2. ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Intonation
You may need some knowledge of English intonation patterns
if you are to understand English grammar. This is because the
features of intonation are important for signalling grammatical
distinctions; such as that between statements and question.
For example, a sentence like They are leaving can be a
statement when said with falling intonation, but a question with
rising intonation.
3. ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Here we concentrate on explaining those features with of
stress and intonation which play a significant role in grammar,
and which therefore need to be discussed and symbolized.
Stress; Symbolized with a stress mark (‘-) ‘over, an’alysis,
transfor’mation ( stress on first, second and third syllabel
respectively)
4. ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Stress; The rhytm of English is based on stress. In connected
speech, we feel the rhytm of the language in the sequence of
stressed syllabels. Between one stressed syllable and another
there may occur one or more unstressed syllables. The stress
syllables in these examples are preceded by the stress mark ‘ ,
and the unstressed syllables are unmarked.
5. ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Examples: I ‘rang you on the ‘ way to the ‘ airport.
It went ‘ off ‘ smoothly that ‘ long ‘ meeting of the ex’ ecutive
com’mitee.
This means that the syllabels in SMALL CAPITALS above
are stressed.
6. ENGLISH GRAMMAR
The normal rules for placing stress are as follows. The
syllables which are stressed are:
a one syllabels word which belongs to one of the major word
classes (i.e nouns (WAY), verbs (RANG), adjectives (LONG),
adverbs (OFF).
the accented syllables of words of more than one syllabel of
major word classes ( i.e SMOOTHly, ‘ AIRport, com’MITEE).
7. ENGLISH GRAMMAR
The syllable which are unstressed are:
a word belonging to one of the minor word classes (i.e
prepositions (to), pronouns (it), articles (the).
the unaccented syllabels of words more than one syllabels (i.e
‘SMOOTHly, ‘AIRport. com’MITEE).
8. ENGLISH GRAMMAR
One point to notice is that a prepositional adverbs belongs to a
major word-class and is therefore stressed, whereas a one-
syllabel prepositions is usually unstressed. Contrast:
This ’bed has’ not been’ slept in. (in= prepositions).
The’ injured’ man was’ carried ‘in. (in= prepositional adverb).
The same contrast is sometimes seen between the particle of
a prepositional adverb & phrasal verb.
He’s re’lying on our ‘help. (rely on= prepositional verb).
He’s ‘putting ‘on a ‘new ‘play. (put on= phrasal verb).