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16.*** Read the text silently to make sure you understand each
sentence. Split up each sentence into intonationgroups if necessary. Under
line the communicative centre and the nuclear word in each phrase. Mark
the stresses and tunes. It is not expected that each student of the class
will mark the text in exactly the same way. Your teacher will help all the
members of the class to correct their variants. Finally practise reading your
corrected variant:
When you enter our sittingroom, the first thing you notice is
the large window opposite the door.
On the left is an armchair
with a small table by it. On the table are some books and an
electric tablelamp. There are two
other armchairs in the room
and a settee.
“Aren’t there any small chairs?”
“Only one, which is next to the radioset, opposite the win
dow. I have also a small cassetterecorder, which I keep in my
bedroom.”
“Have you many cassettes?”
“Quite a lot ... The mantelpiece is
on the right of the window
and next to it is a bookcase.”
“Do you read a lot?”
“Yes, everybody in our family likes reading. There are books
in every room.”
“What else is there in the room?”
“Nothing else. We don’t like a lot of things in our room.”
Section Five
Section Five
Section Five
Section Five
Section Five
I. Accidental Rise
M o d e l :
Tom
Brown is the
↑↑↑↑↑
best
pupil in
\
class.
If the speaker wants to make one word of the descending
head more prominent than the others he pronounces it a little
higher than the preceding syllables thus breaking their descend
ing succession. This nonfinal rise is called a c c i d e n t a l .
It never occurs on the first stressed syllable as this syllable is
always the highest in the descending head.
