Master Intonation - Learn American Pronunciation and Reduce Your Accent

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Intonation can help us express quite a lot.

Listen and think about what I might be saying with only a single word.

That's falling intonation.

It expresses understanding. It's like saying, "I see. Okay."

That's rising intonation. It expresses doubt.

It's like saying, "Really?"

That's a rise-fall. It expresses surprise.

It's like saying, "Wow! I didn't know."

That's a fall-rise. It expresses hesitation for some reason.

I might be saying, "Let me think." or "One moment."

Yes? No? Maybe?

That was all rising intonation.

I'm expressing a need for an answer. A need for confirmation.

It's like saying, "Well, what's your answer? Is it yes? Is it no? Is it maybe?"

By now, I've shared the most common intonation patterns in American English.

This lesson will review them.

Here's your first review task of 10 items.

Listen and identify the intonation pattern that you hear.

Then you'll repeat the sentence after me.

We use falling intonation for statements. Listen.

We use rising intonation for yes-no questions. Listen.

We use falling intonation for wh- questions. Those are questions for information. Listen.

We use falling intonation in tag questions that merely comment. Listen.

We use rising intonation in tag questions that seek confirmation.

These are tag questions that require a yes-no answer.

Repeat after me.

We use rising intonation to turn a statement into a yes-no question.

In informal English, grammar structures can be shortened. Words can sometimes be dropped. Listen.

Remember we use a combination of rising and falling intonation in lists. Listen.

With longer sentences, you'll have more than one intonation group.

The word "well" is often said with a fall-rise to show hesitation.

You can also hear a fall rise in the middle of a sentence, at a mid sentence pause,

especially before the word "but."

I like all those flowers,...

but my favorite is actually an orchid.

Falling Intonation at the end.

We use a rise-fall intonation pattern to show strong emotion like surprise or anger. Listen.

We use both stress and intonation to create a contrast.

If two thoughts contrast, we have two intonation groups,

each with their own intonation pattern, each with their own focus word.

Here's a bonus challenge. Listen closely.

Did you hear a change in pitch?

Remember that our voice drops when we add information that really could be left out.

Let's do one more task.

Read this text with me.

I'll go first. Then you can pause the video and read the text aloud yourself. Okay?

For more intonation practice and to improve fluency in general,

I recommend using the practice texts in my Oral Reading Fluency series.

I also suggest watching my Fast Speech Challenge to learn how words link

and how their pronunciation can change in fast speech.

I hope this series of lessons has helped you improve your understanding and use of intonation in English.

That's all for now.

Thanks for watching and happy studies.