11. The intonation of commands and requests.

Commands.

1) Commands with the Low Fall preceded/not by the Falling/Hi(Mid) Level Head are very powerful, intense, serious and strong. The speaker appears to take it for granted that his words will be obeyed.

Try the other key.

2) Commands with the Hi Fall preceded by the Hi Head suggest an actiona rather than to give an order and the speaker doesn’t seem to be worrying whether he will be obeyed or not.

Put some more milk in it.

3) Short commands pronounced with the Low Fall alone sound unemotional, calm and often cold.

Requests.

1) Requests with the Low Rise preceded by the Falling/Hi(Mid) Level Heads sounds encouraging.

Don’t move.

2) Requests with the Fall-Rise preceded by the Falling/Hi(Mid) Level Head/without Head sound pleading.

Try not to.

12. The intonation of imperatives with “will you”, “won’t you”.

1) An often heard imperative pattern consists of two intonation groups. It has Low Fall in the imperative and Low Rise in the question tag.

Sit down, will you?

The positive tag question softens the imperative of the first intonation group to transform an order into something request-like. The negative tag question with a low rising tone sounds pressing. In both cases the imperative is in the positive dorm.

2) Another possible case to pronounce such an imperative is to use Low Falling Tones in both intonation groups.

Stand still, will you.

It is similar to

Stand still, please.

3) The next combination is “Low Rise + Low Fall”/”Fall-Rise + Low Fall”

Stop maikng noise, will you.

If imperative is positive th tag may be positive and negative, but if the imperative is negative, only positive tag is possible. It sounds quite pleading.

4) Combination of “Low Rise + Low Rise” the tag sounds afterthoughtfully.

Pass me the salt, will you?

And the comb. of “Low Fall/Rise + Low Fall” sounds emphatic.

Stand still, will you!

13. The intonation of parentheses.

Parentheses, consisting of a word, word combination or a clause show the speaker’s attitude towards the idea expressed in the sentence, connect the sentence with another or summarize what is said.

He is a nice chap, I think.

At the beginning of a sentences parentheses are frequently arranged by the Low Rising/Mid-Level Tone into a separate intonation group.

Well, what’s the matter with you, Mr. Walker?

To attach more importance we can use Low Fall/Fall-Rise.

As I say, it’s been one of those days when everthing seemes to go wrong.

Parentheses of no semantic importance do not form an intonation group or remain unstressed.

Well I don’t know.

In the midlle of a sentence parentheses usually pronounced as unstressed/partly –stressed tail of the preceding intonational group.

A walking holiday depends upon the weather, of course.

14. The intonation of the author’s words.

The author’s words may introduce direct speech or conclude it, sometimes they interrupt direct speech. The author’s words preceding direct speech sholud be treated as separate intonation group. So they are pronounced with any tone.

And then he said: “Praps you are right.”

If the author’s words follow the direct speech they are partially-stressed/unstressed.

“What is it for?” he asked.

If the author’s words are long they may be arranged into a separate intonation group pronounced with the same tone as the preceding one but on the lower pitch.

“Come here”, he ordered in a sharp voice.

If there’s more than two intonation groups they are pronounced each lower than previous one.

“It’s rather expensive”, she remarked looking in the shop window.

Non-final intonational groups are pronounced with the Low Rising/Low-Falling Tone in accordance with the semantic importance and completness of the thought.

“I’ve nearly finished it!” he exclaimed smiling with a note of pride in his voice.