EnglishEnhancement

07

/st/

Sticks and stones may break my bones,

But names will never hurt me.

Sentence Stress

• ooO: He can TALK.

• oOO: He CAN’T TALK.

Sentence stress patterns help you hear the difference between similar sentences.

• content words which contain most of the meaning.

• structure words which make the grammar correct.

Most sentences have 2 kinds of words:

Content Words

• Main verbs: sell, give, employ.

• Nouns: car, music, David.

• Adjectives: red, big, interesting.

• Adverbs: quickly, loudly, never.

• Negative auxiliaries: don’t, aren’t can’t.

Structure Words

• Pronouns: he, we, they.

• Prepositions: on, at, into.

• Articles: a, an, the.

• Conjunctions: and, but, because.

• Auxiliary verbs: do, be, have, can must.• “to be” when used as a main verb: is, are,

was. (Example: He was here.)

sell car gone France

sell my car I’ve gone to France

Content X X X X

Will you sell my car

because I’ve gone to France.

Structure x x x x

Words Will you

sell my car because I’ve

gone to France.

Syllables 2 1 3 1

Timing 1 beat 1 beat 1 beat 1 beat

Words Will you

sell my car because I’ve

gone to France.

Syllables 2 1 3 1

Timing 1 beat 1 beat 1 beat 1 beat

Will you sell / my car / ‘cause I’ve gone / to France.

• THAT MAN.

• THAT’S the MAN.

• THAT was the MAN.

• THAT could be the MAN.

More words, same timing:

Usual Rules for Sentence Stress:

• Content words are stressed.

• Structure words are not stressed.

• The time between stressed words is always the same.

• OoO: YES, of COURSE! THANKS a LOT.• OoOo: SEE you LAter! PLEASED to MEET

you! • oOoO: a PIECE of CAKE. The SHOP was

CLOSED. It’s TIME to GO.• OooO: WHAT do you DO? WHERE do you

LIVE? GIVE me a CALL.• ooOo: Are you COMing? Do you LIKE it? Is

he HAPPy?

Short sentences have typical patterns.

Chunks:

• Groups of words that belong together.

• The words are in a fixed group.

• More than 1 word, but only 1 unit of meaning.

Chunks:

• High-frequency chunks are often more frequent than core single words.

• Most are simple and used all the time.

Top 10 two-word chunks:

• you know

• I don’t

• I think

• in the

• and I

• of the

• I mean

• it was

• a lot

• kind of

Top 10 four-word chunks:

• I don't know if

• a lot of people

• I don't know what

• or something like that

• a lot of the

• a lot of them

• I don't want to

• I don't know how

• there's a lot of

• what do you think

Common chunks & their meaning:

• What do you think they will do?As far as I’m concerned, they can do what they want.

• What would you do if you won the lottery?I should be so lucky! (informal = that would be great, but it will never happen.)

• Do you see any solution?Well, in my opinion, they should build more roads.

• What do you think should be our first priority?Well, off the top of my head, I’d say we have to reduce the cost of raw materials. (I haven’t had much time to think about it).

• I plan on starting my own export company next year.That’s easier said than done.

Common chunks & their meaning:

What should I do with my winnings? Put it in a savings account or buy shares?It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.* But, to be on the safe side, I’d put half in the bank.

* (môt chin, môt mươi)

Common chunks & their meaning:

• What’s Jill’s husband’s name?Wait a minute. Umm, it’s on the tip of my tongue.

• Can I speak to Ann Todd, please?She’s not in today. Would you like to leave a message?

Common chunks & their meaning: