Intonation In English Nouns And Adjectives Are Stressed Differently Than Verbs

Title:
Intonation In English: Nouns And Adjectives Are Stressed Differently Than Verbs

Word Count:
731

Summary:
Listen and Learn: Nouns and Adjectives one way; Verbs another

Chinese has "tones" but all languages have their own special intonation. The "music" of a language is its intonation and it is perhaps the most important element of a correct accent.

A "ggod" accent is not only a question of good pronunciation. Many people think that pronunciation is what makes up an accent. It may be that pronunciation is very important for an understandable accent. But it is intonation th...


Keywords:
esl, intonation english,pronunciation english,speak english, talk english,english,learn english


Article Body:
Listen and Learn: Nouns and Adjectives one way; Verbs another

Chinese has "tones" but all languages have their own special intonation. The "music" of a language is its intonation and it is perhaps the most important element of a correct accent.

A "ggod" accent is not only a question of good pronunciation. Many people think that pronunciation is what makes up an accent. It may be that pronunciation is very important for an understandable accent. But it is intonation that gives the final touch that makes an accent correct or native. Often we hear someone speaking with perfect grammar, and perfect formation of the sounds of English but with a little something that gives her away as not being a native speaker.

Therefore, it is necessary to realize that there are three components to an accent, pronunciation, intonation, and linking. In other places we will examine pronunciation, the proper formation of vowels and consonants, and linking, the way that syllables within a word, and the beginning and ending of words come together.

But what interests us now is the issue of intonation, and in particular the difference in intonation of nouns and adjusctives on the one hand, and the intonation of verbs on the other. A review of this gives us a perfect example of how meaning affects intonation.

Noun/Adjective and Verb

In other articles, we saw: that verbs of two syllables often have the stress on the second syllable, while the related noun has the stress on the first syllable. We also saw that expressiones of two words are stressed differently according to their meaning.

This article, along with the others, is an example of the effect that meaning has on intonation in English. Many native speakers do not realize that the "rule" of this section is pretty rigorous. To know it can help you in building your vocabulary at the same time that you perfect your intonation. Even native speakers can profit from being more precise in the intonation of their English.

This is another intonation pattern that you must master. Verbs ending in the letters "ate" pronounce the letter "a" of the last syllable with the "long a" sound (the name of the letter "a", the sound of the words steak and make). Related nouns or adjectives pronounce the letter "a" of the last syllable with the indefinite schwa sound (the sound of the "a" of the word about, or the second "e" in the word elephant)

For each word, indicate that you know the difference between the two uses of the same word (by "same" we mean having the same spelling.)

First, give a brief meaning of the word used as noun or adjective and put the letter "I" to indicate that the final letter "a" is the indefinite sound of the "a" in about.

Next, give a brief meaning of the word used as a verb and put the letter "A" to indicate that the final letter "a" is the sound of the "long a" of the word make.

I start the exercise with two examples, the words alternate and appropriate. I have indicated the stress with CAPITAL LETTERS. You underline the syllable that is stressed, and write a brief explanation to indicate that you understand the difference. You do the rest of the table. And make sure you pronounce the words OUT LOUD.

alternate I
Noun: A substitute

alternate A
Verb: To take turns.

appropriate I
Adjective: correct or suitable

Appropriate A
Verb: To take over.

Now, you do the rest of the table, underlinging the accented syllable and defining the word to emphasize your understanding that the accent goes with the meaning.

approximate, to approximate
articulate, to articulate
associate, to associate
deliberate, to deliberate
duplicate, to duplicate
laminate, to laminate
graduate, to graduate
intimate, to intimate
moderate, to moderate
predicate, to predicate
precipate, to precipate

Practice on the following sentences that contain some of the words of the list used buth as noun or adjective, and as verb. Underline the accent and read the sentences out loud

The facilitator wanted to separate the general topic into separate categories
Would you care to elaborate on his elaborate explanation?
Have you heard that your associate is known to associate with gangsters?
How much do you estimate that the estimate will be?

Look for other articles on this same subject by searching for the word "intonation"!

BONUS : Title:
Is Eating Right All The Time Causing You Stress?

Word Count:
769

Summary:
Have you ever considered that how much you worry about how perfect your food program affects the uptake of nutrition in that food itself? Stress is very demanding on the body, and the fact that you need to be perfect in your eating habits actually lowers the nutritional value of the food you're eating.


Keywords:
stress, weight loss, health, nutrition, motivation, natural foods, whole foods


Article Body:
Stress can stop your weight loss goals about as much as eating
a family size bag of Nacho chips and a 2-Liter bottle of pop
can.

My approach to weight loss was in gaining my health. Losing
300 pounds was not the first thing that occurred to me, but
rather “what could I do to get healthy and eat right”. It was
a very strange approach given that I was obviously clinically
obese and immediately needed some quick weight loss.

I had no idea that our body used food in a very specific manor
and that we could improve our energy levels by working with
the body, not against it. There were some very specific rules
to follow, so being the good student I followed them. It
became a religion for me and as I preached it, I made many
people quite crazy. I became an outcast because I had to
prepare my food differently and would not eat with the gang at
meal times. My food was prepared differently, eaten
differently and eventually I even came to ask food servers to
use different spatulas to flip my “veggie burger” from the
grill.

I followed the rules and I increased my energy. I began eating
better and my energy levels increased enough that my weight
loss began and I started to become lean and healthy.

Then the stuff hit the fan

Well, it hit their fan, not mine.

Friends began to talk behind my back about wanting the old Rob
back. In one instance, I was held down on a couch while cola
was poured into my mouth against my will. They wanted their
old funny, fat, life of the party friend back, not this health
nut with all these food rules.

I think I first became aware of being stressed about food at a
birthday party I was asked to attend. It was a time of
celebration, but do you want to know what I was thinking?

“Do I or don’t I have a piece of cake?”

“This is totally processed, unnatural food. No fiber, no
wholeness and it contained sugars, lard and all kinds of other
crap”.

I had a whole bunch of thoughts about how this would affect my
weight loss goals, my health and my eating habits.

I was weighing the thoughts of being socially acceptable
against the health choice of having this one little piece of
cake. I thought about losing them as friends if I did not
accept the cake and weighed it against the impact this poor
food choice was going to have on my body. I had already lost
friends because of my food choices and I really did not want
to lose more.

I’m sure you’ve been there yourself, having to make a decision
based on your social status vs your health. It’s a very quick
thought process, but you notice that your blood pressure goes
up, your heart begins to beat faster, you begin to sweat… you
know what I mean?

I ate the cake.

I felt like crap.

I felt like crap on many levels and I was stressing about this
excessively. I felt bad that I had to make that choice in this
manner. I felt bad because the sugar was surging into my
blood and I felt bad because I “thought about this way too
much”

At some point, you need to let go of it all.

There is energy in food; in the love and people around you
that prepared the food and the circumstances in which it’s
eaten. Never eat a meal when you are upset or sad because you
should be enjoying the meal and taking in all the goodness in
what the earth has brought to your body. Take in all that
goodness and let go of all the stress.

Eat naturally as much as you can and increase the amount of
whole foods in your diet. Make a choice to remove processed
foods and beverages such as cola’s, fruit juices, coffee and
traditional teas. Eat with a smile on your face and give
thanks to everyone involved in bringing the meal, the
nutrition and that energy into your body.

Then when the time is right, have fun and enjoy the health
you’ve created.

There was a very dramatic shift in my life, my health and my
weight loss when I made the choice to enjoy some foods again.
I began to break my own rules and live my life. I began to
have fun with food and fun came back into my life.

Let go.