As we studied in class, changes in pitch and lengthening of syllables are often particularly exaggerated when we want to express strong emotions in English, especially in British English.
If we don’t make these changes with our voice, our intonation may sound too ‘flat’ and we may sound uninterested or bored.
Mini shadowing exercise
Practise shadowing with the follow short audios. Remember, shadowing involves speaking along with an audio as closely as possible. If you haven’t shadowed before, you can learn how to do so here.
In the audios below, you will hear many content words stressed, but pay special attention to the exaggerated pitch and length changes on key adjectives and adverbs highlighted.
-We had a picnic in the park at the weekend. It was a beautiful day!
– Oh, that sounds lovely! I’m jealous!
– So, how was the talk yesterday, then?
– It was absolutely fascinating, actually! The presenter was an expert in their field, and was just a a fantastic public speaker.
– So, I was thinking about taking a trip to the coast this weekend…
– Oh, that sounds great! Let’s do it!
– We had a fantastic time in Thailand. The temples were stunning, the people were incredibly kind, and the food was absolutely delicious!
– Today was awful! I had to work overtime and felt completely stressed and overwhelmed.
Your turn
Think of a fantastic time you had somewhere (e.g. a holiday, a special day like a birthday, wedding or graduation). Practise talking about it stressing key adjectives and adverbs.
Think of a bad or stressful day you had (e.g. at work, something in your personal life). Practise talking about it stressing key adjectives and adverbs.
You will talk about both these topics in our next class!