BLENDING
English has a rather smooth sentence rhythm. The sounds are connected from one word to another to another within a phrase. As a mechanical aid to blending during drill work, the student may consider the last sound of the first word part of the second word. Examples:
1. Is it raining hard today?
2. You must not adopt/an articulation pattern/ that calls attention to itself.///
Verb + pronoun: * Do it> du it * Call her > caler
Preposition of measurement: * a cup of tea > a kapov tee * A glass of water> a glasov
Put a blend mark on the words that should be blended
A canᴗ͜͜of tuna = a kanov tuna * get out - ge-tout * look at it - loo-ka-tit * not at all - no-ta-tall * what is it - wha-ti-sit * for all I know - forall I know * I prefer it -I preferit
Improving Accent through Word Liaisons or Blending Consonant + Vowel * My name is David * Hold on * Turn over * Read only * Fall off * Follow up on * Come in * Sell it * Fade away
Vowel + Vowel * Go away. * I also need the other one. * Go anywhere. * So honest * Through our initiative * You are * He is * Do I? * I asked * To open Pronunciation Practice. Read the following lines with proper blending and intonation:
Or is reduced to r ex: rape or money? > rape r money
And is reduced to n ex: money and power. > money n power
The + vowel: the orange, the orangutan
S ending followed by s: ladies shoes * For dine in or take out? * Are you going up or down? * Soup or salad? * Cream and sugar? * Can I help you? * Can you do it? * No one can fix it * A can opener can open cans. * Get out of here! * You're late again, Bob. * Put it in a box.
PHRASING is used to convey thought, rather than one of tone production. It is the grouping together of words that convey a thought. Such grouping of words is very important in spoken English. There are no definite rules that govern the grouping of words. We depend mainly on the meaning and intent of the speaker. Pause for breath when you reach the line. I saw a beautiful girl/ crossing the street.// You can't be a good speaker/ unless you have a good voice.// We speak in phrases/ not in words.// Mina was bored/ but according to Pete/ the play was a great success.// Gratitude is a quality/not limited to man.// He forgot about the quiz/ and there was no time to study/so he decided to be absent.// His grades/ which were steadily getting lower/ indicated his lack of interest/ in the subject.// The boy's earnings/were used to buy their school supplies.// The captain, together with the crew/ lived in the house/by the side of the road.// "Don't give too much for the whistle/ and save the money"//

Break,/ break,/ break On thy cold grey stones/ o sea! And I would/ that my tongue would utter The thoughts/ that arise in me// - Tennyson
And what is so rare/ as a day/ in June That if ever,/ comes perfect day;/ Then Heaven tires earth/ if it be in tune/ And over it softly/ her warm ear lays.// - Unknown
My brother's hands are cool and fair/ They can do anything./ Delicate mercies hid them there/ Like flowers in the spring// - Unknown SENTENCE STRESS AND RHYTHM
The problem of acquiring good English speech rhythm may be divided into five parts: * Emphatic stress: Rolly maybe stubborn, but Ruby is too. * Contrastive stress: This is not for you, but for her. * Function words: prepositions, be verbs, action verbs, pronouns are NOT stressed! * Content words: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, action verbs are STRESSED!
BUT if action verb or BE verbs are used in tag question, answerable by yes/no, these are STRESSED! * Ex: RUBY: Can you lend me your cell phone? * HABAL: Yes, I can! * Ex: Ruby is beautiful, isn’t she? 1. Giving proper stress to stressed syllables, and making them recur rather regularly within a thought group. 2. Weakening unstressed words and obscuring the vowels in many of them. A proper organization of words into thought groups by means of pauses. 3. Blending the final sounds of each word and syllable with the initial sound of the one following within a thought group. 4. Fitting the entire sentence into a normal intonation pattern. Each of the following phrases is a rhythm unit, and is written as one word.

ofthelesson oftheday ofaword inabus isafriend thosethatcame hehasbeenseen i wasdone youandme isaquestion isananswer tobehappy ihadthought wearegoing isthetruth thatweknow tohavemetyou icandoit fiveorsix

INTONATION
Intonation is a term used to indicate the continuous elevation or depression of pitch in the delivery of a syllable, word, phrase, or sentence. It is the rise and fall of the voice in connected speech.
RISING-FALLING INTONATION
Intonation is the tune of what we say. More specifically, it is the combination of musical tones on which we pronounce the syllables that make up our speech. It is closely related to sentence stress. Often, but by no means always, a syllable with sentence stress. Often, but by no means always, a syllable with sentence stress is spoken on a higher musical note than the rest of the rhythm unit. In such cases, intonation is one of the elements of stress, the others being loudness and length. 1. Statement
Stress the nouns and let the tone fall at the end of the sentence.
• Dogs eat bones. 2. Intro Phrase
Use a rising tone when prefacing a statement.
• As we all know, dogs eat bones. 3. Question
A regular question goes up (compared with a statement), but drops back down at the end.
• What is the dog’s name? 4. First half, second half
The first half of a sentence usually sets up the second half.
• Dogs eat bones, but cats eat fish. 5. Listing
With more than one item in a list, all but the last one have a rising tone. " Dogs eat bones, rice, and meat.
6. Repeated Question
A repeated, rhetorical or emotional question goes up, and then up again at the end. • Do dogs eat bones?!
Jojo drives Lancer, Ford, and a Toyota?
Christina, go to the dean’s office.
You doubt yourself, and you doubt others.
You haven’t lied to your mother regarding the incident, have you?
Rising – falling – falling : used in questions that imply knowledge of a fact.
Ex: She obviously cares very much for Henry, doesn’t she?
The speaker was amazing, wasn’t she?
Practice uttering these:
That girl in red dress isn’t your cousin, is she?
Tom is a sports enthusiast and likes playing tennis, basketball and golf.
John has gone to the concert, hasn’t he?
While we were walking, I remarked that I enjoyed the show.
A witty, handsome and interesting comedian entertained the audience.
The board unanimously approved the appointed of the new director.
Cristy, will you help me with my homework tonight?A: I used to think that people in the city had less worry.
B: You did?
A: Yes, but I learned differently.
B: What do you think now?
A: There are many people without jobs and there are those who spend more than they have.
B: True. And not only that. There’s so much traffic in the streets that precious hours are lost just sitting in a public vehicle.
A: It’s infuriating! I travel every day to school and the heat and black smoke drive me crazy. Perhaps the people in the province are better off after all.
Choose from: RISING, RISING-FALLING, FALLING
Smile makes the world go round.
Was the conference productive?
Miracles do happen.
Don’t move.
When is the convention?
Please hand me that envelope.
Go.
She prefers to be engineer that a doctor, doesn’t she?
Fourteen.
Will you vote this coming election?