18 Speaking
Intonation Scaffolding Activities
Recognizing Positive and Negative
Power to permit, prohibit, or obligate someone shows up in the tone of our voice and also in the words we choose to stress or emphasize by lengthening the vowel sounds.
Part A
These pairs of sentences have several differences. The topics are not exactly the same. The first sentence is positive and the second is negative. The sound of the verbs is different.
Listen for differences in the length of the verbs:
1.
a) You can serve yourself.
b) You cannot serve the host.
2.
a) You may arrive up to 10 minutes later than the invitation says.
b) You may not arrive early.
3.
a) You should use your right hand.
b) You should not unwrap gifts immediately.
4.
a) You must refuse an offer three times before accepting.
b) You must not turn down an invitation face to face.
To help listeners notice the difference between positive permissions and negative prohibitions, we could write these sentences like this:
a) You can s-e-r-v-e yourself.
b) You cann-o-t serve the host.
Read the four pairs of sentences aloud. Stress either the positive actions or the word ”not.”
We emphasize positive actions by stretching out the vowels in those words. We lengthen negative words to make a clear difference between prohibitions and obligations. You may also hear people say the word “not” louder than other words.
Part B
In this exercise, you will hear sentences from our story. As you listen, decide whether the speaker is prohibiting an action or speaking about an obligation. Use a checkmark to show your choices.
| Statement | Prohibition | Obligation |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ||
| 2. | ||
| 3. | ||
| 4. | ||
| 5. |
Contracting Verbs
In addition to the tone of our voice and the length of words, we also communicate how strongly we feel by the grammatical form of the words we say.
Part A
Listen for differences in the verbs in these sets of sentences:
1.
a) Campground guests can make fires anytime except during a fire ban.
b) Campground guests can’t make fires during a fire ban.
c) Campground guests cannot make fires during a fire ban.
2.
a) Pets must be on a leash at all times.
b) Pets mustn’t be off leash at any time.
c) Pets must not be off leash at any time.
Listen again. In each set of sentences, underline the words that are stressed by being lengthened. The other words are not being lengthened, they are being spoken normally.
- Positive modal verbs are usually spoken faster than negative ones. Their sound may be shortened, or reduced, so much that it may be hard to hear them.
- Negative modal verbs don’t always sound the same.
INFORMAL contractions lengthen the combined modal verb and the ending N’T.
FORMAL full-form verbs stress NOT more than the verbs.
Read the two sets of sentences aloud.
Part B
Full-form verbs communicate more power than contractions. When we tell someone what is not permitted, we sound much more serious when we use full-form verbs. To sound less demanding, we often tell others what i