. /–  –  /

Dinner’s ready.Come and get it.

What’s for dinner?

Something special.

Something special?

Chicken curry. Don’t you like it?

Yes, I love it. What’s for pudding?

_Wait and see.

Task 6. Listen to the following content sentences, write them down, lay stresses and tone marks, give their tonograms, define the structure of each intonation group. Do it in writing. Example:

She’s coming home for Christmas.

How nice.

/z 

(Low Pre-Head + the Regular Descending Stepping Scale + Low Fall + Tail)

/  /

(Low Head + High Fall)

1. I’m surprised that you haven’t for gotten me.

How could I?

/() ^

(Low Pre-Head + the Regular Descending Stepping Scale +High Fall + Tail)



(Low Head + High Fall + Tail)

2. Do you know the answer? 

I’m afraid I don’t. 

/   

(the Regular Descending Stepping Scale + Low Rise + Tail)

/ 

(Low Pre-Head + Fall-Rise Div.)

3. Do hurry up.

 I’m coming.

/

(Low Head + Low Rise)

/ 

(High Pre-Head + Low Rise + Tail)

4. I do hope he won’t let us down.

 He won’t. He’s very reliable.

/ 

(Low Pre-Head + the Regular Descending Sliding Scale + Fall-Rise undiv.)

/ 

(High Pre-Head + Low Rise; Low Pre-Head + High Fall + Tail)

5. I’m most grateful for your help.

Well if that’s all, – then I think I’ll be going.

/^

(Low Pre-Head + High Fall + Tail)

/–   

(Low Pre-Head + High Head + Low Rise; Mid. Pre-Head + Ascending Head + High Fall + Tail)

6. That’s my final offer.

If that’s the ^.way you ^.want it,  there’s nothing ^.more to say.

/

(The Broken Descending Stepping Scale + Low Fall + Tail)

/ ^.^^.^.

(Low Pre-Head + Low Rise + Tail; Low Pre-Head + High Head + High Fall)

7.  Did you eat ^.well? 

The food in Paris was su perb.

/ ^.

(High Pre-Head + Low Rise + Tail)

/

(Low Pre-Head + the Regular Descending Sliding Scale + Fall-Rise undiv.)

8. How have your sons been doing, Andy? 

Thank you. Malcolm never stops ^.working  and James never starts working. 

^.

(High Head + High Fall + Low Rise + Tail)

/^. 

(Low Fall + Tail; + Low Rise + Tail; High Pre-Head + the Regular Ascending Stepping Scale + High Fall + Tail)

1. He’s so stupid. I can hardly be civil to him.

How ever ^.much he gets on your nerves, try to be po lite ^.to him.

/

(Low Pre-Head + Low Head + High Fall + Tail; Low Pre-Head + Low Rising Head + High Fall + Tail)

/^.^.^.

(Low Pre-Head + the Regular Descending Sliding Scale + Fall-Rise undiv.; the Regular Descending Sliding Scale + Fall-Rise div. + Tail)

j) You can usually do crosswords.

But with this one  I’m all at sea.

/^.

(Low Pre-Head + High Head + High Fall + Tail)

/ 

(Low Pre-Head + High Rise + Tail; Low Pre-Head + High Head + Low Fall)

Task 7. Practise reading the dialogue according to the given stresses and tone marks. Record the dialogue.

• Did you see Othello on ^.television ^.last ^.night?

• The opera, you mean. No, I didn’t. I was out.

• I saw it, and quite en joyed it.

• Did you? I  thought you ^.didn’t ap prove of television.

• I don’t, as a regular thing. But I happened to be ^.round at my sister’s, and she wanted to see it. So I ^.watched it too.

• Have you thought any more about getting a ^.set?

• No, I don’t think I shall. Though there’s a good deal of pressure, of ^.course.

• From your family?

• From my daughter, in par ticu lar. All her school friends talk about it so much.

• I know. You’d think they never did ^.anything else  but sit glued to the television screen.

• That’s mostly what I ob ject to,  the time it wastes.

• It isn’t the television that wastes the time. It’s you.

• I know that. But I have a deep distrust of myself. So it’s probably better  to avoid the oc casion of sin. Don’t you think?

Task 8. Listen to the following dialogues and exercises, concentrate on the intonation of giving information. Write them down, divide the extended pieces of information into intonation groups, lay stress-and-tone marks. Formulate the rules of the intonational and grammatical organisation of replies. Do it in writing.

Thompson P. 48-60.

Task 9. Read the text given below. Make sure you understand what it is about. Divide each sentence into syntagms, lay stresses and tone marks, practise reading the text. Record your reading.

It should be realized from the outset that learning a new set of sounds means forming a number of new habits. You will have to put your speech organs into positions, which are not used in speaking your own language. You will find it difficult at first because your muscles are not used to those particular movements. To begin with, you will have to think consciously of the position of tour tongue and the shape of your lips, and so on, for each sound that you want to make. You will find it a slow and laborious process and may wonder: How on earth am I ever going to become fluent in my speech if I have to think for about five minutes before pronouncing each sound? The answer is – by constant practice. But in a fairly short time new habits will be formed, and your muscles will perform their new functions without your brain having to interfere.

Thus, if you practise sufficiently, your muscles will form new speech habits and you will be able to make the correct sounds without consciously thinking

of them [Christophersen 1970:4-5].

Task 10. Exercises based on the text of the fable.