Rhymes and Rhythm

P u b lis h e d zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
by
Gamet Publishing Ltd.
8 Southern Court
South Street
Reading RG1 4QS, UK
Copyright © 2010 Gamet Publishing Ltd.
First published by Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1994.
This edition first published 2010.
The right of Michael Vaughan-Rees to be identified as the author of this work has been as erted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Ali rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the Publisher. Any person who do es any unauthorized act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
ISBN: 978 1 85964 528 4
British Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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C o n t e n t s zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
l
Generał introductiononmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJ
Part I
Syllables, stress and rhythm
Chapter l
Syllables, stres s and rhythm
Part II
Stress in words and phrases
Chapter 2
Stress in verbs
24
Chapter 3
Stress in nouns and adjectives
30
Chapter 4
Stress in compounds and phrases
36
Chapter S
Stress patterns in words and phrases
44
Chapter 6
Stress shift
45
4
III
Fast natural speech
PartXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
to fast, natural speech
sa
Chapter 7
Introduction
Chapter 8
Elision
52
Chapter 9
Assimilation
57
Part IV
Playing wit h poems
Chapter 10
Limericks
72
Chapter 11
Other typesgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
o t poem
78
Chapter 12
Similes, sayings and sounds
86
Key to the tasks
92
Appendices
Appendix
l
Appendix 2
Completed poems
105
Appendix 3
Book map
109
Appendix 4
CD-ROM thumbnails
112
iii
G e n e r a ł zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
introduction
This book uses a variety of different types of poem to make it easier for the learner of English to
understand spoken English and also to be better understood by native speakers of English. The poem s
range from very traditional forms, the limerick, for example, to contemporary forms such as the rap. But
whatever the typegfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
o t poem, they have something in common: they all rhyme, and they all have a regular
metre (that is to say, a regular beat or rhythm).
This means two things: first, they are easy to repeat and remem ber; second, they can follow the natural
rhythm of spoken English. This second point is very important, since English - unlike many languages depends on a fairly regular beat going from stressed syllable to stressed syllable. You have to make sure
you stres s the correct syllables, since mistakes o t stres S are one of the main reasons why a person may be
difficult to understand.
The main beats in the poems in this book always correspond to the stressed syllables. This means that if
you keep to the beat, then you automatically stress the correct syllables. Take the beginning o t two of the
poems, each with the same o E two three, ONE two three beat:
1 Norman's from Nottingham, Martin's from Mottingham,
Charley's from Chester and Lesley's from Lee;
joyce is from jarrów and Henry's frorn Harrow,
Laura's from Leicester and Dave's from Dundee.
2 Tina's a teacher, Priscilla's a preacher,
Donald's a doctor and Ted drives a truck.
Fred's a photographer, Joe's a geographer;
Barry's a barrister down on his luck.
The main beat (the ONE of the O E two three) is marked in bołd. Keep to that beat and you will soon
become aware that the majority of two-syllable nouns are stressed on the first syllable. Not only that: you
are torced, for example, to realize that L e ic e ste r has only twa syllables (like L a u ra , C h a r le y , te a c h e r , d o c to r),
that D u n d e e (unusually) has the stress on the second syllable, and that p h o to g ra p h e r andbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFED
g e o g r a p h e r have
the main stres s on the second syllable. And the regular rhyme scheme tells you, for instance, that L e ic e ste r
rhymes with C h e ste r.
ow look at another extract:
1 Percy persuaded the troops to surrender
Betty became a quite famous celebrity
Colin collected same marvellous furniture
Avril averted a major catastrophe
This time, the beat forces you to stres s the verbs, correctly, on the second syllable. And if you keep to the
ongirial speed you must, again correctly, make the first syllable of each verb very, very short.
You can come in at any point in the book. But there is a logic to the way it is laid out. Parts I and II
concentrate on the main things that speakers may choose to do if they wish to sound more like native
speakers: correct syllable length; linking; weak and strong forms; short and long vowels; rules for
placement of stress. And if you want people to understand you better. then you should mak e sure you try
to stres s the correct syllables.
(Note, however, that you do not have to shorten weak syllables as much as native speakers do, unless you
want to speak as fast as we do.)
Part III looks at what really happens in fast, natural speech, sa this is where your ears will be trained in
order to understand spoken English better (and where you will become aware o t how to sound more
natural, if that is your aim). Part IV contains a num ber of poem s to help you practise what has been
covered earlier, as well as providing a range of vocabulary wark.
Vocabulary (and grammar) wark is, in fact, built into the course throughout. And many o t the tasks rely
on skill in understanding the word s as well as the sounds and rhythm. But do not feel that you have to
understand every word o t a poem before you can start to listen to ar repeat it. Before you even look at the
vocabulary explanations, just listen to a given poem many, many times. Let the word s flow over you.
Concentrate not just on the rhythm o t the language, but also on the musie, the way the words flow uponmlkjihgfe
1
R hym es
a n d R h y t h m zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
and down (the intonation, in fact). When I learn a new language, I imagine the sentences swirnming by
like great fish in the sea. I see them going up and down (and English goes up and down in a great way, in
long flowing movements). So listen and listen first. Then take the book and listen agam while reading to
yourself. Next, listen to short sections, stop the recording and repeat. Listen, stop and repeat. Finally, you
will be able to read along with the recordings, as if you were swimming along to the rhythm and musie ot
English.
There are several icons in the margins to help you make the most of the bo ok:
These icons give you the corresponding recording number on the accompanying audio CD,
making it easy to find the correct one.
These icons give a quick indication ot a poem's level of difficulty on a scale l (simplest) to 5
(complex).onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a
These icons flag up supporting material in the teacher notes on the CD-RO:YL
Also, look out for the tasks I've set you (TaskXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
1 , T a s k 2 , ...), these will challen e you to use the
information and skills you have just leamt, reinforcing them through practice.
Above all, enjoy yourselves. Have fun. That's what it's all about.
Michael Vaughan-Rees
London, 2010
2
P A R T baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
S y lla b le s , s t r e s s
I
r h y t h m onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
As I said in the Introduction,
when
the use of very rhythmic
they speak. Most importantly,
important
and
poems will help learners of English to sound more natural
if you hit the beat correctly
you will give correct
importance
to the most
syllables.
Or, as I say later: baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
I f y o u d o n 't w a n t
Y o u 'v e g o t
But
y o u r E n g lis h t o s o u n d
t o h it t h e b e a t , y o u 'v e
got
a m ess,
t o h it t h e s t r e s s .
gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
it's g o in g t o s o u n d f u n n y , it's g o in g t o g o w r o n g
If y o u m a k e
your w eak sounds m uch
to o s tro n g .
In this first Part, you will hear a lot about
worry
the most com mon vowel sound
in English, the schwa.
Now do not
if you do not make this sound as short and weak as most native speakers do. Unless you want
people
to
think you are British, or any other type of native speaker, you do not have to sound like us. (W hen
I first started
teaching
English as a Foreign
like me as
possible.
But that was long ago and opinions
W hat
I think
speakers,
is
important
I am certain,
whose first language
Language,
I thought
that my job was to help people sound as much
have changed
a great deal since then.)
is to make the stressed syllables definitely
find
it difficult
to understand
longer
than the very weak ones. Native zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihg
speakers who get the stresses in the wrong
is not English may not have su ch problems,
place. (Speakers
since they usually do not try to speak as fast as
we do.)
The most important
letting
thing
the sounds flow
you łike the idea of making
an Apple computer
from
going
my friend
from
to do with
the poems
is to enjoy them.
As I said earlier, listen to them
over you. And I hope that you like the backing
your own backing
tracks (for your own language,
and use the Garage Band application.
Jon Starling.
Thereare
hundreds
of different
hip hop to jazz, Indian tabla to Middle
use it. [ust drag and drop.
traeks. which
That's what
rhythmic
many times,
many of the poems
have. If
if you wish) you can get hold of
I have done for this edition,
loops (percussion,
with
bass, guitar,
help
etc.),
Eastern sarod. And it's all free to use, and so easy even I can
C h a p te r 1
S y lla b le s , s t r e s s a n d r h y t h m
H o w m a n y s y lla b le s ? onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONM
( zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC
----....
All words consist of one or more syllables. In that first sentence, for example, the wordsgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGF
a ll, w o r d s , 0 (, baZYXWVUTSRQPON
o n e , o r and m o r e just have one syllable, c o n s is t has two, and s y lla b le s has three.
Listen to the following words. The number of syllables is given at the beginning of each graup.
(one)
jane / house / blue / Spain / pears / grow / work / watch / watched / loud / hunt / give
(two)
Susan / houses / yellow / Iapan / apples / grawer / working / watchful / aloud / hunted / decide /
forgive / photo
(three) Timothy / indigo / Germany / bananas / workable / workmanship / watchfulness / decisive /
decided / forgiven / tomorrow / cigarette / photograph
(four)
Elizabeth / indecisive / Argentina / pomegranates / unforgiven / unworkable / photography
photographic
/
Task 1 Decide how many syllables there are in each of the following words.
biology
bridge
strength
photographer
watches
unabridged
support
jumped
jumpers
policeman
decided
obeyed
T h e im p o r t a n c e o f s t r e s s
r
to become aware of the number of syllables in a word. But if you want to speak English
lItwithis important
the correct rhythm, there is something even more important: the place of stress.
Listen to the following seq uence:
••
•
Iane, Susan and Timothy.
The first nam e has one syllable, the second has two and the last has three. But only one syllable in each
word is heavily stressed. You can see this more clearly if we change the size of the written syllables,
according to their relative importance. So, imagine them as:
•
•
o
•
o
o
Jane,
SUsan and Timothy
J
Stressed syllables, such as ane, Su and Ti, are different from unstressed (sometimes called weak)
syllables in a number of ways. To start with, they tend to be both relatively loud and long; relative, that is
not only to any other syllables in the same word but also to unimportant words such as a n d .
The importance of stressed syllables in terms of rhythm can be shown if we change the order of the
sequence of names.
4
Syllables, stress and rhythm
P a r t I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPON
Listen to the following names. Then repeat each Iine, keeping to the same rhythm. CIap your hands, click
your fingers or tap on the desk to keep to the beat.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Iane, Susan and Timothy.
Timothy, Susan and Jane.
Susan, jane and Timothy.
Iane, Timothy and Susano
Timothy, Iane and Susano
Susan, Timothy and jane .
•
•
•
pause
•
•
recording
•
pause
you
Iane, Susan and Timothy.
(lane, Susan and Timothy)
Susan, Iane and Timothy.
(Susan, Jane and Timothy)
Timothy, Iane and Susano
(Timothy, jane and Susan)
Timothy, Susan and Iane.
(Timothy, Susan and Jane)
Iane, Timothy and Susano
(lane, Timothy and Susan)
Susan, Timothy and Jane.
(Susan, Timothy and jane)
~oesn't
matter that the three names have different numbers of syllables. And it doesn't matter in
which order they are said. The time between the stressed syllables remains more ar less the same,
which means that the beat stays the same.
But we can only keep to thebaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a E T w a THREE beat if we make sure that:
a) the stressed syllable is louder and longer than the others;
lb) the weak syllables are really weak.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Task 2
C o m p le te
th e
ta b le
u s in g th e w o r d s
b e lo w
a c c o r d in g
to th e
num ber
o t s y lla b le s .
Ann / elephant / Volga / Felicity / Spain / Wolverhampton / Nile / rhinoceros / Alexander / Jemima /
]apan / Amazon / bear / George / Cardiff / Ianet / Peter / Afghanistan / giraffe / Leith / Mississippi /
Anthony / Manchester / Morocco
Cities
1 syllable
2syllables
3syllables
4syllables
Leith
Cardiff
Manchester
W olverhampton
Boys' names
Girls' names
Animals
Countries
Rivers
W here
is t h e s t r e s s ?
Listen to the following two-syllable words.
janet / Iapan / Volga / girafte / Cardiff / Peter
•
Each ot them ha s, ot course, one stressed syllable and one we ak syllable. But which is which?
Which word s have the stress pattern • o (with the stres s on the fust syllable)?
And which have the pattern o • (with the stress on the second)?
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
5
R h y m e s a n d R h y t h m zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Listen to the words once more. Two words start with a weak syllable, the rest with a stron g, stressed
syllable.
o •
giraffe / Japan
• o janet / volga
/
caraur / perer
Do not be surprised that there are more of one pattern than the other; the vast majority of two-syllable
nouns (names included) have the stress pattern • o. (Aswe shall see later, most two-syllable verbs are
the other way round, having the pattern o •. )
With three-syllable words there are, of course, three possible patterns:
= stress on L" syllable
• o oonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
stress on 2nd syllable
o • o
=
O
= stress on 3 syllableXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
O
rd
•
Task 3
th e m
lis te n
a c c o r d in g
to th e th r e e -s y lla b le
to th e ir
s tr e s s
w o rd s
fr o m
th e
lis t b e lo w a n d
c o m p le te
th e
ta b le
p la c in g
pattern.
Manchester / Anthony / Jemima / elephant / Morocco / Amazon
•
o o
o o.
0.0
Yes,there was nothing in the third column. In fact there are very few o o • word s of any sort. They
c ig a r e tte and c h im p a n z e e , or words such as [ a p a n e s e and p ic tu r e s q u e ,
tend to be either imports, such asgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
where the ending is so strong that it becomes the main stress.
Nouns with the o • opattern are quite rare too, unless they are derived from verbs (a c c o u n ta n t /
a llo w a n c e / b e lie v e r / e n q u ir y / e x c ite m e n t, etc.). And many of them, like J e m im a and M o r o c c o , are imports
ending in a vowelletter/sound; think about b a n a n a , to b a c c o , s p a g h e tti, for example.
Task 4
Now
lis te n to th e fo u r -s y lla b le
word s,
a n d c o m p le te
th e
ta b le
a s b e fo r e .
Felicity / Afghanistan / Alexander / Wolverhampton / rhinoceros / Mississippi
Only two stress patterns are given, since it is rare for four-syllablewords to be stressed on the fint or last syllable.
6
P a r t I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONML
Syllables,
stress and rhythm
P r im a r y a n d s e c o n d a r y
str e ss
Listen agam to the four-syllable words. InbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
A le x a n d e r ,
W o lv e r h a m p t o n
andgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
M ississip p i, those with the o o • o
pattern, the first syllable sounds stronger than the second and fourth, but not as strong as the third.
Think of them as:
Alexd Ilder / wolverhampt:on
/ MisSiSsippi
A similar thing happens in the case of three-syllable words with the o o • pattern, for example:
cigarette
/ chimpanZee
/ ]apaneSe
/ picturesque
It is not enough, then, simply to talk of syllables as being either stressed ar weak; with words of three
ar more syllables it may be necessary to distinguish three degrees of stress:
prim ary, secondary
• •
.o.
.0.0
and weak (ar unstressed)
o
onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Sa, in the case of these twa pattems it might be better to show them as:
(e.g.,
c ig a r e t t e )
= secondary stres s + weak
(e.g., A le x a n d e r )
= secondary stress
+ primary stress, and
+ weak + primary stress + weak'
W e a k s y lla b le s a n d s c h w a
As a general rule we can say that every syllable contains a vowel sound.' A second general rule is that
the shorter the vowel, the shorter and weaker the syllable.
Naw let us take another look at same of the word s already examined, this time concentrating on the
vowel sounds in the weak syllables. To help us do this we will start to use phonetic notation, where one
symbol = one sound. This is because standard spelling often makes it difficult to see what the sounds
reallyare.
]anet
/'d3'fmt/
Peter
.0
.0
Peter
/'pi:td/
giraffe
o.
giraffe
/d3d'ra:f/
]apan
o.
]apan
/d3d'p'fn/
elephant
/'ehfdnt
Anthony
/''fntdni/
Amazon
/''fmdZdn/
]anet
elephant
Anthony
Amazon
• oo
• oo
ar /'d3'fndt/
or /'eldfdnt/
Mo I'Occo
/rna'rokau/
]emima
0.0
0.0
]emima
/d3I'malmd/
cigarette
• o.
cigarette
/,sIgd'ret/
Felicity
o.
oo
Felicity
/fa'ltsati/
rhinoceros
o.
oo
rhi Il.Oceros
/rai'nnsaras/
Wolverhampton
• o.
o
Wolverhampton
/,wulvd'h'fmptdn/
Mississippi
• o.
o
Missl SSjppi
/rnrsrsrpt/ ar /,mI"Sd'sIpi/
Morocco
• oo
or /d3d'malmd/
I
1
2
The rules of stress cover words in isolation, in their dictionary form. In Part II we will see how stress may shift according
to word function.
The exception is in such words as c u r ta in ar b o ttle where I n l and I I I may act as 'syllabic consonants', with no need for a
precedlng short vowel.
7
Rhymes and Rhythm
If we enlarge the phonetic
unstressed syllables.
notation
it is easy to see which is the most common
/mo'mkao/
/ d3d'ra:f!
/d3d'p~n/
/fd'lIsdti/
/,srgd'ret/
/dgr'marma/ or /d3d'malmd/
/wolva'ha-mptan/
Morocco
giraffe
]apan
Felicity
cigarette
]emima
Wolverhampton
Amazon
Peter
Anthony
rhinoceros
elephant
]anet
vowel sound in the weak,
t~mdZdn/
tpi:td/
t~ntdni/
/rai'nnsaras/
telIfdnt/ r teldfdnt/
'd3tt'nrt ar td3~ndt/
l
The most common sound by far is the one in blue. This is the vowel represented
is the only vowel important enough to be given its own name: schwa.
by the symbolgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJ
la l and it
The schwa (sometimes spelled shwa) is not only the most com mon vowel sound in weak syJlables; it is
by far the most common vowel sound in the whole of the English system. Look at its distribution
in
the words above. It is found:
•
at the start of words, just before the main stress:
la p a n , giraffe, F e lic it y
e.g., Morocco,baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
•
following main stres s (sometimes
e.g., P e t e r , A m a z o n , Anthony
•
between secondary and primary
e.g., cigarette, Wolverhampton
•
as an even shorter alternative to short I I I in fast versions
e.g., ] a n e t , lemima, e le p h a n t
twice in •
stress:
Schwa is not just short, it is the shortest
presence o t schwa can make to a word.
W o id s without
a
sport
=
claps
=
=
train =
blow
of certain words:
possible vowel in English. Listen to how little difference
schwa
Words with
/SP:J:t/
/klreps/
prayed
o o words):
schwa
/Sd'P:J:t/
= /kd'l<eps/
support
=
collapse
/prerd/
the
/po'reid/
/td'reln/
parade
=
/trem/
terrain
=
/bL~m/
below =
/bs'lao/
/pa'lart/
zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
=
plight
= /plart/
polite
Clyde
= /klard/
collide
hungry
=
Britney =
=
thAngri/
Hungary
/'bntni/
Brittany
=
/ko'lard/
=
=
thAngdri/
tbntdni/
that there is no single written vowel that corresponds to schwa. 50 there is no point in trying to
learn a11the possible written forms where the schwa sound can be found.
fN o te
Note ais o that schwa is not essential.
T ask
But do try to make strong sy11ables more important
than we ak ones.baZYXWVUTSRQPONML
5 Listen to the tollowing words, all taken trom page 4, and circle the syllables
containing
schwa. (Note, not all words contain
schwa.)
grower
yellow
aloud
hunted
forgive
photo
Timothy
Germany
banana s
workmanship
tomorrow
Elizabeth
Argentina
photograph
photography
photographic
8
Part I
Syllables, stress and rhythmbaZYXWVUT
S tr e ss a n d r h y th m
•
When we looked at the Iane, Susan and Timothy sequence, we saw that it is possible to keep to a more
ar less regular beat, based on stressed syllables, provided that:
a) the stressed syllable is louder and longer than the others;
zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
b) the weak syllables are really weak.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
J
You can demonstrate this by using the first line of a famous children's rhyme called 'This is the house
that jack built'. It has four beats, corresponding to the stressed syllables marked in bold in the previous
line. But note that the first beat is followed by two weak syllables, the next by one, then by none. Sa you
have to imagine the rhythm of the line as:
TWO
ONE
•
o
o
DAH
du
du
This
is
the
•
THREE
FOUR
•
DAH
o
DAH
that
house
•
DAH
du
built
Jack
(Note the use of DAH du du DAH du DAH DAH. You can always use these nonsense syllables to get the
rhythm of sentences without having to wony about an exact pronunciation. Just remem ber that DAH is
relatively long and loud while du is relatively short and guiet.)
Task 6 Listen to what happens if we keep to the same tour-beat
words and varying the number ot weak syllables.
O E
TWO
•
o
o
DAH
du
du
These
Bre
the
DAH
o
o
du
du
es
that
hous
•
o
DAH
o
du du
gueline
Ja
the
FOUR
THREE
•
rhythm, while changing
•
DAH
built
ow try this longer sequence, still keeping to the same rhythm.
TWO
ONE
This
is the
THREE
FOUR
house
that
Jack
built
built
These
are the
houses
that
Jack
These
are the
houses
that
Jagueline
built
that my
mother
designed
Peter
repaired
This
is the
This
is the
Those
That
are the
is the
Those
That
are the
is the
Andrew is
people
not as
we
we
met
in the
park
the
stairs
sawon
person
I
peopre
we
drove
to the
party
who
works
for my
mother
and
ThOmas
gardener
than
glass
Whatan
Howcan
bicycle
taller
Fancya
Tom's
house
tall
of
as the
Pe-e
ttauan
rest
of the
brandy?
famuv
amazingly
liVely
produCtion!
possiu-
get there in
tim ei
9
-
zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Rhymes and RhythmbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
S c h w a in g r a m m a t ic a l
it e m s
( Schwa is found not only in lexical items (nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs). It is regularly
found in common, weakly-stressed grammatical
iterns, especiaUy prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs
land pronouns.
Listen again to the 'This house that Jack built' sequence and see if you can sp ot the grammatical
containing schwa.
S tr o n g a n d
we ak
f o r m s o f g r a m m a t ic a l
In the previous task we concentrated on weakly stressed grammatical
careful; do not assume that su ch items always contain schwa.
items
it e m s
items, all containing
schwa. But be
This can depend on:
•
what the item is doing (i.e., its function)
•
where the item is found (i.e., its position).
and/ar;
th a t, for example, has two different functions.
The wardgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
1
In 'This is the house that Jack built' it is a weakly stressed relative pronoun,
2
In 'That is the gardener who works for my mother'
with a different, stronger voweL /ócet/
it is a strongly stressed demonstrative
The definite article th e has two different pronunciations
When the next word begins with a eonsonant
schwa: /óa 'haus/ or /óa 'pnpal/.
2
But when foUowed by a vowel (as in th e o ld m a n ) it is pronounced
the vowel /ói "aold meen/.'
to
changesaccording
pronoun,
according to the foUowing sound.
1
The preposition
with schwa. /óat/
(e.g., th e h o u se / th e p e o p le ) it is the weak form with
/ói/, with aonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONM
/j/ sound linking it to
to the following sound and its position in the sentence.
(e.g., to th e p a r ty ), the weak form with schwa is used: /ta óa 'po:ti/.
1
When followed by a eonsonant
2
When followed by a vowel (as in to a p a r ty ), it contains a stronger vowel with a /w/ sound linking it to
the vowel: /tu w a 'po:ti/.
3
Finally, if to ends a sequence (e.g., T h a t's w h e r e I'm baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
g o in g to ), it is pronounced
/tu:/ with an even
stronger, longer vowel, as if it were to o or tw a .
We can say the same about a number of other grammatical iterns, notably: the pronouns h e , h e r , h im and
th e m ; the possessive adjectives h e r and h is ; and modal and auxiliary verbs. These, too, have various
strong and weak forms, and the strongest form of all is used in contrast with another word.
Take the pronouns
and possessive adjectives.
strong forms (associated with pointing
Compare.
and/or contrast)
1
He is the one who did it!
(I'hdIZ O d
2
I gave it to him not her!
(00'
/tu 'hrm not 'hsr,')
3
It was them I saw, over there!
(00'
/'oem/
4
It was her fault, not his!
('00
/'h3:/ 00' /,hIZ/)
5
We did it, not you!
(/'wi:/ 00. /'ju/:)
3
The article th e also has the form /oi:/ when heavily stressed, as in the following exchange: 'M y [ a th e r m e t M ic h a e i Ia c k s o n
o n c e .' 'T h e M ic h a e l J a c k s o n ? '
10
WAll/
00')
00' /'o e d !)
/
P art I
Syllables, stres s and rhythm
very weak forms (usua11yfound after a stressed verb)onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJI
1 Where's Peter?
I think he's over there.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
I al 'ell)gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
k iz i
2 Where's Iane?
I've just left her on her own.
I'd3As 'left d mn d 'rdunl
3 Where's John?
I've just left him on his own.
I d3AS 'left
4 Where are your parents?
I've just left them on their own.
Im DnI 'z d u n i
I'd3AS 'left dm nn Od 'raon/)
I'pleljll) d qr'tcr/
S She's aIways playing her guitar.
Note that more than one weak form may be possibIe: for example, h e r can be /h d / or /d /; th e m can be
/o d m / or /d m /; y o u can be /ju/ or /jd /. Note, too, that the very weak forms of h e r , h im and th e m can
invoIve not onIy a weakening of the vowel, but aIso elision of the eonsonant at the start of the word.
This will be Iooked at in greater detail in Part 3.
R h y th m a n d lin k in g
a
r~----------------------------------------------------------------------------,
In the previous section, the word linking was used for the fint time. So far, you have Iearned that in
order to keep to the rhythm you have to hit the stressed syllabIes and weaken the weak syUabIes.But
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
there is one more important factor: the rhythm can onIy flow if words are properly linked.
l
I use the word 'flow' because it can heIp to think of words as a stream, with no division between them.
Or you may prefer to imagine the words as a chain, aU joined (ar linked) together.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _J
There are four main ways of linking words. Here is a simple sequence to heIp you remember them.
One apple, two apples, three apples, four appIes
In each case, the number links smoothIy to the foUowing voweI sound, so that the next word sounds as if
it doesn't start with a voweI at a11.Imagine it like this:
written as
sounds like
phonetic notation
1 One appIe
wu nappIe
IW A
2 Two appIes
two wappIes
3 Three appIes
three yappIes
nzepal/
/tu: w eepolz/
/On: j~ p d lz l
4 Four apples
four rappies
Ib :
reepalz/
Now let's Iook at these four types of linking in greater detail.
C o n so n a n t to v o w e l
one apple
r~--------------------------------When a word ending in a eonsonant is foUowed by a word beginning with a vowel, there is a smooth
linko If the word beginning with the vowel is stressed, then the moment of stress seems to begin with
~e preceding consonant. Compare the foUowing sequences, which sound exactIy the same.
a) What we need is a name.
b) What we need is an aim.
This is the most common form of linking. and there were several exampIes in the 'This is the house that
Jack built' sequence, including:
a glass~oLltalian brandy
Tom's not jas taILas the rest~of the family.
That js the person} saw on the stairs.
11
a n d R h y t h m onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R hym es
R o u n d e d v o w e l to v o w e l tw o
appleszyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFE
la u l, la u /, lu :1 (as in s a , n a w , to o ) there is a
Where a word ends with one of the rounded vowelsbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
link.
lw i
J
For example:
so (h)e's left! =
/s~JUwi:z 'left/
too old
/tu: w';mld/
=
Andrew is taller =
tcendru:
wIZ 'to.la/
This is presumably due to the fact that the lips are coming together anyway, and the consequent parting
of the lips in preparation for the next vowel torces a lw i.
S p r e a d /s tr e tc h e d
v o w e l to v o w e l
three apples
When a word end s with 1 i:1 (as in s e e , h e , s h e ) or one of the diphthongs ot which
element ( la li, le li, I" J I/, as in m :y , th e y , b o y ) there is an off-glide to Ij/.
/II
is the second
_~J
For example:
yes, lam
=
very often =
Irl
/je sal jcem/
Fancy agiass? =
/veri jnfdn/
my uncle
/feensi
=
jd
'
91G:s/
/rnar jAI)kdl/
t o v o w e l gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
[ o u r apples
In many dialects of English (including General American and several found in Britain), the written l' inl
words such as m o th e r , fo r and fa r has a corresponding [t] sound. But in RP,an [ t ] sound is only heard
when there is a following vowel.
Compare the following:
far =
for weeks
=
mother =
Peter
I
.
=
Two o th e r
/fu.r» Iwei/
/fG:/
far away
/fd 'wi:ks/
for ever =
tm A O d /
mother-m-law
tpi:td/
Peter and Tom =
[o rm s o f
linking
--
=
/fd IreVd/
=
tmAodnn
b:/
tpi:tdrdn
'tum/
--
--
--
~
There are two other types of link which you should know about. Don't feel that you have to imitate
them, but you will be able to understand spoken English more easily if you are aware of them.
------------------------------------
Irl
'I n tr u s iv e '
~
to v o w e l
In many word s ending with the written eonsonant l' the fina l vowel sound is one of the following:
schwa (teacher I harbour I actor I etc.); I" J :I (four I door I pour I etc.) and 1 0 :1 (car I far I bar I etc.). o
doubt as a result of this, there is a tendency to insert alinking /rl when a word ends in one of these
vowel sounds, even when no written l' exists.
-----'
For example:
America and Asia =
/a'menka ra 'nerga/
Asia and America
te I3 d
law and order
=
ra na 'menka/
O ): ra 'no.da/
Shah of Persia
=
/fG: rav 'p3:fd/
=
or t p 3 : 3 d /
Careful with this one. Many people consider that 'intrusive'
imitated.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
12
[t]
is sub-standard, and certainly not to be
j
P art I
C on son an t
to
eonsonant
Syllables, stress and rhythm
lin k in g
Many words in English start with clusters of two or three eonsonant sounds. For example,gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJ
p la y baZYXWVUTSRQPON
I S P la y j
tra in I st:ra in I d ry I try I f/y , and so on.
'
So when a word ending in a eonsonant sound is followed by a word beginning with another
eonsonant with which it can form a cluster, then there is a tendency for that eluster to occur.
That sounds rather complicated, but is actually a description of what happens with, for example, c o ld ra in ,
where the Id l is drawn towards the [t] (since the initial eluster Id r l is highly productive) so that it sounds
like c o a l d ra in , with the stress starting on Id r l and not on /r /. Other examples include:
a
actual words
sounds like
phonetic notation
ice cream
I scream
I
next week
necks tweak
I,n e k s
six trains
sick strains
I,s rk
might rise
my tries
I,mar 'trarz
Regent's Park
region spark
l,ri:d3Jn(t) 'spcrk/
ar 'skri.m/
'twirk/
'stremz/
B illy y a t e a n a p p I e , a n ic e r i p a p p I e
Below, there is a chant to help you practise the first three types of linking. The chant is written with the
correct spelling on the left of the page, but you actually say it the way it is written on the right.
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Vocabulary notes
A p p le s, o ra n g e s and a p ric o ts are fruit; o n io n s, a rtic h o k e s and a u b e rg in e s
e e ls look like snakes, but live in nvers or the sea; o y ste rs are shell-fish
alittle lemon-juice; c ru n c h y here is the opposite of s o f t ; T L ln n y means
sm o k e different types of fish, salmon, for example.
How it's written
Billy ate an apple,
a nice ripe apple
Beattie ate an orange,
a nice juicy orange
Lucy ate an ice cream,
a nice creamy ice cream
Flo ate an apricot,
a nice yellow apricot
Mo ate an omelette,
a nice runny omelette
Chloe ate an egg,
a nice brown egg
Nelly ate an almond,
a nice crunchy almond
Sally ate an onion,
a nice Spanish onion
Alex ate an artichoke,
a nice tasty artichoke
Andrew ate an aubergine,
a nice spicy aubergine
Mary ate an olive
a nice Greek olive
Caral ate an eel,
a nice smoked eel
Alice ate an oyster,
a nice fresh oyster
are vegetables; a L m o n d s are nuts;
which you cut open and eat with
not cooked for long; you can
How it sounds
Billy yate a nappie,
a nice ri papple
Beattie yate a norange,
a nice juicy yorange
Lucy yate a ni scream,
a nigh screamy yi scream
Flo wate a napricot
a nice yellow wapricot
Mo wate a nornelette,
a nice runny yomelette
Chloe yate a negg,
a nice braw negg
Nelly yate a nalmond,
a nigh scrunchy yalmond
Sally yate a nonion,
a nigh Spani shonion
Alec sate a nartichoke,
a nigh stasty yartichoke
Andrew wate a naubergine,
a nigh spicy yaubergine
Mary yate a nolive,
a nigh scree colive
Caro late a neel,
a nigh smoke teel
Alice sate a noyster,
a nice fre shoysterXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
13
Rhymes and RhythmbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
A n d w h a t k in d o t s u m m e r d id y o u h a v e l
a
Here is a chance for you to practise what we've been looking at so far. The poem below has a simple,
driving ONE two three ONE two three beat. But you will only keep to the beat if you remember to:
zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
1 hit the main stressed syllables (shown in bold in the first three verses);
2 watch out for the weak syllables in the names; a lot of them start with an unstressed syllable
containing schwa;
to , a n d , th a t and o t,
3 watch out also for the weak forms of short grarnmatical words such asgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
4 make the links between words where necessary;
5 and don't be afraid to leave out (elide) the occasional sound. We'll be looking at this in greater detail
in Part 3, but for the moment just note that a n d often loses its final zd/, especially when folIowed by a
t v t and become schwa, a1sowhen folIowed by a consonant. AlI of these
consonant; and o fm a y lose itsbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
things happen in the second verse, as you can see when it is written in phonetic notation .
•
/WI
'draov
Oru: oa
/ta
'tjuz
Intsa
•
'nart
'burz
tu
•
•
'VIhd3
'brxsalz/
an i:(t) 'plsnti
'masalz/
w3
Vocabulary notes
b o o z e (n o u n /v e r b ) is slang for '(alcoholic) drink';
to fa lte r is to stop doing something smoothly; talking for instance;
a F ie s ta is a type of Ford car;
g e a r is a general word for 'things';
a fe e is money paid for professional services (to a lawyer, architect, etc.);
a la n a is a person who prefers to be alone;
m u sse ls are shellfish which are very popular in Belgium;
re p le n ish is a formal verb meaning 'fill'.
We travelled to Venice then on to Verona
to test a Fiesta with only one owner.
We drove through the night to a village near Brussels
to choose lots of booze and eat plenty of mussels.
We later decided to head off to Spain
via France for a chance to drink lots of champagne.
But after a week of good living and booze
we agreed that we'd need to rest up in Toulouse.
Then we drove to Madrid before heading to Lisbon
to me et our friend Pete who'd just flown in from Brisbane.
We drove farther south to a town near Granada
to find lots of wine to replenish the larder,
and then spent a week just outside Algeciras,
but folk that we spoke to refused to come near us.
We stayed for a while in the town of Pamplona
where Pete walked the street (he's a bit of a loner).
We drove fairly fast to a hotel in Cannes
where we tried to confide our affairs to a man,
who gave us some goods to deliver in Rome
for a fee we'd not see until safely back home.
We sailed down to Malta to stay in Valetta
but a fax sent from Sfax made us think that we'd better
cross over to Tunis then drive to Algiers
to speak to a Greek I had known for some years.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
14
P a r t I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONML
Syllables, stress and rhythm
We drove through Morocco to reach Casablanca
to discuss, without fuss, aur affairs with a banker.
Then headed back north, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar
but passed through sa fast we were starting to falter,
and round about then I began to remember
I had to meet Dad on the tenth of September.
We sold the Fiesta and loaded a pIane
then with some gear from Tangier then we got on a train,
which roared through the night till it reached Santander
where we stayed one more day just to breathe in the air,
then a boat brought us back to our own native shores.
So that was my holiday, how about yours?
T a s k 7 XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Y o u r task is:
a) to write the place names in the table according to their stress pattern (two have been done as
examples);
b) to find the odd one out; that is to say, the name which follows a pattern not represented in the grid.
o.
•
.0.0
0.0
.0
onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVU
Valetta
Madrid
R h y m e s, r h y th m
a n d a llit e r a t io n
The remaining practice poems in Part I include one extra element, alliteration; that is to say, the
repetition of initial eonsonant sounds at the start of words.
N am es
In the first poem, 'Nam es from the British Isles', each line contains an English first name, folIowed by a
British place name, both starting with the same sound (usually a consonant, but there are two examples
of vowels being repeated).
As with the previous poem - 'What kind of summ er did you havel' - this has a simple ONE twa three
ONE two three waltz beat. But you can only keep to the beat if you remem ber the folIowing:
1 Several common place name endings have become so weak that the vowels have been reduced to
schwa.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
-h a m
gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
= /d m /
Nottingham = /'nntII) d m /
-s te r
=
-to n
=
-fo rd
/S td /
/tdn/
= /fdd/
Birmingham = /'b3:mII) d m /
Leicester =
/,lestd/
Gloucester =
Paignton =
/'pemtdn/
/'str~tfdd/
Taunton =
Stratford =
Oxford =
/'glnstd/
/'t:):ntdn/
/'nksfdd/
2 Most two-syllable nouns start with a stressed syllable and end with a weaker syllable (often containing
schwa). Place names are no exception. But watch out for those that have the main stress on the second
syllable, for example:
Dundee
xndare
Argyll /a:'gaIl/
carlisle
/ko.'larl/
15
RhymesbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a n d R h y th m
3 Most two-syllable first nam es also start with a stressed syllable. But a number of names (especially
- a ) have the main stress two syllables from the end, for example:
those end ing withbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
PatriciaonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
= /pa'tnja/
AIllanda = /a'meenda/
s-lina, = /bo'lmda/ Thel'Csa = /td'ri:Zd/ or
/td'relzd/
This happens with place names such asgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R e n a , M o n ta n a and C o L o r a d o . (Look at the poem on page 17 for
words such as b a n a n a , s p a g h e tti and lib r e tto .)
4 The preposition [ t o m is found in its weak Ifr a m l form throughout. But the pronunciation o t a n d
depends on what the next sound is. The Id l is only certain to be heard when tollowed by a vowel (so
a n d A n n e = /'dcen/). But the Id l is elided in a n d S ta n , to r example, and we hear lan 'stan/.
S Sometimes when the Id l disappears it allows assimilation to take place. This means that a sound
changes to be more like the tollowing sound. In a n d P a tric ia , for example the Id l goes and then the In l
becomes Im l because ot the tollowing Ip l and we end up with lam pat'nja/. In the same way, a n d K a te
= la IJ 'kert/. (The symbol IIJ I represents the eonsonant sound at the end o t s o n g , th in g , w r o n g , etc.)
(Don't worry if this is not very elear at the moment. We willlook at elision and assimilation in more
detail in Part III.)
6 And be careful with the links in, for example, a n d ~ A n n e , C h e s te r o n d , I o y c e js , { r o m ~ A r g y ll, etc.
N a m e s f r o m th e B r itis h Is le s
l Norman's from Nottingham,
Martin's from Mottingham,
Charley's frorn Chester
and Lesley's from Lee;
Joyce is frorn Iarrow
and Henry's from Harrow,
Laura's from Leicester
and Dave's from Dundee.
2 Ted comes from Taunton
and Stan comes from Staunton
Billy's from Bolton
And Willy's from Ware;
Mary's from Marlow,
and Harry's from Harlow
Mike's from South Molton
and Kate's from Kildare.
3 Ken's from CarlisIe
and Anne's from Argyll,
Fanny's from Fawley
and Harriet's from Hull;
Teddy's from Tenby
and Den is from Denbigh,
Chris comes from Crawley
and Millie's from Mull.
4 Ed comes from Eltham
and Fred comes from Feltham,
Brian's from Braintree
and Chris comes frorn Crewe;
Colin's from Kerry
and Bobby's from Bury,
Ada's from Aintree
So, how about you?
N a m e s fr o m th e A m e r ic a s
1 Mo's from Montana
and Sal's from Savannah,
Dave's from Daytona
and Mary's from Maine;
Nell's from Nebraska
and Al's frorn Alaska,
Will 's from Winona
and Fred's from Fort Wayne.
2 Rick com es from Reno
and Chick comes from Chino,
Brian's from Brampton
and Rita's from Rome;
Al's from Aruba
and Connie's from Cuba
Ned's from orth Hampton
and Nora's from Nome.
W here do
y O ll
t h in k
3 Hank's from Havana
and Guy's from Guyana,
Beth comes from Benton
and Nick's from orth Bay;
Charley's from Chile
and Phil com es from Philly,
Trudy's from Trenton
and Luke's frorn LA.
you're
g o in g ?
This is another poem in 3 /4 time. The beat is strictly as follows:
and ONE 2
2
2
3
ONE
3
ONE
3
du
DAH du du DAH
du
du DAH
du du
I'm go
lib
ing to Leeds
lo cate
a
to
I'm go
steal
sti
ing to Stock
a
holm to
16
ONE
DAH
re
le
2
(and)
du
tto
ttoXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
P a r t I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLK
Syllables, stress and rhythm
It is important to remember the following:onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONM
The place names are either monosyllablesbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
tL e e d s , S lo u g h , gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
C o tk , C o w e s , etc.) or have the stress pattern
• o, as is normai for two-syllable nouns ( B r ig h io n , V e n t n o r , P o la n d , etc.).
l
2 The verbs are either monosyllables ( b u y , v ie w ,
normai for two-syllable verbs ( p r o v id e , s u p p ly ,
3
s e ll, p in c h ,
c o lle c t ,
etc.) or have the stress pattern o ., as is
lo c a t e ,
p ro m o te ,
c o n s u lt ,
re fo rm ,
c o n fu s e , b e c o m e ) .
the three-syllable nouns at the end of lines have the pattern o • o. This is either because they
derive from o • verbs ( p r o fe s s o r , c o n fe s s o r , r e la tio n , c o m p u te r, c o m m u t e r ) or because they are loan words
from other languages all ending in a vowel sound ( b a n a n a , p y ja m a , v a n illa , c o n f e t t i, s p a g h e t t i, L ib r e t t o ,
AU
s tile tto , b a lo n e y ) .
4 The two loan words with four syllables ( s a r s p a r ilt a and m a c a r o n it have the pattern • o • o, i.e., there
is secondary stress on the first syllable and primary stress on the third.
S If the place has only one syllable ( L e e d s , P e r th , C o r k , etc.) then the verb has two syllables ( p r o v id e ,
s u p p iy , c o l/ e e t ) . But if the place has two syllables ( S t o e k h o L m , S o h o , P o la n d , B a s e / ) then the verb has one
tb u y , s t e a l, p in e h ) .
Vocabulary notes
b a lo n e y is a type of sausage (from Bologna in Italy);
a e o m m u t e r lives in the suburbs and travels (or commutes) into the city to work;
c o n f e t t i are bits of coloured paper thrown over the couple after a wedding;
a lib r e t t o is the words of an opera;
p a s tra m i
is a type of smoked beef (US);
p in c h is a colloquial word for steal;
s a r s p a r illa
is a soft drink made frorn the sarsparilla plant;
a s t e e p le is the tower of a church;
a s tile tto is a sharp, pointed knife;
v a n illa
comes from a type of bean and is used for flavouring desserts.
Now listen to the poem very carefully and answer the questions on the next page.
Where do you think you're going?
I'rn going to Brighton to buy some bananas
I'm going to Perth to provide some pyjamas
I'rn going to Ventnor to view some vanilla
I'rn going to Slough to supply sarsparilla
t G~EEKS1.WI.'!XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
I'm going to Soho to sell some salami
I'm going to Poland to pinch some pastrami
I'm going to Cork to coIlect some confetti
I'm going to Spain to secure some spaghetti
I'm going to Leeds to locate a libretto
I'm going to Stockholm to steal a stiletto
I'm going to Prague to promote my professor
I'm going to Crewe to consult my confessor
I'rn going to Rye to reform a relation
I'm going to Stansted to stare at the station
I'm going to Basel to boi! some baloney
I'm going to Minsk for some mixed macaroni
I'rn going to Plymouth to please all the people
I'rn going to Stockport to stand on the st eple
I'rn going to Cowes to confuse a com puter
I'm moving to Kent to become a commuter
17
R hym es
Task 8
a n d R h y t h m XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
W h ic h o f t h e t w o - s y lla b le p la c e n a m e s h a v e s c h w a in t h e f in a l s y lla b le ? W h ic h m a y
h a v e s c h w a ł A n d w h ic h d e f in it e ly d o n o t h a v e s c h w a ł
Task 9
W h ic h o f t h e f in a l w o r d s in e a c h llne h a v e s c h w a in t h e f ir s t s y lla b le ?
Task 10
W h ic h o f t h e f in a l w o r d s a ls o h a v e s c h w a in t h e la s t s y lla b le ?
Task 11
W h ic h o f t h e v e r b s h a v e s c h w a in t h e f ir s t s y lla b le ?
T h e d o - it - y o u r s e lf
•
t o n g u e - t w is t e r
k it zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIH
Every language has what are called tongue-twisters: sequences with so many examples of alliteration
P e te r P ip e r
that even native speakers have problems saying them fast. (Examples in English include:gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHG
l? ic k e d a p e c k o f p ic k le d p e p p e r and S h e se lls se a sh e lls o n th e se a sh o re .)
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
In 'Names from the British Isles' there were just two examples of each eonsonant sound; M a r tin 's baZYXWVUTSRQPONML
[to m
In 'Where do you think you're going?' it went up to three; I'm g o in g to B rig h to n
so on. In this section, we will end up with five or sometimes six. But we'll make
it easier for you by starting with just two examples o t the same sound, then building up to three, four,
and so on. (It's called 'The do-it-yourself tongue-twister kit' because you start off easy and take your time
working up to the more difficult ones.)
M o ttin g h a m , for example.
to b u y so m e b a n a n a s, and
Two-part alliteration
The most important syllables in this part are found in the name and in what the person buys to eat or
drink. The word b o u g h t is more important than the very weak so m e (= Isa m /), but it is less important than
the main syllables, because it is repeated. Watch out for the words (including names) with stress on the
second syllables:
potatoes,
bartanas. tomatoes,
Sal Ome, camin».
Patricia
They all have schwa in the first weak syllable!
Vocabulary notes
c a b b a g e s and p o ta to e s are vegetables; p e a c h e s and b a n a n a s are fruit; d o u g h n u ts, c h o c o la te and fritte rs
contain sugar; c o d is a fish, and sa la m i is a type ot sausage.
•
Kenneth
bought some
cabbage.
Polly
bought some
peaches.
Sally
bought some
salad.
Dennis
bought some
doughnuts.
Charles
bought some
chocolate.
Shirley
bought some
sugar.
Freddy
bought some
fritters.
Camilla
bought some
cod.
Tina
bought some
tomatoes.
Barbara
bought some
bananas.
Salome
bought som e
salami
Patricia
bought some
potatoes.
•
\
•
Three-part alliteration
Now we add another word to say how much food or drink is bought. This can be a eontainer (a p a c k e t, tin ,
c ra te , etc.); a quantity (a d o ze n , slic e , p o u n d , k ilo , etc.); or we can add - f u l to same of the nouns. The main
syllable in the new word is stressed, but the linking word ofis very, very weak. When folIowed by a vowel,
we usually pronounce it la v l, but when followed by a consonant, it often reduces to schwa. This means
that a k ilo o f c a b b a g e sounds like a k ilo a c a b b a g e and a b u n c h o f b a n a n a s sounds like a b u n c h a b a n a n a s .
18
Syllables, stress and rhythm
P a r t I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONM
Kenneth
•
boughta
onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
kilogfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
ot
cabbage.
•
•
PolIy
boughta
packet o t
peaches.
SalIy
boughta
sackfulot
salad.
Dermis
boughta
dozen
doughnuts.
Charles
boughta
chunk o t
chocolate.
Shirley
boughta
shopful o t
sugar.
Freddy
boughta
fridgeful o t
fritters.
Camilla
boughta
crate o t
cod.
Tina
boughta
tin o t
tomatoes.
Barbara
boughta
bunch o t
bananas.
Salome
boughta
slice o t
salami.
Patricia
boughta
pound o t
potatoes.
•
A r th u r b o u g h t
a n a r m f u l o f a r t ic h o k e s
Let's practice this three-part alliteration with the tolIowing poem. You will get the rhythm if you pause
very slightly after b o u g h t in each line. Be careful though, the tollowing lines contain to u r examples o t the
same initial sound:
jeremy bought a giant jar o t jam,
Linda bought a large leg o t lamb.
Charlie bought a chunk o t cheap cheese.
To keep to the rhythm in these lines you have to be careful to reduce the word o fto a simple schwa and
link it to the word before it. It has to sound like a g ia n (t) ja r a ja m / a la rg e le g a la m b / a c h u n k a c h e a p c h e e se :
Vocabulary notes
Important! Don't teel you have to understand every single word betore you start listening to the
poems. Concentrate on the rhythm and intonation; listen and start repeating; then check the
meaning, if you need to.
A rtic h o k e s, b e a n s, p e a s and sp in a c h are vegetables; a p ric o ts, le m a n s
sa rd in e s are fish; la m b , m in c e and ste a k reter to meat (m in c e is the
square piece; d o u g h n u ts are a type of bun cooked in deep ta t and
and q u in c e s are fruit; b re a m and
meat in hamburgers); a c h u n k is a
covered with sugar; m u e sli is a
m u g is like a cup, but shaped like a cylinder; a sto n e is 14 pounds, about 6 kilos; to ffe e
breakfast cereal; abaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
is made with sugar; th re a d is used for sewing clothes, and when you are sewing, you put a th im b le on
your finger to push the needle through.
Arthur bought (pause) an armful of artichokes,
Belinda bought (pause) a barrelful of beans,
Catherine bought (pause) a kilo o t cabbages, and
Sandra bought (pause) a sack of sardines.
Harriet bought a handful of handkerchiefs,
Jeremy bought a giant jar of jam,
Lola bought a litre of lemon juice, and
Linda bought a large leg of lamb.
Peter bought a poeketful of peanuts,
Queenie bought a quarter pound quince,
Shirley bought a shop full o t sugar lumps, and
Michael bought a milligram o t mince.
Salome bought a slice o t salami,
Charlie bought a chunk of cheap cheese,
Spencer bought a spoonful o t spinach, and
Pamela bought a packet full o t peas.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
19
Rhymes and Rhythm
Philippa bought a folder for her photographs,
Step hen bought a stone of steak.
Amos bought an acre ot apricots, and
Katie bought a kilogram of cake,
Cuthbert bought a cupful of custard,
Brenda bought a bucketful of brearn,
Matilda bought a mugful of mustard, and
Christopher bought a crateful of cream.
Kenneth bought a carton of coffee,
Benedict bought a basket fulI of bread,
Tina bought a tinful of toffee, and
Theo bought a thimble full of thread.
Brian bought same bread for his brother,
David bought same doughnuts for his Dad,
Muriel made same muesli for her mother
But Mary had no money and she just felt sad.
Four-part alliteration
b o u g h t and put in its place another alliterative word. This will give it a O E twa
ow we drop the wordgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
three O E twa three beat. Careful with the verbs select, collect and deliver, with stress on the second
syllable and schwa in the fi.rst.
Vocabulary notes
and se e k (pastonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
= so u g h t) are relatively formai verbs; their less formal equivalents arebaZYXWVUTSRQPONM
buy,
and Z o o k fo r; to sh ift = 'move from one place to another'; and a d o ze n = 12.
p u rc h a se , se le c t
c h o o se (ar p ic k )
11[3
Kenneth
collected a
kilo of
cabbage.
Polly
purchased a
packet of
peaches.
Saliy
sought a
sackfulof
salad.
Dermis
delivered a
dozen
doughnuts.
Charles
chewed a
chunk of
chocolate.
Shirley
shifted a
shopful of
sugar.
Freddy
fried a
fridgeful of
fritters.
Tina
tasted a
tin of
tomatoes.
Salome
selected a
slice of
salami.
Patricia
picked a
pound of
potatoes.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
A r tfu l A r th u r
This is the finał part of 'The do-it-yourself tongue-twister' sequence. Of course each noun, adjective and
verb is stressed. But in order to do this as a rhythmic chant there has to be four main beats (indicated in
bold in the first few lines). And remember to link the word s where necessary. You should be doing it
automatically by naw. Sa say:
Artful Arthur argued for an armful of artichokes.
= /'a:tfd 'la:8d 'rrnqju.d fdrd 'nnimfala 'vnrtttjauks/
Because the vocabulary is fairly difficult you will have to use a dictionary quite a lot in order to
understand it. Sa we end up with twa matching tasks to help you remem ber the meanings of most ot the
verbs and adjectives.
20
Part I
Syllables, stress and rhythm
Vocabulary
notes
[en u g reek and v a n illa are all used for flavouring food;
These notes are just for the nouns;baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
c a r d a m o m , gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
g a zp a c h o is a Spanish swnmer soup, made with tomatoes and cucumber; n o u g a i is a type of sweet, or
candy, from France; c la m s are shellfish; a sliv e r is a very thin slice; stu rg e o n and tu n a are fish; tre a c le
comes from sugar.
Artful Arthur argued for an armful of artichokes.
Able Amos ached for an acre ot apricots.
Barmy Barbara bargained for a basket of bananas.
Beautiful Belinda boiled a barreiful of beans.
Brash Brenda brandished
a briefcase full of brano
Careful Catherine cooked a kilo of cabbages.
Carmen calmly carte donmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
off a cartload of cardamom.
Cheerful Charlie chose achewy chunk of chocolate.
Clever Chloe dung to a eluster of clams.
Dirty Duncan dreamed of adozen dainty duck-eggs.
Fragrant Freda fried a fridge full of fritters.
Furtive Freddy fondled a fistful of fenugreek.
Gorgeous Gertrude gasped for agallon of gazpacho.
Greedy Grenville grasped for a grass of green grapefruit.
Happy Harry hauled away a hamper fuli of ham.
jerky Gerald juggled wit h some jars of jam.
Lazy Lawrence lugged away a lorry-load of lettuce.
Little Lola lapped up a litre of lemon juice.
Merry Michael munched a milligram o t mince.
Naughty Norma gnawed a knob of nutty nougat.
Posh Patricia purchased a pound o t Polish peaches.
Queasy Quentin quaffed a quarter-pint
of quince-juice.
Sad Sally savoured a sa ck full of sandwiches.
Sheepish Shirley shattered a shop full of shell-fish.
Sly Salome sliced off a sliver ot salami.
Spotty Spencer spattered a spoonful of spinach.
Stocky Stephen stood on a stone of sticky sturgeon.
Tiny Tina tasted a teaspoonful of tuna.
-----
-
Tricky Trevor traded a trunkful of treacle.
Vicious Victor vanished in a van full of vanilla.
Weary Wanda waded in a waggon lo ad of watercress.
Task XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
12
Match the adjectives wit h their definitions
1 artful
a) having a bad skin condition
2 able
3 barmy
4 brash
S cheerful
6 fragrant
7 furtive
8 gorgeous
9 greedy
10 jerky
11 merry
12 naughty
13 posh
14 queasy
lS sad
16 sly
17 spotty
18 stocky
19 tiny
20 tricky
or synonyms.
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
nice-smelling,
perfumed
really small
happy (possibly because of the effect of alcohol)
clever, full of tricks, cunning, sly
uncontralled
in one's movements,
clumsy
misbehaved, or possibly slightly impraper
happy, in a good mood
capable, skilful, clever
j)
always wanting more things, especially to eat
k) rea1ly beautiful
l) over-confident,
loud, tOG fuli of oneself
m) mad, crazy, not a1l there
n) dishonestly tricky, unwilling to confide in others
o) quite short, but well-built
p) feeling slightly sick, uneasy about a possible action
q) deceitful, clever in cheating, difficult to handle.
r) sly, not wanting to be seen, up to no good
s) upper-class, over-conscious
of one's importance
t) unhappy, down in the dumps, miserable
21
Rhymes and Rhythm
Task 13
Match the verbs with their definitions
or synonyms.
1 ache
a) to transport
2 argue
b) to breath in suddenly and loudly
c) to cut a thin section tram a loaf of bread, a cake, etc.
3 bargain
d) to grab and hol d on to with one ar both hands
4 boil
e) to wave in the air
5 brandish
6 eling
f) to cook in water at 100 degrees Celsius
g) to hurt, be in pain, long for
7 fry
h) to bite steadily at something till it is wam away
8 fondle
i) to drink steadily (old-fashioned)
9 gasp
j) to try to get something for a lower price
10 grasp
k) to drink the way a cat doesonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
11 haul
1) to eat ar taste while enjoying the flavour
12 juggle
m) to hold tight1y to something with both arms
13 lug
n) to throw liquid ar serni-liquid matter on to something
14 lap
o) to move ar transport with difficulty
15 munch
p) to dispute, quarrel, disagree verbally
16 gnaw
q) to keep three ar more objects in the air simultaneously
17 purchase
r) to walk in liquid which comes up high er than the ankles
18 quaff
s) to stroke gently and affectionately
19 savour
t) to chew carefully and steadily, while making same noise
20 shatter
u) to disappear
21 slice
v) to break something tragile into many small pieces
22 spatter
w) to cook in oil ar fat
23 vanish
x) to buy
24 wadebaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
22
P A R T baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
S t r e s s in w o r d s
II
and
p h r a s e s onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
In Part l, the following points were made about stress:
•
In words of two or more syllables, one syllable is more important than the other(s). If all the other syllables
are weak, then we can cali this the stressed syllable.
•
In words of three or more syllables we may have to distinguish three degrees of stress, however. The most
important syllable will carry primary stress, the next in importance will carry secondary stress and the rest
can be called weak.
•
The weakest possible syllables contain the schwa vowel, the shortest and most common vowel sound in
English.
•
Grammatical items are usually weak, many of them containing schwa (though some mayaiso have a stron g
form).
•
Certain word-stress patterns are more common than others. Two-syllable verbs, for example, usually have
the pattern o •. Two-syllable nouns, by contrast, usually have the opposite pattern zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
.0.
In Part II, we willlook in more detail at the rules for stress, both in words and in phrases. And we will see exactly
when certain rules can be broken.
t
C h a p te r 2
S t r e s s in v e r b s
I n t r o d u c t io n zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
In this section, we will consider seven different stress patterns for verbs. Before we Jook at . zhat the ruJes
are, carry out the following introductory task.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Task 14
R e a d a n d lis te n to th e
v e r b s in th e
lis t b e lo w .
•
Look at the tables, where you will find an example of the seven stress patterns.
•
Place each verb in its correct place. (Two have already been put in as examples.)
Som e patterns are easier to see (and hear) than others. The purpose of this task is for you to discover if
there is any which cause you problems. Those are the ones that you will need to concentrate on.
clarify
pre-set
prefer
accelerate
contradiet
wander
soften
enliven
refuse
sentimentalize
interfere
defuse
apologize
damage
collect
abolish
co-chair
identify
occupy
measure
undertake
circularize
defend
prepaint
consider
substitute
surrender
overwhelm
monopolize
determine
remove
demist
understand
wony
idolizeonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJI
1 surprise
2 develop
3 reload
4 introduce
collect
5 tremble
contradict
6 estimate
7 realise
(Note that the numbers 1-7 correspond to the different subsections in this main section.)
24
Part II
T w o - s y lla b le
Stres s in words and phrasesbaZYXWVUT
o.
verbs
Most two-syllable verbs, as we have seen, start with a weakly stressed syllable. Here are the most common
of these initial syllables, together with a selection of the verbs containing them. They are grouped by vowel.
schwagfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
those containing
a- ab-
co- c o m - c o n - [ o r -
absorb
/
collide
/
/ persuade
surprise
/ suspect
im -
/ police
/ pollute
/ produce
/ protect
/ subside
/ subject
/ suggest
/
shortbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
III
those containing
ts-
pro- su- sur- sus-
sccount / accuse / allow / amuse / announce/
avert / aVOid / collect /
command / compare / compose / conduct / forget / forgive / object /observe
/ offend
en-
0- o b - p e r - p o -
in -
endu re / engage
/ ignOre
/ imply
/onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
mcrease / infect / include / invite
/ impOrt
those containing short /I/, though schwa is an alternative
b e - d e - d is - e - p r e -
beCome
endure
/ behave
/ enquire
reffiove
/
re- se-
/ believe
/
/ debate
-qutp / escape
«fer / restore
/ decide
/ defy / deny / derive
/ prefer / prepare
/ present
/ deVote
/ record
/ distract
/ recite
/
/ regret
/
/ seCure / sedate
Note: this group includes a fairly Iarge category of verbs ~convict ~ contrast / deCreaSe / ferment
/ reCord / impOrt / inCreaSe / rebel / pervert / ob)ect / sub)ect) where the corresponding
nouns have the opposite stress pattern: • o. See Chapter 3.
T h r e e - s y lla b le
verbs
There are fewer o. o than o.
verbs,Most start with one of the weak initial syllables you have just met:
abOlish / aCCOmplish /assemue
O _
/ awaken
O
/ beWilder / conxlder / continue / determine
/
deVelop / enCOUrage / reSemble / suIrender
Note: that most o t these verbs end with a syllable that is norrnally weak: -e r , -e n , -is h , -a g e , - it. There
will be more about final syllables on page 28.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Listen to the following recording.
Task 15
There is a series of sentences. each containing one of the verbs you have just met. There is no rhyme this
tirne, but each sentence has the same beat, with a strong syllable followed by two weak ones.
2
3
ONE
2
(and)
DAH
du
du
DAH
du
(and)
eon
cert
o
for
trum
pet
had
wri
tten
a
nov
el
2
3
O E
2
3
O
DAH
du
du
DAH
du
du
Con
rad
com
posed
a
Ann
ie
a
nounced
she
O
E
E
25
Rhymes and Rhythm
You can only keep to the beat if you remem ber that each of the verbs starts with a really weak syllable.
But it's time to mention one more thing about the stressed syllables: they are not just louder and
longer than the weak ones; they are usually different in pitch. That is to say, that they are often high er
or lower than the surrounding unstressed syllables. Not only that: a stressed syllable can change pitch,
can go down or up smoothly.
Before you repeat the various poems, chan ts, raps and so on in this book, you should do two things: listen
to the rhythm of course, make sure you hit the stresses and shorten the weak syllables; but you also have
to listen to the musie of the language, to the intonation (i.e. the way the voice goes up and down). So the
sentence we have just looked at can be thought of as:
COnrad
composed
a concerto
for trumpet
if we only think ot the rhythm. But we must not forget that it may also sound like:
tru
m
Con
pet
a
Now you have a choice. You can just listen to the sentences and repeat them. But, if you want to do some
vocabulary practice first, try to match the beginnings (1-16) and endings (a-p) of the sentences in the
word box belów, then listen to the recording.
And when you repeat the sen ten ces, do not be fooled by the spelling of names and verbs at the start ot
each sentence. Pairs such asgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
P e rc y /p e rsu a d e and C o n n ie /c o n d u c t may look as if they contain the same vowel
sound. Listen carefully, however. Eaeh name starts with a stressed syllable, so the vowel sound in the
name is always stronger than the weak vowel sound in the first syllable of the verb! Thus C o n n ie onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWV
= 'koni,
whereas e o n d u e t = kan'dxkt.
1 Perey perSUaded
a)
2 Coue eollected
b) a symphony
3 Dennis
c)
developed
a Vd Ccine for pOlio
Ol'chestra
she had written
anOvel
4 Reggie restored
d) to start
5 Betty beCame
e)
a11the frescos
6 OScar objected
f)
a major
7 Benny behaved
g) the troops
8 Av-u averted
h) a classical
9 Annie
i)
all the men
10 ESther escaped
j)
a quite famous celebrity
11 DeSmond
k) when O'l hers aCcepted
announced
deVOted
up a bUSiness
in FlOrence
cal.dsrophe
to surrender
rece-a
l)
13 Forster
m) in a COntident
manner
14 COnnie condUCted
n) from a priSoner
15 Debbie
o) his life to the peOple
decided
him
a peaceen solUtion
12 Rita reCOrded
forgave
who'd betrayed
of war
camp
p) some marvellous furniture
16 SUsie suggestedbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
26
P a r t I I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLK
Stres s in word s and phrases
•• ( o ) v e r b s
o. o. o
witonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
h a t r u e p r e f ix a s f ir s t s y lla b le
In most
and
verbs, the weak initial syllable comes from a preposition in Latin. In English, the
original meaning is often hidden. The fact thatgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
s u b -, for example, originally meant 'under' is not elear in
such words as s u b m it or s u b je c t (though it is elearer in word s such as s u b s e c tio n or s u b m a r in e ).
In some verbs, by contrast, the original meaning is still very elear. In such cases, we can describe the first
syllable as a true prefix. (The weaker equivalents may be thought of as semi-prefixes.) True prefixes have
strong vowels and will be transcribed showing secondary stres s within the word. For example:
prefix
meaning
re-
'again'baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
reload := I,ri:'laudl
I r i: 1
rehouse
:=
I,ri:'hauzl
de-
'removing'
I d i: 1
debug
:=
l, d i: 'b A g I
defuse
:=
I , d i: 'f ju : z l
co-
'with'
Ikaul
cohabit
:=
I,kau'hcebltl
co-chair
:=
I,kau'tfeal
p re -
'before'
I p r i: 1
preload
:=
/prit'laud/
preset
:=
I , p r i: 's e t l
pron.
examples
Be careful, however. Each of the above four has a weaker version, where the original meaning is less elear.
Look at the following examples.
with prefix
repaint
re set
reform
with 'serni-prefix'
:=
l, r i: 'p e m t l
:=
I , r i: 's e t l
:=
I , r i: 'b : m l
remove
reject
reform
(:= form again)
demist
deselect
co-exist
co-chair
pre-pay
pre-paint
deceive
defend
:=
IlkaUIg'zIstl
I,kau'tfeal
collide
command
:=
Ilpri:'peII
:=
I , p r i: 'p e m t l
prepare
prefer
:=
:=
/n'murv/ or Ira'mu:vl
/rr'dgekt/ or /ro'dgekt/
:=
l, r i'b : m l
or I , r a 'b : m l
(:= improve, rectify)
Ildi:'mIstl
I,di:'sa'lektl
:=
:=
:=
:=
I dr'sirv I or I da'sirv I
:=
/dtfend/ or /da'fend/
:=
/ka'lard/
/ka'mumd/
:=
/pn'pea/ or /pre'peo/
:=
Ipn'f3:1
:=
or I p r a 'f 3 : 1
Note that the negative prefixes, such as u n -, m is - and d is - , may also carry secondary stress within the
word. E.g., unbUrden/
unsetu- / disCOUrage / disfigure / discredit / mismanage, and so on.
T h r e e - s y lla b le
verbs
.0 .
In these verbs, the primary stress is on the third syllable and the middle syllable is very weak (usually
containing schwa). But there is a noticeable secondary stres s on the first syllable. This happens for one of
three reasons:
a) The verb starts with a two-syllable prefix, for example:
,intro'duce
/ ,contra'dict
b) A prefix is added to a regular
,disa'ppoint
/ ,reab'sorb
o.
/ ,over'Whelm
/ ,under'stand
verb, for example:
/ ,disa'llOW
/.,reco'mmend
c) There are two monosyllabic prefixes, for example:
,coin'cide
/ ,appre'hend
/ ,compre'hend
27
R hym es
.0
a n d R h y th m
v e r b s zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
lf a verb has this pattem it is due to the presence of a final syllable which is always weak, causing the
previous syllable to be stressed.
This rule applies whatever the number of syllables and overrides the generał rule that two-syllable verbs
ten d to have the o. pattern. In the following tables, you will find the most common of these weak final
syllables, together with their pronunciation
and a selection of words containing them.gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJ
-s u r e
-tu r e
Id ll onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
ar 1 1 /
Id n l ar In l
Id l
Ifd l
1 3 d l Itfd l
peopie
reckon
cater
Censure
Ifd l
settle
beckon
wanae-
treasure
13dl
tremu-
sof ten
favour
pleasure
13dl
quarrel
weaken
Sdvour
measure
13dl
pedal
threaten
answer
piCture
rival
liSten
spatter
Capture
-le
-e L -a l
-o n
-e r -o u r -o r
-e n
-is h
-o w
-a g e
Id U I
/Ifl
rd 31
I baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
foue«
damage
houew
Itfd l
Itfd l
- it
-y
/Iti
li!
vanisn
edit
enw
manage
banish
posu
tidy
bOrrow
ravage
finish
debit
WOrry
piuow
savage
nounsn
creau
SCUrry
mellow
piUage
flounsn
limit
query
reusn
pron-
chivvy
A number of comments
have to be made about verbs with these endings, however.
•
In many cases (p e o p le , p e d a ł, c r e d it, q u e r y , s a v a g e , [ in is h , h o llo w , [a v o u r, tre a su re , ete.) these verbs can
also function as nouns. This particular stress rule applies whatever the class of word.
•
You have to be careful about word endings. The letters -e r may well end a word without being a
suffix. In o. verbs such as deter, inter, refer, confer and defer, for example, it is the elements
te r and (e r that are units, not -e r .
•
Be careful with -iu r e , too. In. words such as abjure:
injure, perjure,
COnjure (= 'do trieks' (= 'ask solemnly' - pronounced /,kan'd3ua/) the ju r e element forms
pronounced /'kAnd3a/), conJure
the unit. Confusion with the regular u re ending seems to be the cause of the inconsistency in
pronunciation.
•
emit,
And not aU verbs ending in - it have a final weak syllable. A number, including permit,
transmit,
remit and submit
are standard o. verbs, since the m it element is the unit (c.f.,
m is s io n in the noun derivants).
•
Most established words in -a g e have the short /rd3/ ending. This is also the pronunciation
of
-a g e as a suffix (in, for instance, s e e p a g e , [o o ta g e , s h r in k a g e , ete.). But more recent borrowings from
French (d.Ibitrage / triage / COrsage / Cdrnouflage, ete.) ten d to end in the much longer /a :3 /) .
And g a r a g e varies between the two, being pronounced in a variety of ways, including: /'gcera:d3/,
/'9cerrd3/, /ga'ra:3/ and /ga'ra:d3/·
•
Finally, be careful with
28
srlow.
P a r t I I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONML
Stress in words and phrases
Some suffixes cause the main stress to fall on the syllable two from the end (the 'ante-penultimate'). This
happens however many syllables come before the stress.gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
-a te
-ify baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
- ip ly -u p y
u te
/IfaII
/rplar/
i llstitute
dignify
multiply
eStimate
c Ollstitute
clarify
Occupy
fascinate
ampury
s UbstituteonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
sssimn,«
p rOStitute
le I t lI
I jurt/
COllgregate
ar I t f u : t l
luparl
forur,
accelerate
idelltify
negOtiate
perSOnify
V e r b s d e r iv e d f r o m n o u n s o r a d j e c t iv e s b y
m e a n s o f t h e s u f f ix /a lz /
A large number of verbs are derived from nouns and adjectives by means o t this suffix. The verbs keep the
main stress of the original word. Examples include:
ongirial word ~
derived verb
original word ~
derived verb
sympathy
Sympathize
circular
Circularize
criu-
c riticize
real
reah»
capital
c apitalize
organ
Otganize
aPOlogy
apOlogize
character
characterize
insti tUtional
nsti tUtionalize
mollOpoly
mollOpolize
1 The «-ate» ending is often much weaker in nouns and adjectives. Thus e s tim a te as a noun, and a p p r o x im a te as an adjective
both end Id t/.
29
C h a p te r 3
S tr e s s in n o u n s a n d a d je c tiv e s
W h o 's w h o ? zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Chapter 2 asked you to think about the different stres s pattems in verbs. Now we will do the same for
nouns.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Task 16
•
a
Your
task is to:
Listen to and read the poem: 'Who's who?'. (As you can see, it is full of nouns with a variety of
different syllables and stress patterns. But if you keep to the 3/4 beat you will have no choice but to hit
the main stressed syllables correctly.)
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
• Pay special attention to the nouns listed below.
•
Place the nouns in the table - where possible - acco rding to their stress pattems. But note carefully!
For the task in the previous section you had to find five verbs for each pattem. This time, however,
you do not know how many words will go in each column. And also there are some odd ones out, i.e.,
some nouns which do not belong with the others i n the table!
poet
neurotic
tailor
zool ogist
seJector
teacher
airman
cosmonaut
realiist
diver
royalist
hack
geographer
phil anthropist
eonfesser
doctor
wrestler
translator
astro naut
loyalist
barrister
idealist
photographer
brok er
physician
balloonist
c) democrat
b) chairman
a) healer
e) technologist
f)
loyalist
d) musician
g) psychotic
When you repeat this poem, do not assume that syllab les that are spelt the same are always pronounced
the same. In Task 15 in the previous section, if you rec all, you met various pairs of words including:
Percy / persuaded
C01n
Dennis
Av-u / aVerted
/ developed
/ cOllected
In each case, the name contained a strong, stressed vo wel, while the unstressed semi-prefix in the verb
was considerably weaker.
There is a similar contrast in 'Who's who?', this time b etween the vowel sounds in pairs of nouns and
names. For example:
30
,
Part II
j'knlz a ka'lekta/
Di's a director
/'dalza da'rekta/
Corrs
Sol-s a SOlicitor
Cols
a colIector
a confessor
j'knnz a kan'fesa/
Stress in words and phrases
j'snlz a so'lrsrta/
The reason is quite elear; all the nouns are derived from verbs and retain the initial weak syllable. (For
more details, see below.)
Vocabulary notesgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
b a rriste r = a lawyer who can appear in a higher court; b o o ze r = a person who likes aleoholic drinks (i.e.,
b o o ze ) far too much; h a c k onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
= a derogatory term for a journalist; p ro c to r = an offi.ciałat the universities of
Oxford and Cambridge; so lic ito r = a lawyer who advises elients, prepares legal documents, ete.
Who 's who?
Tina's a teacher, Priscilla's a preacher,
Donald's a doctor and Ted drives a truck.
Fred's a photographer, Ioe's a geographer,
Barry's a barrister down on his luck.
Annie's an anarchist, Monty's a monarchist,
Prue is a proctor and Fred owns a farm.
Cy's a psychologist, Bill's a biologist,
Charley's a charmer who 's run out of charm.
Col's a collector and Di's a director,
Astrid's an astronaut, Bas runs a bank.
Con's a confessor and Prue's a professor,
Cher owned a ship until (sadły) it sank.
Mag's a magician and Phil's a physician,
Cosmo's a cosmonaut circling the moon.
Ruby's a realist, Ike's an idealist,
Cindy's a singer who can't hołd a tune.
Ruth is a writer and Freddy's a fighter,
Phil's a philanthropist handing out cash.
Sid's a psychotic and Norm's a neurotic,
Danny's a driver who 's scared he might crash.
Walter's a waiter and Tom's a translator,
Aaron's an airman who flies through the sky.
Tammy's a taiłor and Willie's a whałer,
Charlie's a chairman who can't tell a lie.
Benny's a boozer and Lenny's a loser,
Sol's a solicitor, Chloe's a clown.
Eddie's an editor, Chrissie's a creditor,
Reg is a wrestłer whose job gets him down.
Milly's a miller and Dave's a distiller,
Kate's a comedian, cracking a joke.
Dee is a dealer and Harry's a healer,
Dave is a diver who can't swim a stroke.
Ben's a balloonist and Bet's a bassoonist,
Freda's a feminist, Harry's a hack.
Zac's a zoologist, Tom's a technologist,
Brenda's a broker who's just got the sack.
Sal's a selector and Den's a defector,
Mike is a miner all covered in grime.
Rita's a royalist, Lita's a loyalist,
Paula's a poet whose poems don't rhyme.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
31
R h y m e s a n d R h y th m
.0
n o u n s a n d a d j e c t iv e s zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC
This stress pattern, which we may call front (ar early) stress, is by far the most common for both nouns
and for adjectives. ote how frequently nouns and adjectives of this type end with one ot the weak
syllables that we have already met in the case of • o verbs. E.g.,
mou.e- / bOther / father / COsy / hUrry / fruity
winue-, / Cd llow / houow / ntmu- / handle / parusi / picture / treaso-, / seiZure.
luggage
/ manage
/ SpiUage / footage
/
/
otable amon g nouns of this type are those 'agentive' nouns derived from monosyllabic verbs: diVer /
waiter
/ farmer
/ liar /
play-, / teacher
/ actor / etc.
Note this includes that set of nouns (import / record / SUbject / refund / transfer
where the verbs with the same spelling have late stress, e.g., to impOrt / to record
refund / to transfer / to reject.
N o u n s a n d a d j e c t iv e s d e r iv e d f r o m
0.0
verbs
o.
/ reject, etc.)
/ to subject / to
and
o. o. o
Most nouns and adjectives derived from
and
verbs by the addition of suffixes keep the same
main stress as the verbs. There may, however, be a change of vowel sound and, occasionally, of consonant,
e.g., to suffice / sufficiency; perSuade / perSUasion. (If the stress does change, then this is usually
due to the presence of a suffix that imposes its own stress pattern, as we shall see later in this section.)
acCOmplishment
/ deVelopment
/
»ccountsu- / amUSing
/ enqUiry / equipment
prodUCtion / rehearSal
/ behaViour
/ collection
/ excitable / infectious
/ com [Jdrtson / defective
/ perVersity / preSUmable /
/ reSemblance / sufficiency / transferrai
This type again includes a large number of agentive nouns such as:
accountant/announcer
/belieVer
/ enqUirer / offender
/inqUirer
/inhabitant/prodUCer
/ proteCtor / surVeyor
N o u n s a n d a d j e c t iv e s d e r iv e d f r o m
Nouns and adjectives derived from
example:
.0
Settlement / reckoning / censorship
.0
verbs
verbs also ten d to keep the stress pattern ot the original verbs. For
/ management
/ fellowship
Agentive nouns include:
creduo- / editor
32
/ fOlIower / SOftener / manager
/ treasurer
/ wandererXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCB
P a r t I I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLK
Stress in words and phrases
S t r e s s - im p o s in g
s u f f ix e s
There are a number of suffixes which determine the stress pattern of nouns.gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFED
- io n , - ia n onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
= /dn/ o r /n/
In nouns ending withbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
io n , or ia n the main stress falls on the syllable before the end, no matter how many
syllables. Where these suffixes are found in words of four or more syllables, then there is a elear secondary
stress:
nation
/ fusion / Option / Asian / confusion
.condern'Hdtion
.prose'Ctltion
/ ,disi'llUsion / ,contra'diCtion
/ .substi'Ttltion
/ .aggra'Vdtion
/ adOPtion
/ mu Slcian / techniCian
/ ,compre'hension
/ con.gratu'Idtion
/
/ ,intro'dUCtion
/ .multipli'Cdtion
/ .inde'Cjsion /
/ .recornmen'Cldtion
/ .reali'Sdtion / .qualifi'Cdtion / .simplifi'Cdtion / .magnifi'Cdtion
Note how the syllable given secondary stres s is usually that carrying main stres s in the base verb, for
example:
-a te
congratulate
con.gratu'Iatton
-ify
magnify
.magmn'
-iz e
realize
,reali'Zation
Cdtion
There are a large number of suffixes ending with y , corresponding to very weak /II. The preceding
syllable also contains a very weak syllable, so the main stress com es two from the end, however long the
word. These are similar in stress patterning to - I y adverbs, a selection of which are ineluded for
comparison.
A very high proportion of these nouns are forma l and/ar scientific or technical, containing such suffixes
as: -o r y , -o p y , -o c y , -a c y , -a p y , -a r y , -a th y , -o m y , -o g y , -o p h y , -a p h y , -a tr y , and -ity .
•
00 .
therapy
/ lvory / hiStory
gracefully
/ feelingly
/ seCretary / mystery
/ hUrriedly
/ Stf Igery / dpathy / sympathy
/ lavatory /
/ SeemingIy / mercifully
0.00
identity
/ society / psyChiatry
/ seCUrity / psyChOlogy / phild.Flthropy /biOgraphy
obituary / labOratory / authOrity
/ modernity
/
/ affl dzingly / politically / belieVably
Note this is the same stress pattern found in a number of four-syllable words ending in -e , also
corresponding to short /1/. They inelude: apOstrophe, epitome, cataStrophe and hyperbole .
• 0.00
,inca'pacity
/ .capa'Dtlity / ,elec'tricity
,unbe'lievabIy
/ .cardi'Ology / .physi'ology
/ .under'S'tdndably /
/
.00.00
.autobt'Ography
/ ,parapsy'ChOlogy
33
Rhymes and Rhythm
Note that some words ending ingfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
-y (including la v a to ry , lite ra c y and se c re ta ry ) may have four syllables
when spoken slowly. But in fast speech, what is called compression may take place. This means that
the schwa syllable may be elided, reducing the word to three syllables, possibly to fit other words with
this pattern. In fact, the middle schwa syllable in three syllable words, including h isto ry and m y ste ry
may similarly disappear.
For example:
Item
lavatory
'Izevatan
'leevatn
literacy
'lrtarasr
'lrtrasr
secretary
'sekratan
'sekratrr
history
'hrstan
'hrstn
mystery
'mrston
'mrstn
-o g r a p h e r , -o n o m e r ,
•
-o n o m is t, -ia tr is t
The very productive -y group (see page 81) includes those learned suffixes: -o lo g y , -o n o r n y ,
-ia tr y . These have corresponding agentive nouns with the same stress pattern, such as:
phot.Ographer / biOgrapher / a Sl I'Onomer/ biOlogist / psyChiatrist
/ eCOnomist
-o g r a p h y
/ agronomist
and
/
.hagi'Ographer / .parapsy'Cjj Ologist / ete.
Note that the syllable following the main stres s always contains schwa; thus phol Ographer
/fa'toqrafa/: agrOnomist = /a'qronamrst/.
-e s e
=
/i:z/
The -e s e suffix is found in a number of nationality word s (including ChineSe
VietnameSe)
as well as a few other words such as journalese.
/ Japanese
/
-e s q u e / esk/baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a n d -e tte / et/
These suffixes are fairly rare. The first is used to derive adjectives from a number of proper names, to give
the meaning 'similar to, in the style of', e.g., K a fk a e sq u e / G o y a e sq u e / C h a p lin e sq u e . (It is also found in a
few other adjectives and nouns, such as p ic tu re sq u e and h u m o re sq u e .) The second is found as a diminutive
suffix in such words as c ig a re tte , k ite h e n e tte , le e tu re tte and la u n d r e tte .
Note that -e se , -e sq u e and -e tte impose a secondary stress two syllables before the main stress: e.g.,
,japa'nese / ,pictu'resque / ,ciga'rette.
-ic , -ic s , -ic a l, -ic is t
•
These related suffixes, all containing ie, affect the stress pattern of a large number of nouns and adjectives .
The rule is that main stress falls on the syllable immediately before. For example:
.0(0)
zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
PUblic(ist) / Cynic(al) / tOpic(al) / logic(al)
/ optic(al)
/ physic(al)
/ classic(al) / ethnicXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
34
/ physicist
/ tragic
/
cnueon
P a r t I I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONML
Stress in words and phrases
0.0(0)
eeramie(s) / ceramietst / eleCtrie(al) / eosmetic(s) / dynamie / histOrie(al) / arljstic /
politieal/ illogieal
pathenc /
Exeeptions pOlitie(s) / lunatie / Arabie
.0.0(0)
,mathe'maties / .peri'(jdicral) /
,anaes'thetic /
.eco'norrucro / .eco'nomrcran / ,meta'physics
.oce'aruc / ,aea'demie
/ .mathe'tjjattcal / ,astra'nomieal
/ ,meta'physieal /
/ ,eate'gOrie(al)
.00.0
.geria'Ij'jcian / .paedia'tj'[ciangfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
- is t
This is used to derive adjeetivesbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
tra m :
•
nouns: machinist
•
adjectives:
/
balloornsr / basSOOnist / etc.; or
reansi / loyalist
/ royalist / idealist
/ etc.
l
)baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
35
C h a p te r 4
S t r e s s in c o m p o u n d s
and
p h rases
a
I n tr o d u c tio n
Compounds are composed of more than one word or element, whether written as one word or not. And
it is the main syllable in the first element of compounds that has primary stress.
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Most compound nouns are mad e up of two elements, usually nounonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC
+ noun. For example:
postman
/ policeman
'eVening .dress /
/ teapot
/ classroom
hitchsu-, / rnathe'Jfldtics
of English) / 'ViSitors ,book / 'children's
/ 'buS,stop /
,teacher /
schoola-t / landlady
'ten-a, .player / 'English
/ bookshop
/
,teacher (= teacher
,home / etc.
But other combinations of elements are possibłe.
adjective + noun (very common)
redhead
/ greenback
smalltalk
/ broadside
/ Shortbread
/ hotspot
/ longboat
/ the ,White
/ greenhouse
/ hardware
/
shortre-a /
,House / Sl.Xvpack / etc.
gerund + noun (very common)
dining
room / swimming
po ol / baking
powder / mOVing van /
track / ironing board / Skipping rope / Winning
breath.eg
space / rUnning
post / etc.
verb + particle (increasingly common)
take
off /
talkback
shutaown / standu- / sit-in / pUtdovm /
/ turn up /wind.o» / flYby / breakthrough
fOllow-up
zwalkoo: / flyover / drive.n, /
/ sit up / stop
over / hand
over / etc.
verb + noun (not very common)
Ctl l-throat / driveway
/ runway
/ swimwear
/ etc.
particle + verb (not very common)
offcut / input / Offspring / overpass
/ Underwear / bypass / etc.
Two elements frorn Latin or Greek (very common, especially in formal and/or scientific language)
aCrobat / phOtograph
technocrat
/ telephone / Synonym / symphony
/ gramophone
/ iSobar / paragraph / thermostat
/ microphone
/ hOmophone /
/ etc.
The meaning of most noun + noun compounds is usually quite elear; bot h constituents are ordinary
English words and the compound is the sum of both words. Thus agfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
b o o k sh o p is 'a shop where you buy
books', a b u s sto p is la place where buses stop'.
The meaning of element + element compounds is usually less obvious. However, words such as
a u to g ra p h , b io p sy and te le p h o n e contain highly meaningful elements: a u to = 'self'; g ra p h = 'writing'; b io baZYXWVUTS
=
'life'; te le = 'far' and p h o n e = 'sound'.
36
Part II
Stress in words and phrases
The meanings of elements such as these are well worth knowing. They are only occasionally found as
independent
words. In combination,
however, they produce several thousand three-syllable words, all
with front stress and a very we ak second syllable. (Of course, they are found in longer words, to o; angfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ
+ 'life' + 'writing' - is 'an account of a person's life written by the person
a u to b io g ra p h y - 'self"onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
themselves'.)
Since these elements are often neglected, I have written a poem to help you learn a
number of them.
TaskXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
17
Recreate the following poem.
Poems are often divided into separate stanzas (also called, verses). The following poem is written in what
is known as rhyming couplets. (A couplet is a two-line stanza, sa rhyming couplets are couplets where the
C C , etc.) Here are the first twa couplets of the poem:
rhyme scheme is AA, BB,baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
An aCrobat
An OCtopus
A thermostat
A metronome
is agile and can somersault and leap;
is something you might see beneath the deep.
is useful to control the rate of heat;
is what you need to help you keep the beat.
As you can see, each line contains the definition of a three-syllable classical compound.
(With front stres s,
of course.) Each compound is in its correct position in the poem below, but the definitions have been
jumbled up. Your task is to:
•
listen to the poem ance ar twice to get the rhythm;
•
use a good dietlonary
to check the meaning
•
find the continuation
which matches
•
re-create the poem.
ped
notes
'humari'
'water'
= 'star'
= 'self'
=' colaur'
= 'kill'
= 'lead, take'
= 'world'
= 'language'
= 'leader'
= 'writing'
= 'same'
= 'water'
= 'sleep'
= 'small'
= 'one'
= 'shape'
= 'sail, travel'
= 'shaped
like'
= 'child'
p e ri
=
'around'
phone
p h o to
poLy
re g
sc o p e
te le
v ia
=
'sound'
o t each compound;
the meaning
o t the compound;
Vocabulary
a n th ro p
aqua
a str
a u to
c h ro m
c id e
duc
c o sm
g lo t
gogue
g ra p n
hom o
h y d ro
hypno
m ic ro
m ono
m o rp h
naut
o id
=
=
'light'
'many'
= 'king'
= 'vision'
= 'far'
= 'road'
=
=
anthropoid, philanthropist, etc.
aquatic, aquaduct, etc.
astroid, astro-physics, astronaut, etc.
automatic, automobile,
etc.
monochromatic,
polychromatic,
etc.
homicide, regicide, germicide, etc.
duet, deduct, conduct, deduce, etc.
cosmic, microcosm, etc.
glottis, polyglot, monoglot, etc.
pedagogue, demagogue, etc.
telegraph, graphic, paragraph, etc.
homophone,
homograph,
homosexual,
etc.
hydroelectric,
dehydrate, hydrogen, etc.
hypnosis, hypnotherapy,
etc.
microphone,
microscopic, rnicrocosm, etc.
manacie, monotonous,
monocellular,
etc.
amorphous, morphology, anthropomorphic,
etc.
nautical, cosmonaut,
astronaut, etc.
anthropoid,
spheroid, ovoid, humanoid,
etc.
pedagogue, paediatrics, pederast, etc.
(NB p e d also = 'foot', as in pedal, pedestrian)
perimeter, periscope, perigastric, etc.
telephone, phonetics, microphone,
etc.
photograph,
photosensitive,
etc.
polymorph,
polyglot, polytheism, etc.
regleide. regal, reign, etc.
telescope, microscope, etc.
telescope, telephone, telegram, etc.
viaduct, viable, deviate, etc.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
37
RhymesbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a n d R h y th m
An aerobat is agile
An aerobat is agile and can somersault and leap;
An OCtopus is something you might see beneath the deep.
a
A thermostat
Ametronome
is useful to control the rate of heat;
is what you need to help you keep the beat
zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
1 A pefiscope is
a) something that can take on many shapes
2 A ehromosome
is
b)
pick up every single word you say
3 A homophone's
c)
a type of boat that skims across the sea
4 A telegram is
d)
useful if you want to see a wreck
5 A pOlymorph is
e)
for people who like dancing every day
f)
occasionally wom by certain men
g)
teach your little children, for a fee
h)
found in living cells, just like a gene
i)
what will bring you water from afar
10 A pedagogue will
j)
visit Venus, Jupiter or Mars
11 A eOSmonaut might
k)
never even dream of such a thing
12 An aStronaut could
1)
something you can use to trap a liar
13 A germicide is
m) someone who has killed a queen or king
14 A diseOtheque's
n)
known to certain people as a 'snap'
o)
written with a pencil or a pen
p)
useful if you're in a submarine
17 A polvgiot might
q)
something that you might send to your mother
18 A bathysphere
r)
go much farther, even to the stars
s)
shaped like us: the monkeys and the apes
t)
understand both Iapanese and Czech
u)
by contrast, is more useful for your car
22 A viacecr.
v)
someone who could help you take a nap
23 An aUtograph is
w) things you shouldn't throw into a fire
24 A mOnocle's
x)
combine as H20
25 A pOlygraph is
y)
a word that sounds exactly like another
26 and aerosols are
z)
for talking to a person far away
27 A regicide is
aa) what can help to keep disease at bay
6 The anthropoids
are
7 A telephone's
8 A microphone
can
9 A hYdrofoil's
15 A phOtograph
16 A hypnotist
is
is
is
19 The dinosaurs
20 while hydrogen
21 An aquaduct
28 A mOnarchist
and Oxygen
is
would
bb) a11died out several million years ago
And if this kind of lexicon is hard to comprehend,
then you had better try to get a teacher as a friend.
S t r e s s in n o u n p h r a s e s
Twe-word noun phrases ten d to have late stress. We can say that, within the phrase, the first element has
secondary stress, while the second has primary stress.
Many two-word phrases consist of the same elements found in compounds: noun + noun; adjective +
noun; gerund + noun. And sometimes, the actual words used are the same in both compound and phrase.
So it is worth looking at the underlying differences in meaning.
38
Part II
Stress in word s and phrasesonmlkjihgfedcb
Look at the following pairs of sentences. In each pair, the first sentence contains a
phrase, and the second a compound. See if you can work out the differences in meaning.
Task 18
1 She was wearing a ,cotton 'dress.
They work in a 'CObon ,factory.
2 You should be wearing .rubber 'gloves.
I've just bought a rubs-. ,plant.
3 Would you like a ,meat 'piel
He works as a 'meat ,packer.
4 I've invited two friends, an ,English
She works as an 'Enguo. ,teacher.
'teach-.
(and a French scientist).
S We sawa beautiful,black 'bird.
We sawa beautiful 'blacku-a.
6 Can you see that ,white 'house over there?
The US President lives in the 'White ,House.
7 It's dangerous to jump on to a ,moving 'train.
We have so much furniture we'll need a 'mOVing
.van,
8 I put all my money on the ,winning 'horsei
The horses are very close to the 'Winning ,post.
So it seems that phrases ten d to mean either:
1 X is made of Y
m e a t p ie , c o tto n d re ss, tu b b e r g lo v e s, etc.) or
(agfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
2 X is Y
(a n E n g lish te a c h e r,
a w in n in g h o rse , a w h ite h o u se , etc.)
And compounds, by contrast, tend to mean:
1 X is a special type of Y
(a b la c k b ird , th e W h ite H o u se , etc.)
2 X is for Y
(a c o tto n fa c to ry , d in in g ro o m , m o v in g -v a n , etc.)
3 anX ofY
(a m e a t p a c k e r. a n E n g lish te a c h e r)
Note these are tendencies that cover the great majority of cases. But be careful of the words c a k e , ju ic e
and w a te r. They do not obey the X is made of Y rule. For example:
'sand-su, / an
phrases:
a ,cheese
compounds:
a 'cheeSe,cake
'pie / a ,barley 'loaf
,juice / some 'ban-y ,water
,apple
/ an 'Orange
Also the sequences ,winter 'dress / ,summer 'suit / ,spring 'hat, etc., are phrases, although they
could be explained as meaning 'a dress for the winter', 'a suit for the summer', etc.
Note also that late stress is found in such phrases as:
a ,cuR of 'tea / a .pint of
and girls, etc.
'milk / a .pound
of
'buu-. / .rock and 'roll / fish
and 'chips
/ ,boys
Note, finally, that sequences may consist of a combination of phrase and compound. Thus the
phrase ,hot 'wae- can be the first part of the compound .hot 'Water ,bottle. By contrast, the
compound 'elderflower can be the first part of the phrase ,elderflower cham'pagne.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIH
39
Rhymes and Rhythm
Task 19
Here is a poem containing
a number
ot noun compounds
and phrases.
•
Read it first and see if you can identify which are the compounds and which are the phrases among
the things which Alexandra buys.
•
Then listen to it and see if your ears eonfirm what your eyes see.
Voeabulary notes
Clothes terms
The following three words are all from French:baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
b r a s s ie r e (worn to support the breasts); lin g e r ie
(= 'women's underwear'); agfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
n e g L ig e e (a light garment, usually worn over a night-dress). H o se is a
teehnieal term for socks, tights and stoekings.
A c q u ire is
d istra u g h t
a formai word meaning 'to get, obtain, receive'; a ttire is a very formai word meaning 'clothes';
(rhymes with thought/taught/eaught) = 'worried, nervous'; e x p ire is a formai word meaning
'to die' (a visa ar licence can expire.); f ia s h v means 'too bright, in bad taste'; to h o a r d = 'to hide
something away' (a h o a rd is what is hidden); h u e s = 'colours': something illic it is what you do not want
= 'to disappoint them'; a sh o p p in g sp te e is when you spend a
people to know about; to Z e t a person d o w n onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
lot o t money buying things; so m b re is the opposite of 'bright'; sp o u se is a formał word meaning
'husband or wife'; stifle d means 'eut off', as if a hand is put over your mouth.
A eautionary tale
One moming Alexandra Brown
got on the bus and went to town.
4baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Convinced she looked atotal mess
she thought she'd buy a cheapish dress.
But she had recently acquired
a credit card, and thus inspired
set off upon a shopping spree
from nine o'clock till half past three.
She started in a modest way;
a eotton skirt, in darkish grey.
But what it needed, so she felt,
would be a simple leather belt.
But when the belt was fastened tight
she thought it called for something bright;
a brooch, a ring, some earrings to o,
two silken blouses, pink and blue.
And then, her shoes, asombre green
were hardly worthy to be seen;
she really needed one more pair
(she scarcely had a thing to wear).
But hesitating which to buy
she finally decided, 'I
will take the black, the blue, the brown,
(they're always nice around the town)
and then those white ones, and the peach
(just right for summer on the beach).
And since I'd like to take up sport,
well then perhaps I think I ought
to buy myself some termis shoes
and I suppose I'd better choose
some riding breeches and a skirt
with just a simple linen shirt.'
40
P art II
Stress in word s and phrasesXWVUTSRQ
And sa she went from stare to stare,
[ust thinking 'maybe one thing more'.
From Selfridges to C&A
(well, after alI, no need to pay)
Armani, Harrods, BHS
'Well that's the lot', she thought, 'unless
I bought myself an evening gown,
I really can't let Crispin down.
A handbag, too', then for a laugh
she chose a rather flashy scarf.
'And that is that,' at last she thought
naw feeling just a to uch distraught.
'I'd better get home for my tea.
Iwonder what the bill will be.'
The following month the bill appeared;
it was far worse than she had feared.
Ten thousand pounds and twenty p.
'Oh dear, 'she murrnured, 'Goodness me!'
'Naw what will Crispin think? Oh my!
He'U want to know the reason why.'
(She'd hidden all her things away,
afraid of what her spouse would say.)
Then suddenly she had a thought;
surely the things that she had bought
could all be taken back and then
things would be norma l once again!
She rushed up to the second floor
and placed her hand upon the door
of that large wardrobe where she'd stare d
the whole of her lllicit hoard.
She grabbed the handle, gave a twist
with all the power of her wrist.
The door flew wide, and suddenly
out came a flood of lingerie,
of coats and hats and tights and shoes,
and brassieres of different hues,
of summer blouses, winter hose,
an avalanche of varied clothes,
of cashmere sweaters, fine and rare,
of overcoats and underwear.
She tried to scream, she tried to shout,
she tried to wave her arms about,
but under piles of mixed attire
she started slowly to expire.
o t 'hey!'
Her finallittle erygfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
was stifled by a negligee.
Sa when you're going out to shop
and want to ask for credit, stop!
]ust listen carefully to my tip
and think before you sign the slip.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
41
R h y m e s a n d R h y th m
S t r e s s in a d j e c t iv a l c o r n p o u n d s
a n d p h r a s e s zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedc
Adjectives, like nouns, can be found both in early stressed compounds and in late stressed phrases.
A d j e c t iv a l c o m p o u n d s XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
N o u n + a d je c tiv e
They are sa 'house-,proud
they spend all their time cleaning and polishing.
He's braken his leg again. He's really 'aCCident-,prone.
N o u n + g e ru n d
That fruit is very 'thirst-,quenching.
The Grand Canyon is really 'aWe-inspiring.
N o u n (o r p a r tic ie ) + p a s t p a r tic ip ie
After months at sea she was completely 'StlIl-tanned.
Stand up for yourself, You've been 'dOWll-trodden
all your life.
I was absolutely tongue.e-a.
Shy?onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
A d j e c t iv a l p h r a s e s
A d je c tiv e + p a s t p a r tic ip ie
They're sa ,absent
'mind-e they
They are sa ,low-'paid
even forget their children's names!
they never go away on holiday.
I like my eggs ,hard-'boiled,
five minut es at least.
A d je c tiv e + g e r u n d
You can relax with them. They're really ,easy-'gOing.
He's ,good-'lOOking with excellent dress-sense.
A d je c tiv e + n o u n
Her novels are really ,first-'class,
but her plays are pretty ,second-'rate.
The job is really ,high-'risk.
A d je c tiv e + a d je c tiv e
Careful! That iran is ,red-'hot!
He was lying in the raad .dead 'drunk.
42
, zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Part II
Adjective/past
Stress in words and phrases
participieonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
+ particie
I've had enough. I'm really led-'Up; completely .browned-Ojj l
I'm not just .tired-Ot.l l.: I'm ,alI-'in.
Adverb + adjective/past
participie
She's .fantastically 'clever and really ,welI-'known.
His questions are always ,carefully
'chos-».
Particie + past participie
I like my meat .under 'done
Three-word
but that was realIy ,over-'Cooked.
phrases
Don't let this go any further. It's strictly ,off-the-'record.
Their clothes are always ,up to
'date.
The aeting is inconsistent; very ,hit and 'miss.
Noun + adjective
Their elothes were ,brand-'new.
Eat up ar your food will be ,stone-'COld.
AlI aur eggs are ,farm-'freSh.
Noun + past participie
All aur beer is ,home-breWed
and our pullovers are ,hand-'knitted.
The knives and forks are ,silver-'plated.
She won 't change her mind. She's really ,iron-Willed.
As you can see, the choice between compound and phrase is elear exeept where you have noun +
adjective/past participle. In sueh eases, you just have to learn the stress pattern when learning the item,
I'm afraid.
Note that adverbia l phrases tend to have late stress, for example:
He tripped and felI,head-over 'heeis.
We talked ,round the 'clock.
We rowed .down 'stream.
Let's meet ,half-way.
43
C h a p te r 5
S t r e s s p a t t e r n s in w o r d s a n d
p h r a s e s zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Here are various stress patterns. Listen to the recording, then listen and repeat. Note that most patterns
can be represented either by a single word or by a longer sequence: a phrase (or even a sentence).
1
•.0
o.
watched
James
want-a
drop
forgive
a bird
••
comein
ten men
.00
Saturday
lots
6
0.0
develop
belOW them
7
00.
for an hour
to the bank
8
.0 .
introduce
rock and roll
9
.0.0
Alexanae-
look around
10
.00.
Lewisham Road
come
11
0.00
phol.Ographer
a lot of them
12
.00.0
magninca tion
Westminster
13
.0.00
incapacity
in the library
14
.00.00
parapsyChOlogy
into the libraryXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
2
3
4
s
it
of them
you
to the do
ar
Abbey
Now look at the following words, names and phrases below, read them aloud and
number them according to their stress pattern based on the examples above.
Task 20
somebody
police
photographic
Macbeth
go to the bank
stopped
Kensington High Street
follew
Vaughan
Hungary
defend
embargo
leather
Speaker's Corner
biology
tired out
Charing Cross
a big one
best results
matemity
institution
try a banana
Elizabeth
red hot
toma to
buya new one
for a while
as a rule
Madonna
biographical
Leicester
hungry
conservative
Buckingham Palace
Royal Exchange
Peter Davidson
inner circle
offer him money
buy now
dead drunk
knives
all of the elephants
Michael
half a pound
Peru
geriatrician
after it
sympathy
through
half a sandwich
to the school
buy us some food
Iran
a pound of it
Madame Tussauds
give me a drink
a few
outer space
autobiography
sending a telegram
Manchester
next year
Trafalgar
the last of them
policeman
disability
come to the disco
Nelson's Column
44
C h a p te r 6
S t r e s s s h if t zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
So far, we have assumed that each word could only be stressed in one way. But there are circumstances in
which the rules of stress are braken and stress can shift from its norma l place.
C o n t r a s t iv e
s t r e s s s h if t
First, any stress pattern can change if we want to show a particular contrast. Thus the wordbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIH
p o lic e m a n is
normally pranounced /ps'li.sman/, with main stress on the first element, as is usual in compounds. But
see what happens in the following exchange.
(= /pa'lirsman/j
1 So apoliceman came to see you, did he?onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
No, not apoliceman; it was apolicewoman. ( = /pa.li.s'ma n/)
The contrast between m a n and
contrastive stress shift.
wom an
overrides the normal rule. Here are some more examples
ot
2 So you've bought a new telephone. (= /'tdldfdun/)
o, not a telephone, a telescope. (= gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
I,teld 'fd u n /)
3 I gather that]ohn's a physics teacher. (= Id 'ftzrks ,ti:tfd /)
o, he's a physics student, not a physics teacher. (= Id frzrks 'tirtja/)
4 You're a computer operator, lunderstand.
o, not a computer operator, a computer programmer.
S Would you like a cheese sandwich?
I'd rather have atomato sandwich.
6 Would you like to sit outside?
Is it possible to sit inside, instead?
7 Did you buy that cotton shirt you were looking at?
No, I changed my mind and bought a silk shirt.
8 Do you fancy ńsh and chips?
I'd rather have chicken and chips, I think.
9 As a writer, l'd rate him first-class. What do you think?
Closer to third-class, in my opinion.
Let's see what has happened to the stress patterns in the above examples.
•
Compounds can lose their front stress, which can give them the stress pattern associated with phrases.
'telephone
'physus
•
tele'phone
,teacher
(2)
.physics 'teacher
(3)
ar the opposite can happen, with phrases having the pattern associated with compounds.
to,mato'Sandwich
to'mato
,sandwich (5)
,chicken and 'chips
'chicken
and ,chips (8)
But be careful. Spoken language is more than just stress, as has already been said. So we have to do more
than just shift the stress.
Here are some of those sequences again. Listen once more, this time paying particular attention to the
intonation in the second sentence of each example.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
45
RhymesbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a n d R h y th m
1 50 a po~eman
came to see you, ~e?
No, not a police~;
it was a police~man.
2 50 you've bought a new,.lephone.
No, not a telep~e,
a teles~e.
3 I gather that Iohn's a P",YSiCS
teacher.
No, he's a physics s,dent,
not a physics ~er.
4 You're a comiJVter operator, lunderstand.
No, not a computer ~ator,
a computer pWgrammer.
The fint speaker in each case not only uses the regular stress pattern forbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
p o lic e m a n , gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
te le p h o n e , p h y sic s
te a c h e r and c o m p u te r o p e ra to r; s/he also uses a fa11ing tone. This is the normai tone in such cases; new
information is being introduced into the conversation. But when the sequences are repeated by the
second speaker, we have to note not only the shift of stress, but also the use of a fall-rise tone. This is
because the items are now part of old, shared information. When the second speaker supplies new
information (p o iic e w o m a n , te le sc o p e , stu d e n t, p ro g ra m m e r) s/he uses, as we rnight expect, the falling tone
again.
50, from now on, do not pay so much attention to stress that you neglect intonation. In particular, when
you listen to (and irnitate) the poems in Part IV, make sure you concentrate not only on getting a feel for
the rhythm of English; the musie of English is there, too.
F o r w a r d s t r e s s s h if t
The second circumstance in which the stress can change is in accordance with what is happening in the
rest of the sentence. Listen to the following sequences.
You need a first-class ticket to travel first-class.
Princess Elizabeth's a royal princess.
I live in Piccadilly, near Piccadilly Circus.
My friend's Chinese, she's a Chinese cook.
Her sixteenth birthday is on the sixteenth.
You're always interfering, you interfering fool!
I work outdoors, I've got an outdoor job. .
He's really sharp-eyed; he's a sharp-eyed guy.
She works part-time, she's got a part-time position.
I've got a rent-free house, I live rent-free.
He's a smalI-time gambler, really small time.
It's nine o'clock, let's listen to the nine o'clock news.
We must be democratic, take a democratic vote!
I agree absolutely, I'm absolutely sure.
The book's unabridged, it's the unabridged version.
Have you worked out what happens?
Most phrases, as we have seen, have late stress, as do a large number of words when in their dictionary
form or at the end of a sequence. But the stress shifts forward when the phrase or word acts as a
modifier within another phrase.'
1
46
This usually happens within noun phrases, but it can happen within other types of phrase. As you can seeonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVU
from the
example of a b s o lu te ly S U T e .
Part II
If the explanation
sounds complicated,
Stress in words and phrases
just listen and compare the two types in the folIowing box.
word or phrase
longer phrase containing
,first -'class
a ,first-class 'tick«
. ,
a .pnn cess
,Princess E'lizabeth
.Picca'dilly
,Piccadilly 'cir cus
.Chi'nese
a ,Chinese 'cook
.six'teenth
her ,sixteenth
.mter'fering
you ,interfering
.out'doors
an ,outdoor
.shar'p-eyed
a ,sharp-eyed
,part-'time
a ,part-time
.rent-free
a ,rent-free 'house
,small 'time
a ,smalI-time
,nine o'clock
the ,nine o'clock 'news.
.demo'cratic
a .dernocratic
.una'bridged
the ,unabridged
.abso'Iutely
,absolutely
the origtnal
birthca'fool
'job
y
'gu
po'Sjtion,
'gamu«
'vote
'version.
'sureonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
The modifier in the right-hand column is marked as having secondary stress. That is to show what it
does within the phrase: the primary stress comes in the main word of the phrase.
Task 21
Listen to and then repeat the tollowing tour-beat
example ot a phrase in which stress shift has taken place.
poem/chant.
Note down every
Vocabulary notes
There are several words associated with show business in generalor rock/jazz musie in particular. AgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ
g ig
is a eoncert ar other event when you get paid to play; a fa n is a person who likes your musie: a lic k is a
musical phrase; you play the bass-drum by foot, using a p e d a l; to h it it b ig is to become popular and
successful; the s ta n d (or bandstand) is a raised platform where the band plays; to g e t a h a n d is to be
clapped ar applauded by the audience.
A Iong-haired
•
drummer
•
in a rock 'n' roll band
•
•
1 I worked last night, played a one-night stand.
I'm a long-haired drummer in a rock 'n' roll band.
2 It was a four-hour show, a first-rate gig.
Some day soon we should be hitting it big.
3 The crowd all cheered, we got a well-earned hand;
especially the drummer in the rock 'n' roll band.
4 A red-headed woman wearing high-heeled shoes
helped a bald-headed fellow dance away his blues.
S An unnamed fan clambered on the stand
to try to re ach the drummer of the rock 'n' roll band.
6 We were stone-cold sober, didn't touch a drop,
had no time for drinking, we were playing non-stop.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
47
R h y m e s a n d R h y t h m zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
7 It was positively great, it was absolutely grand
to be drumming as a member of a rock 'n' roll band.
8 We played instrumental num bers, all the rock 'n' rolllicks
I smashed my bass-drum pedal and adozen pairs of sticks.
9 They wouldn't let us go, we played longer than we planned.
You'd think they'd never danced to a rock 'n' roll band.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
10
Five, four, three, two a one-night stand.
I'm a long-haired drummer in a rock 'n' roll band.
In this final section of Part II we have been looking at the ways in which the rules of stres s can change.
But other things can change, too, especially in fast, informal speech. And that is what we will be looking
at in Part III.
48
PART
III
F a s t , n a t u r a l s p e e c h onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONM
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
In Parts I and II we looked at the following areas: the importance of stress; vowel length; the way words link
together; rules of stress, bot h in words and phrases; and the times when rules can be overridden.
Ali of the above are important. however slow or fast the rate of speaking, however formai or informal the
occasion. W hat we have been looking at, in fact, are the things that you should do when speaking English if
you want to be easily understood.
In Part III, we willlook at what happens when English is spoken at normal, fast speed. Not in very formai
contexts, such as making speeches ar giving lectures, but in the normal, everyday situations of life.
Of course, you do not have to try to speak this fast. You can carry on speaking relatively slowly and - provided
that you stress words and phrases accurately - people will understand your pronunciation.
But if you want to understand normal, fast English, then it is important for you to pay attention to what is
covered here. And, of course, if you want to approach native-speaker speed, then you must practise what is
covered here.
In other words: Parts I and II contain what will help you to be understood by us more easily. And this part
contains what you must learn:
•
if
•
if you want to begin to really
you
want to understand us; and
sound
like us.
C h a p te r 7
I n t r o d u c t io n
t o f a s t , zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPON
natural
sp eech '
In a moment we will begin to look in detail at the different things that happen when we speak English
fast. There is one thing that they all have in common: they make it easier to speak fast.
When we speak, we use a large number of different muscles, sometimes at the same time. And as we do
with any type of repeated physical activity, we try to cut down on unnecessary movements; we take short
cuts. The opening two tasks in this section are to see if you can hear some of the main differences
between slowand fast speech. One of the things that happens. when we start to speak faster, is that
certa in sounds disappear.
Task 22 You will hear the same passage read twice. First slowly, then fast. Listen to both
versions carefully, then decide which sounds are heard in the slow version but not in the fast
version.
The first girl and the first boy
The second girl and the second boy
The third girl and the third boy
The next girl and the next boy
The last girl and the last boy
Task 23 The second thing that happens when we begin to speak fast is that certain soundsXWVUTSRQPON
Listen again to the passage being read at both speeds and decide which sounds are
different in the fast version.
change.
Tasks 22 and 23 showed the two main types of change that take place when we speak fast. And from now
on, we will call these changes by their usual names. (Don't be worried about technical term s; there aren't
many of thern, they save a lot of time, and you will get used to them very quickly.)
~1~~
Elision is when a sound simply disappearsonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
(= is elided).
I
~
There is a small set of sounds - always the same - which tend to be elided when we speak Iast, but only
in a specific set of circumstances.
Type 2 Assimilation
I Assimilation is what happens
when a sound changes (= is assimilated) because of another sound.
There are two main forms of assimilation:
l
a sound changes to become more like the next sound; this is called anticipatory
•
assimilation;
two sounds join together to become a third sound; this is called coalescent assimilation
sounds merge, ar coalesce, to become one).
--
--
---
--
---
--
-
--
---
--
--
(=
the twoj
---
In the rest of Part III we will be looking in detail at elision and assirnilation, but first, here is a version of
the 'First girl, firstbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
b o y ' sequence, extended into achant. Listen to it several times, then chant along with
it. You will find that you can only keep up (i.e., chant at the same speed) if you do what a native speaker
does: hit the stress correctly, weaken vowels where necessary, link, elide and assimilate. In particular, look
th a t, a , orand w a s , all containing schwa.
out for the weak forms ofgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Dori't worry if you don't get the point of the elision and assimilation immediately; we willlook at both of
them later in this section,
50
P a r t I I I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ
Fast, natural speech
Vocabulary notes
Cooking or preparing food
fry food (eggs, meat, bread, etc.) in a fry in g -p a n with fat ar oil.
YougfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
You g rill food over ar under direct heat. A barbecue is a type of g rill.
You slic e bread (cake, meat, etc.) with a knife. You can buy slic e d bread and can eat a slic e o t c a k e . You
to a st slices of bread under a grill ar in an electric to a ste r until they are brown. (Toasted bread is called
to a st.)
Talking
To b o a st is to talk with pride about what you do ar own, about your family, etc.
To m u tte r is to talk quietly and indistinctly, sa that people find it hard to understand.
To trill is to produce twa different sounds very fast, rather like a bird.
The
The
The
The
The
first girl said that she'd like a slice of bread.
second girl muttered that she'd really like it buttered.
third girl replied that she'd rather have it fried.
next girl trilled that she much preferred it grilled.
last girl was quiet ... but she was on a diet.
The
The
The
The
The
first boy said that he'd like a slice ot bread.
second boy muttered that he'd really like it buttered,
third boy replied that he'd rather have it fried.
next boy trilled that he much preferred it grilled.
last boy was quiet ... but he was on a diet.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
51
C h a p te r 8
E lis io n
ItiXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
+ IdlzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
E lis io n o f
In Task 22, we saw that in fast speech the soundsbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
I t i and I d l were elided in contexts such as:gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJ
firs(t) g irl I
firs(t) b o y I se c o n (d ) g irl I se c o n (d ) b o y .
The context that is common to all to u r - and which makes elision likely - is that
Iti
and
Id l
were found:
a) at the end of a word; and
b) between two other consonants.
Read the following sequences.
take place when they are read fast.
Task 24
See if you can identify where
I t i and I d l elision can
1 The morning was perfect.
2 It was a perfect morning.
3 It was a pertectly marveJlous morning.
4 What does she want?
S She wants ten pounds of butter.
6 I find it interesting, but he finds it boring.
7 We need to have the facts as soon as possible.
8 I don't usually watch television, but I watched four different programmes last night.
9 lane hates fast food, so she won't want any burgers.
10 We're having roast beef with baked potatoes and beans.
S o m e e ffe c ts o f Iti
a) You he ar the final
Iti
and
Id l
a n d I d l e lis io n
in the root o t some words, but not when a suffix is added. For example:
without elision
with elision
It was perfect
That's exact
She's full of tact
What does she want?
One pound of butter
It was perfec(t)ly marvellous
That's exac(t)ly right
She's very tac(t)ful
She wan(t)s some butter
Ten poun(d)s of butter
b) Elision can also affect the -e d for simple past and past participle. This means that, at speed, there may
be no difference between present and past simple. (The context is what makes the difference elear, of
course.)
słow version
fast version
I watch television every day.
I watched television last night.
They crash the car regularly.
They crashed the car yesterday.
I wash my hands betore I have lunch.
I washed my hands before I had lunch.
They usually finish their work at six.
They finished wark early yesterday.
I watch television every day.
I watch(ed) teJevision last night.
They crash the car regularly.
They crash(ed) the car yesterday.
I wash my hands before I have lunch.
I wash(ed) my hands before I had lunch.
They usually finish their work at six,
They finish(ed) work early yesterday.
52
Part III
Past, natural speech
- t may disappear at speed. For example:
c) Even the negativegfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
słow version
fast version
I can't say
I don't know
Can't pay, won 't pay.
They haven't finished work.
I can('t) say
I don('t) know
Can('t) pay, won('t) pay.
They haven('t) finish(ed) work.
d) Because ofbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
I t i or I d l elision a number of different words, when spoken at speed, can sound exactly the
same. For example:
słow version
fast version
We need the facts today
=
We need the fac(t)s todayonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJ
We need the fax today
I jus(t) saw the prin(t)s =
I just saw the prince
Have you heard about the fin(d)s =
Have you heard about the fines?
Please buy some min(t)s =
Please buy some mince
Col(d) storage = Coal storage
faset) food = farce food
I just saw the prints
Have you heard about the finds?
Please buy some mints
Cold storage
fast food
Note that I t i has a tendency to disappear even when it is not between two consonants.
/les g 'J u /, sounding like le ss g o , for example.
L e t 's
go can be
Task 25 Here are various compounds and phrases. In most ot them elision ot I t i or I d l is
possible. See how quickly you can identify the ones where it is not possible.
software
compact disc
hardware
landmine
postman
loudspeaker
soundcheck
standby
childbirth
handcuffs
smart card
wildfire
word processor
old boy
best man
sandbag
eastbound
turned offbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
E lis io n o f id e n t ic a l o r s im ila r c o n s o n a n t s
Identical consonants
Concentrate on the final consonants in the foUowing words:
lamp
prime
=
=
/lternp/
/prarm/
six
=
/sIks/
lettuce
=
/letas/
Now see what tends to happen when these words are followed by another word starting with the same
consonant.
53
Rhymes and Rhythm
very słow version
normał version
a lamp postonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
(sounds Iike) a lamb post
= gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
t» 'la-mp .paost/
= /~ 'Iarn .paost/
six students
=
(sounds like) sick students
/,sIks 'stju.dants/
= /,slk 'stju.dns/
Prime Minister
=
(sounds like) pry minister
/,pralm 'mrntsta/
= /,praI 'mmrsta/
lettuce salad
(sounds like) letter salad
= /Ietas 'sa-lad/
= Oet~ 'sa-lad/
When twa identical consonants meet, as in the above examples, then you are unlikely to produce both
of them. And this is not limited to fast speech; even BSCnewsreaders refer to t he Prime Minister as the
P /y m in iste r, (Check what p ry means and you'll see why that amuses me.)
Again, it is a question of saving yourself effort. Take la m p p o st; in order to prod uce Ip l you have to:
close your lips; gather air behind the place of closure; open the glottis (or it Wl'n sound like Ib l); then
release the lips. And to say /'l<emp.poust/ you have to do this twice in rapid sequence. Sa what happens
in the case of plosives, such as Ip /, is that you do it just the once
ine it as P r y m m m in is t e r .
With continuants (as in P rim e M in iste r), the sound is lengthened slightly. ImagbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFED
S im ila r c o n s o n a n t s
The above examples concerned the coming together of identicał consonants. Elision also happens with
what we can think of as similar consonants. This is not a technical term, but I u se it to refer to sounds
which are produced at or about the same point in the mouth: such as those fou nd at the start of the
following words: d o g = Id o g l; ta b le = Itelbl/; ch icken = Itflkm /; and ja r = /d 3 a :/.
AUof them are produced with the tongue making contact at more or less the same point: at ar just
behind the teeth-ridge. So it saves time, when these sounds meet, if the release o t air is only made after
the second has been produced. Thus [ r ie d c h ic k e n , instead of being pronounced /frcrd 'tjrkm/, tends to
sound like (ty c h ic k e n , since the Id l becomes part of the Itfl of ch icken .
Listen to the following, involving both identical and similar consonants.
very słow version
fast version
very słow version
fast v ersion
a dark cud
a darek) cud
hard judges
har(d ) judges
a dark gir!
a darek) gir!
soap powder
soa(p ) powder
a good dog
a goo(d) dog
soap bowl
soa(p ) bowl
a good time
a goo(d) time
this singer
thi(s ) singer
a big gir!
a bieg) gir!
these singers
the(s e) singers
a big cake
a bieg) cake
----
Note: This type of elision can affect grammatical sequences, too.
For example, the sequence u se d to (W h e n I w a s y o u n g I u se d to liv e in B rig h to n ) is only pronounced /ju.st
when one is speaking very, very slowly. ormaUy, it is pronounced /jursta I as if it were u se to .
tu :1
I And the reduced form of h a d
in a sentence such as, I'd [ u s t g o t in w h e n th e p h o n e ra n g , normally becomes
o t in w h e n th e p h o n e ra n g .
Lso much part of the following ju st, that the sequence sounds exactly likebaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJI
I ju s t g XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCB
54
P a r t I I I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ
Fast, natural speech
E lis io n o f in itia l c o n s o n a n ts in p r o n o u n s
In Part I, we talked about strang and weak forms of pranouns. Listen again to part of an earlier poem,
paying particular attention to the pranunciation of the pranoungfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
h e . onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQP
1 The first boy said that he'd like a slice of bread.
2 The second boy muttered that he'd really like it buttered.
3 The third boy replied that he'd rather have it fried.
4 The next boy trilled that he much preferred it grilled.
S The last boy was quiet ... but
he
was on a diet.
What happens is that in lines 1-4 the pranoun h e is unimportant and unstressed. 50, when spoken at this
I h l sound and becomes a simple I i/ , linked to the preceding t h a t .
speed, it loses the initialbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Now listen to line S. In this case, the pranoun
boy, contrasts with the other four.
(50, the pranoun
l
e
e I ii
he
he
has its full, strang form
I h i: / .
This is because he, the last
is found in this poem in two distinct forms:
the very weak, unstressed form; and
I h i: 1
the strong, stressed form.
Other pranouns in their weakest forms may a1solose their initial consonants. You can practise three of
them, h e r , h im and th e m , in the following chant, 'Have you seen Peter?'. ote that the chant also gives
practice in contrasting the use of the past simple and present perfect tenses.
Compare:
past simple
present perfect
I saw him half an hour ago.
I've just seen her talking.
I saw them Tuesday morning.
I've seen him fairly frequently.
I saw her several hours ago.
I haven't seen her since Christmas.
I glimpsed him in the canteen.
I've seen her several times today.
Remember that the past simple is associated with specific moments in the past: h a lfa n h O U T a g o / T u e s d a y
The present perfect, by contrast, refers to an unspecified time or a
time extending up to the present: [ a ir ly [ r e q u e n t ly I s in c e C h r is t m a s / s e v e r a l tim e s to d a y , and may be found
in the context I 'v e ju s t ...
m o r n in g / (w h e n I w a s ) in th e c a n te e n .
Have you seen Peter? (1)
1 Have you seen Peter? Have you seen Pete?
I saw (h)im half an hour ago, running down the street.
2 Have you seen Patricia, have you seen Pat?
I've just seen (h)er talking to W(h)erlittle ginger cat.
3 Have you seen my neighbours, Anthony and Mark?
I saw (th)em Tuesday morning, strolling in the park.
4 Have you seen Samantha, have you seen Sam?
I saw (h)er several hours ago, eating bread and jam.
S Have you seen Vincent, have you seen Vince?
I talked to W(h)imon Tuesday, but I haven't seen him since.
6 Have you seen William, have you seen Bill?
I may have seen (h)im yesterday, walking up the hill.
55
Rhymes and Rhythm
7 Have you seen Benjamin, have you seen Ben?
I've seen (h)im somewhere recently, I can't remember when.
8 Have you seen Violet, have you seen Vi?
I spoke to (h)er this morning, but I can't remember why.
9 Have you seen Matthew, have you seen Mat?
I saw (h)im talking to the Queen, so what do you think of that!
10 Have you seen Susan, have you seen Sue?
I haven'(t) seen (h)er since Christmas and I don 't know what to do!
Task 26XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
In the second version ot the chant, the second line ends with a missing one-syllable
adjective. See if you can guess the word.
If you cannot guess, choose it from the list following the poem. As you can see from the example, more
than one may be possible. (Be careful, we have put in some words that cannot fit.)
Have yOll seen Peter? (2)
1 Have you seen Peter, have you seen Pete?
I spotted (h)im an hour ago, looking very (neat / sweet)
2 Have you seen my parents, my mum and my dad?
I've seen (th)em several times today, Iooking really (
3 Have you seen elly, have you seen ell?
I saw (h)er in the classroom, looking very (
)
)
4 Have you seen my parents, my dad and my mum?
I've seen (th)em once or twice today, looking pretty (
)
S Have you seen Patrick, have you seen Pat?
I glimpsed (h)im in the canteen, Iooking very (
6 Have you seen icholas, have you seen ick?
I saw (h)im in the cinema, Iooking slightly (
7 Have you seen my cousins, Anthony and Bart?
I noticed (th)em a while ago, looking rather (
)
)
)
8 Have you seen Diana, have you seen Di?
I've seen (h)er once or twice today, looking rather (
9 Have you seen Jimmy, have you seen Jim?
I saw (h)im twenty minutes back, Iooking very (
10 Have you seen Lynda, have you seen Lyn?
I've seen (h)er several times today, Iooking very (
11 Have you seen Katie, have you seen Kate?
I've seen (h)er twice this afternoon, looking really (
12 Have you seen what's-his-name, the man from number nine?
I saw (h)im down the pub last night, looking really (
)
)
)
)
)
13 Have you seen what's-her-name, the girl from number two?
I think I've seen (h)er recentIy, Iooking very (
)
bIue / numb / Iate / grim / bad / thin / sick / helI / thick / gIum / gIad / high / swell / mad / fiat / new /
shy / fat / sad / great / fme / tart / quick / nine / smart / slim / min e / well / sIybaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHG
56
C h a p te r 9
A s s im ila tio n
A s s im ila tio n
InlzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
of
We have already eome aeross this form of assimilation, where the nasal eonsonantbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC
I n l ean ehange to
beeome more like the following sound. In Part I we said:
'IngfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a n d P a tr ic ia , for example, the I d l goes and then the
and we end up with l" d m pa'tnja/. In the same way, a n d
eonsonant sound at the end of s o n g , th in g , w ro n g , etc.)'
We saw the same thing happening with
•
Im l
and
being elided and the
beeame /sekarj 93:1/,the
the following 1 9 /.
Id l
again going, but this time the
b )l/,
Ip l
In l
ehanging to
Im l
beeause of the
Ib /.
s e c o n (d ) g ir !
T ask 27
beeause of the following
th e s e c o (n )d g u l.
Id l
following
•
becomes
K a te onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC
= l" d f J 'keit/. (The symbol I f J I represents the
the
s e c o n (d ) b o y
beeame /sekam
th e s e c o n (d ) b o y
In l
Read the following
In l
ehanging to
IfJ I
beeause of
poem aloud and see if you can work out:
• when the letter n in the word te n will still be pronouneed lu ] , even when read quite fast, and
•
when the
In l
will ehange to something else.
• Then listen to the reeording and see if you were right.
Ten boys and ten girls
1 Ten boys and ten girls;
S
ten rubies, ten pearls.
1 /2 baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
2 Ten dogs and ten eats;
6
ten eoats and ten hats.
Ten peaehes, ten grapes;
ten monkeys, ten apes.
Ten brooehes, ten rings;
ten people, ten things.
3 Ten whales and ten sharks;
ten gardens, ten parks.
7
Ten saueers, ten eups;
ten downs and ten ups.
4 Ten shouts and ten sighs:
ten truths and ten lies.
8
Ten dolls and ten toys;
ten girls and ten boys.
As usual, it is a question o t making things easy for the speaker. If you are going to ciose your lips for I b l
ar I p / , then it is easier to close them for the preeeding nasa!. Similarly, if you are going to produee a
nasal before raising the baek of the tongue to the soft palate, it might as well be the nasal that belongs
there anyway.
A s s im ila tio n
In addition to
Id /
In /,
of
Idl
and
the other twa alveolar eonsonants
Iti
Id l
and
Iti
ean also assimilate.
ean beeome:
•
Io !
(before
Ib l
or
Ip /),
or
•
191
(before
191
ar
Ik /),
sa
sequenee
slow version
fast version
third
third
third
third
/83:d
/83:d
/83:d
/83:d
/83:b
/83:b
/83:9
/83:9
boy
person
gir!
eat
bJI/
psisan/
93:1/
ka-t/
bJI/
psisan/
93:1/
kzet/
57
Rhymes and RhythmbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Iti
can become:
•
Ip l
(before
Ib l
or
Ik /),
•
Ik l
(before
Ig l
or
Ik /).
or
But, rather more commonly, I t i can become a glottal stop before another consonant, even another
For example:XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
fast
version
I t i.
or
s e q " U .c : n ..c e
slo",,"version
that boy
IO ( e t
b)11
IO ( e p
b:)l1
IO ( e ?
that person
IO ( e t
IO ( e p
psisan/
I
that girl
IO ( e t
psisan/
g3:1/
IO ( e k
g3:1/
IO ( e ?
g3:1/
that cat
IO ( e t
kart/
IO ( e k
kart/
IO ( e ?
ket/
that time
IO(et
ta lm i
IO ( e ?
talmibaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFE
b)11
O(e? psisan/
E lis io n g iv in g r is e to a s s ir n ila tio n
In sequences such as t e n b o y s
already next to each other.
and
assimilation takes place because the sounds involved are
t e n g ir ls ,
By contrast, in others such as t h e s e c o n d b o y and t h e s e c o n d
intervening sound - the I d l in this case - has been elided.
g ir l,
assimilation only takes place because the
There are hundreds of set expressions involving this combination
U s in g
Id l
or
Iti
+ assimilation.
elisiononmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPO
'and'
'berkan/
eggs an(d) bacon
I,e g z d m
boy s an(d) girls
l,b)IZdI] 'g 3 :1 z 1
tea an( d) coffee
l,ti:jd I]
en(d)s an(d) means
l,e n Z d m
N e g a t iv e
'kofi/
'mimz/
Iti
I won ('t) be coming
I al
She can('t) go
IJ l'k a :I]
Can('t) pay, won ('t) pay
I,k a :m p e l
I don('t) care
lal,ddul]
C om pounds
Here is a small selection
b e e f I t in n ( e d )
.woom bi 'kxrnnj I
'g d u l
'wournper/
'kea/
an d p h rases
re n e t) b o o k I g ra n (d )m o th e r
c o m (e d )
of
ot
dozens of compounds and phrases where assimilation occurs:
I h a n (d )c u ffs
b e a n s I s a l( t )
I h a n (d )b a g
beef I
I w in ( d ) m ill
I s a n (d )b a g
I s a l( t )
m in e
la n ( d )
I s ta n (d )
I
etc.
And you do not have to speak at all fast for su ch assimilation to take place. The word n a n d c u f f s
if it were h a n g c u f f s more often than not; and your g r a n d m o t h e r is usually your g r a m m o t h e r .
58
m in e
back I
sounds as
Part III
T h e im p o r t a n c e o f c o llo c a t io n
Fast, natural speechbaZYXWVUT
a n d fr e q u e n c y
o fu se
In fact, speed of delivery - the rate at which you speak - is only one factor in deciding whether elision
andlor assimilation is likely to take place; there are two further factors which come into play.
The first is collocation. By this, we mea n the frequency with which words (or other element s) are found
together. Thus, the itemsgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
in sta n t onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
+ c o ffe e are more likely to be found together (i.e., to collocate) than
fra g ra n t + c o ffe e or in sta n t + re sp o n se for instance. Hence the ItI in in sta n t baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
c o fte e is more likely to be elided
than that in the two other phrases.
The second is frequency of use. When instant coffee was ararity, people presumably used the phrase
in sta n t c o ffe e quite carefully, unsure that other people would be familiar with the expression. But as it
became more familiar, so the name became used more frequently and would be spoken with greater ease
and rapidity.
Take the word h a n d k e rc h ie f. It used to be composed of two separate words: h a n d + k e rc h ie f. But they
became so closely associated in the compound h a n d k e rc h ie fth a t
the Id l disappeared permanently; it is
incorrect to pronounce the Id l nowadays.
In h a n d b a g the Id /, by contrast, has not permanently disappeared. But you would have to be speaking
very slowly and emphatically to pronounce it.
When you come to a much less common compound to pronounee the full word, Id l included.
h a n d m a id ,
for example - you are much more likely
So we can establish the useful principle that the more frequently two element s eome together, the greater
their likelihood of eolloeation and the I!lOre probable it is that a ehange will oeeur.
Task 28
This task is to see ił you can identify elision and assimilation.
There is quite a lot of both in the folIowing poem: 'Bom and bred in London'. For example, the ItI or Id l
of final -e d disappears in a number of eases: listen out for:
I've jogg(ed) down ... stroll(ed) through ... saunter(ed) down ... walk(ed) the ... lurch(ed) down.
Elision a n d lo r assimilation ean also oceur where two words meet in place names. W o o d G re e n can beeome
/,wug 'gri:n/, for example, and G re e n P a rk /,gri:m 'po:k/.
In this poem, there is one (and only one) example in eaeh verse of a place name being affeeted by elision
and/or assimilation. So:
•
Read the poem to yourself and try to prediet which place name in eaeh verse is ehanged because of
assimilation.
•
Listen to it several times to see if you ean hear it happening.
(Don't worry too much about the meaning of the different verbs; we'U deal with this in the next task.)
Bom and bred in London
I was bom and bred in London;
I know it like the back of my hand;
from Camden Lock
to the Shell-Mex cloek,
from Old Street to the Strand.
I've jogged down Piecadilly
and strolled through Leicester Square,
been to Holland Park
for a ramble in the dark,
and to Hampstead for the fair.
I know every street in London;
I could do it with my eyes tight shut;
from Madame Tussauds
to the House of Lords
from Hyde Park to The Cut.
59
,.
Rhymes and Rhythm
I've sauntered down to Kentish Town
and run to Tottenham Hale,
walked the Old Kent Road
while it hailed and snowed
and lurched down Maida Vale.
I know my way round London,
no-one knows it better
been to Hammersmith
Covent Garden for the
and The Ritz for china
than me;
Palais,
ballet
tea.
lvisit the Bond Street Galleries,
I'm seen at the best affairs;
go to Waterloo
for a private view,
drink Pimrn's on the Crush Bar stairs.
I've been everywhere in London,
by taxi, bus and tra in;
I've crawled, I've biked,
I've hopped, I've hiked,
frorn Saint Paul's to Drury Lane.
And though I've seen the lot now,
from London Bridge to Kew,
I would do it al! again,
From Blackheath to oId Big Ben,
just to show it all to you.
Note that names withgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
S tre e t are compounds: OLD Street, OXford Street, BOND Street, etc. AlI other
two-part place names are phrases:
,Oxford 'Circus,
Task 29
meanings,
,Hyde 'Park,
,London
Bndge.
Paul's.
etc.onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGF
The poem is fuli of verbs of movement. If necessary, use your dictionary to check the
then put ticks in the appropriate
columns to complete the following table.
on hands
and knees
faster than
walking
jog
stroll
ramble
saunter
run
lurch
crawl
hop
hike XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
60
,Saint
on one
foot
no sense
of hurry
usually in
the country
out of
controi
Part III
Fast, natural speechonmlkjihgfedcb
Task 30 Vour task this time is a dictation. Ali the names of things to eat or drink have been
cut out. Listen to the rap as often as you want to, and fili in all the gaps bit by bit.
This is quite fast (but no faster than regular informal speech), so watch out for elision and assimilation,
-e d may disappear between two consonants.
especially where angfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
A diner is a type of restaurant best-known in the USA.(Youmay have seen them in films from the 1950s
and 1960s.) They usually have a long counter with a row of single stools. and a few booths for four people
frorn where you can choose musie trom the jukebox. I wrote this rap after eating in a genuine restored
original diner here in London.
Down the diner
3
I was sitting down the diner, toying with my food,
looking at the papers! in a lazy kind of mood
when alittle skinny fellew I'd never seen before
came and sat down beside me, and this is what I saw:
my favourite waitress, Sally, came over to the guy
to ask him for his order, and this was his reply:
'I'd like a (1)
and a (2)
with a (3)
then a (5)
and a (8)
then a (11)
r make sure it's really hot,
should really hit the spot,
and atouch of (4)
with some (6)
.
and (7)
or two of (9)
, with same (12)
Can I have the (13)
and a good thick (15)
,
with some (10)
of course.
in a (14)
well-done:
.
?
and how about same (16)baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
I like them lightly fried,
with alittle piccalilli and some (17)
on the side
r
and I'd like to try a couple of your (18)
with a pile of (19)
and a plate of (20)
then a (21)
with alittle (22)
No, maybe there's some (30)
OK 1'11 take the (31)
.
- cut it really thick,
now that should do the trick.
r
For dessert, I think 1'U start with a good old (23)
with several (24)
of (25)
then a (26)
on top and an (29)
pies
.
, pile 'em really high;
of little (27)
with some (28)
; perhaps I'd better stop.
.
that you can recommend?
and that'll be the end.'
So Sally took the order though she thought it was a joke,
then the fellow called her back and said,XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
61
R hym es
a n d R h y th m
T a s k 3 1 XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
W o r k o u t w h ic h o t th e to llo w in g
w ill in v o lv e
and/er a s s im ila tio n zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZY
e lis io n onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIH
Below is another poem full of examples of assimilation and elision, 'Cash flow problems' below. Don't
listen to it yet. [ust see if you can guess which of the following words and phrases will involve elision
and/er assimilatlon.
best friend
landlord
another one
beef hash
T ask 32
Now
twenty pounds
one editor
brand-new
second-hand
another friend
sand wiches
next door
a third one
lis te n to th e
poem
and
see
it y o u c a n n o te
down
e v e ry
e x a m p le
o t e lis io n
and
a s s im ila tio n .
Vocabulary notes
a fortnightgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
b a c k = 'a fortnight ago/two weeks ago'; c o r n e d b e e fis a type of tinned beef; d o s h is a slang
word for 'cash', 'money'; a h a s h is usually made with meat and potatoes all mixed together and
cooked; m a c k is short for m a c k in to s h = 'raincoat' (note: a 'Mac' is an Apple Macintosh computer); to
s n e a k a w a y is to leave quietly so that nobody can see you leaving; to s h means 'nonsense', 'rubbish', 'of
no value'.
Cash flow problems
My best friend bought me
a brand-new handbag;
another friend bought me
a second-hand mack;
My next-door neighbour
said he' d len d me
twenty pounds till Monday,
The problem is
I don 't know how
I'm going to pay them back!
My land lord brought me
some roast beef sandwiches;
my landlady mad e me
some corned beef hash;
my grandmother sent me
a case of canned potatoes.
The problem is
I dori't know where
I'm going to get the cash!
One editor said that
she rather liked a poem;
another one said that
they were a load of tosh;
a third one said that
they might use one at Christmas.
The problem is
it's right now
I really need
the dosh!
A fortnight back I told them all
I'd com e up with the money.
Last week I promised that
I'd reaIly, truly pay.
If I haven't got it next week
there's only one thing for it.
I'd better get
mybags
all packed
and quietly
sneak
away.
62
P a r t I I I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSR
Fast, natural speech
C o a l e s c e n t a s s i m i l a t i o n baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
I d l XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
o r I t i + I jl
The last poem 'Cash flow problems' contained the linegfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
th e y m ig h t u s e o n e a t C h r is tm a s . Spoken slowly and
carefully this would be:
lo e l mart jurz WAn at krismas/
But m ig h t ends with a I t i and
I d l or I t i. The formula is:
use
begins with a
And the sound
I j/ .
tends to combine with a preceding
I jl
•
I t i onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
+ I jl may coalesce to become N I (= the first sound in c h ild , C h a r le s ,
•
I d l + / jl
may coalesce to become
So the sequence
m ig h t u s e ,
/ d 3 1 (=
the first sound in
at normai fast speed will sound like
etc.);
etc.).
ja m , la n e ,
m y choose.
This type of assimilation is particularly important because it involves some combinations of words which
are so common that coalescence happens extremely frequently in ordinary speech.
I t i + I jl
An extremely com mon context for
Iti
to meet
I jl
is when the short version of n o t is folIowed by
you
or
suffix, is foHowed by
you
your.
sequence
slow version
fast version
can't you?
Ik a :n tfd l
Can't you come?
/ko.nt jur/
/woont ju : 1
/daont ju : 1
/kornt ju: kxm/
didn't you?
/drdnt jur/
Didn't your (mother do it?)
/drdnt jJ:I
/wodnt ju : 1
/wodnt jJ:I
won't you?
don't you?
wouldn't you?
Wouldn't your (friends help?)
Another context is when a stressed verb ending in
Iti
/waontja/
Id d u n tfd l
/kumtja kam/
/drdntja/
/drdntjo/
/wodntja/
lw u d n tfd l
is folIowed by
you
or y o u r .
la l 'betje kum 'du: W ltl
I bet you can't do it.
I'H meet your friend tomorrow.
/atlfnirtjo 'fren ta'mnrao/
I can't let you do it.'
la l 'kum letja 'du: "it/
1'11treat your friends (to the cinema).
I ad
ladrnit you were right.
'trut] d 'frenz/
la l ad'mrt]a we 'rart/
Similar coalescence can take place when the sound
example:
I t i,
functioning as the
-e d
or
y O U T .Far
I picked your book up.
la l 'prktja 'bu k A p l
We stopped you from doing it.
lw i 'stoptjo fram 'ddUIIJ
Note that this form of assimilation can take place even with stressed
can sound like D o n ('t) C H E W w a n t it?
1
Note that
le t y o u
and
le t y o u r
sounds the same as
le c h e r
when spoken fast; and
you
Iti
ar
y O U T .S a , D o n 't
p ic k e d y o u / p ic k e d y o u r
Y O U w a n t it?
sounds like p ic tu re .
63
RhymesbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a n d R h y t h m baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
I d l + I jl
Auxiliary or modal verbs + gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
you
•
Probably the most frequent cause of I d l + I jl assimilation is when certain auxiliary or moda l verbs meet
These are not only those verbs - d id , c o u ld and w o u ld - that always end in I d / , but also the weakest
form of d o , where the vowel disappears completely.
zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
At
this point, we need to mention again that there are not always just two possibilities - a slow version
and a fast one. Listen to three versions of the following four sequences.
you.
a) Do you like jazz?
slow
ju: 'laik
= Id u :
'd 3 ~ z l
= I d u ju 'lark 'd 3 ~ z l
fast
very fast = I d 3 d 'laik 'd 3 ~ z l
b) Did you like the musie?
slow
=
fast
very fast
=
=
/drd ju: 'laik Od 'mju.zik/
Idld3d 'laik Od 'mju.zik/
I d 3 d 'laik Od 'm ju : z ik l
c) Would you like to go again?
/wod ju: 'laik ta 'qoo a'qen/
'lark to 'qao a'qen/
I d 3 d 'lark ta 'gdU a'qen/
slow
=
fast
= lw u d 3 d
very fast
=
d) Did you have a good time?
= /drd ju: 'hzev d 'gud 't a lm i
= /drd 'jeev d 'g ud 't a lm i
very fast = l, d 3 d ~ V 'gud 't a lm i
slow
fast
Note: In very fast casual speech there need be no difference at all between d o y o u , d id y o u and w o u ld
y o u ; they can all be pronounced Id 3 " d 1 . How we can tell the difference? The context always makes it elear.
Listen to the following questions and answers, which also show the difference between the weakest
and strongest forms of the auxiliaries.
Do you like jazz?
Yes, I do.
I d3d
I je
'lark
'd 3 ~ z l
sal 'du./
Did you like the musie last night?
Yes, I did.
I d3d 'lark Od 'm ju:zik '10:5 'nurt/
I je
Would you like to go again?
Yes, I would.
Id 3 d
'laik
td
'qau a'qen/
I je
sal 'drd/
sal 'wud/
Verbs end ing XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
in Id l folIowed by y o u ly o u r
I've made your bed.
Have you paid your bill?
I said you should come.
Note that, as with
64
I t i,
'metdga 'bed/
/hav ja 'perdga 'bil/
la l 'sed3d fug 'kam/
la I V
the assimilation can tak e place even with the stressed forms of y o u and y o u r.
P a r t I I I zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSR
Fast, natural speech
-ed
'menjandge 'nelm/
I wanted you to come.
/al 'wxntrdgo ta 'kam/
They said you shouldn('t) do it.gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
/oel 'sedgu 'fudnonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC
'du: Wlt/
I mentioned
your name.
ls s
Naw practice this form o t assimilation by listening to and repeating the 'Chinatown' rap on pages 66-67.
The lefthand column shows how it is pronounced, with the letterbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a representing schwa.
normal form
written here
phonetic
notation
want to
wanna
going to
gointa
/'WAIla/
/'gauinta/
doyou
dja
what do you
whatcha
don't you
dontcha
let you
letcha
couldn't you
couldntcha
have to
hafta-
did you
didja
how did you
howdja
where do you
wheredja
lots of
lotsa
the name of
the namea
a bit o t
a bit a
/d3a/
/,wntfa/
/'dauntfa/
/'letfa/
/,kudntfa/
/'hcdta/
/'dld3a/
/'haud3a/
/'wead3a/
/'lntsa/
/oa 'nelma/
/a 'brta/
sure to
sure ta
/'f-:J:ta/
Other features o t fast speech are also reflected in the changes o t spelling. Look out for the following.
elision or lengthening
of identical/similar
normal form
sounds
I'm not too sure
written here
I'm no' too sure
1'11leave it to you
I' leave it to you
I'lllet you know
I' letcha know
It's sure to please
It' sure ta please
elision of
Iti
normal form
Let's just meet
written here
didn't say
didn' say
I don't know
I don' know
it wasn't written
it wasn' written
Le's just meet
Don't get sa carried away by the rhythm that you read the rap like a machine. Remember that
language has musie, too.
2
This spelling of h a v e to shows how, at speed, the
following I t i sound.
tv !
of h a v e can become
[ i] ,
losing its voicing to be more like the
65
RhymesbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a n d R h y th m
Listen, listen, listen, many, many times, thinking how the voice goes up and down. DAH du DAH it
before you say the words. And when you finally rap it along with the recar din g, follow the voices up and
down.
Don't forget that the pitch changes (how we go from high to law, from law to high) are smooooooooth
on the stressed syllables. Take the title word,gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
C h in a to w n . We don't say it in three equal stages, as if it
were:
Chi
na
town
Instead, there is a nice smooth, steady fall on C h i, with the next twa syllables safe at the bottom of the
voice, not moving. Sa think of it as:onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Ch
i.
l.
l
na town
Finally, remember that this is a conversation. It may sound fast, but it is no faster than regular, informal
speech.
But don 't think you have to repeat it all at once. You can practice a sequence in short bits, starting from
the end to keep the intonation going. Try it with the following sentences.
1
a show?
see a show?
ta see a show?
ta town ta see a show?
go ta town ta see a show?
wanna go ta town ta see a show?
Doncha wanna go ta town ta see a show?
2 Chinatown?
in Chinatawn?
first in Chinatown?
fancy eating first in Chinatown?
Dja fancy eating first in Chinatown?
Chinatown
2/3
How it sounds
How it is written
A: Where dja wanna go?
Whatcha wanna do?
Where do you want to go?
What do you want to do?
B: I'm no' too sure,
I' leave it ta you.
I'm not too sure,
I'llleave it to you.
A: Doncha wanna go ta town
Don't you want to go to town
to see a show?
ta see a show?
B: I don' know naw,
but l' letcha know.
I don't know naw,
but I'lllet you know.
A: Couldntcha tell me
right away?
Couldn't you tell me
right away?
B: I'm not sure yet.
Do I hafta say?
I'm not sure yet.
Do I have to say?
A: Where dja wanna meet?
Wontcha tell me where?
Where do you want to meet?
Won't you tell me where?
B: Le's jus' meet
in Leicester Square.
Let's [ust meet
in Leicester Square.
66
PartXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGF
I I I Fast, natural speech
A: Didja tell the others
where we're gointa meet?
Did you tell the others
where we're going to meet?
B: I said in the centre,
didn' say which street.
I said in the centre,
didn't say which street.
A: Dja wanna have a meał ar
dja like ta sit down?
Do you want to have a meal or
would you like to sit down?
B: Dja fancy eating first
in Chinatown?
Do you fancy eating first
in Chinatown?
A: Whatcha recommend?
Wheredja like ta dine?
What do you recommend?
Where would you like to dine?
B: Here's very good,
their fish is fine.
Here's very good,
their fish is fine.
A: How's the fish cooked,
with łotsa spice?
How's the fish cooked,
with łots of spice?
B: just a bit a ginger,
it's really nice.
just a bit of ginger,
A: Whatcha like ta drink
when you eat Chinese?
What do you like to drink
when you eat Chinese?
B: just a pot a tea,
it' sure ta płease.
Iust a pot of tea,
it's sure to płease.
A: Howdja like the meał,
Didja like the fish?
How did you like the meał?
did you like the fish?
B: It was really great,
what's the namea the dish?
It was really great,
what's the name of the dish?
A: I don' know the name;
it wasn' written down.
I don't know the name;
it wasn't written down.
B: That's often the way
... in Chinatown.
That's often the way
... in Chinatown .baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
[s ]
it's really nice.
or /z/onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
+ /j/
The fricativesgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Isl and Izl can ałso coałesce with Ij/.
•
ls! + Ijl ~ Ifl (as in s h o p , s h e , s h ip , d is h , etc.).
•
Izl + Ijl ~ 1 3 1 (as in p le a s u r e , te le v is io n , c a m o u fla g e ,
sequence
słow version
Is this yours?
/IZ OlS
Yes,you can.
/jes ju: 'keen/
He's your brother.
/hi:z jo: 'brAOa/
lo : óirz 'j):z/
Are these yours?
'j):z/
etc.)
fast version
lt z Ol
'f):z/
/jeJa 'keen/
/hi:3a 'brxóa/
lt x :
oi: '3):Z/
67
Rhymes and Rhythm
Task 33 Listen to the chant on this page while reading the text. Pay special attention
/j/ sound inbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
y o u , y o u r and y o u r s e lf w h e n
the teacher replies.
happens to theonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Here are the words that come beforegfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
y o u , y o u r and y o u r s e l]. Each end s in either
appropriate column.
Ifl
Ifl
ar
1 3 /.
to what
Tick the
Ifl
course
please
discuss
express
miss
revise
use
pass
practise
amaze
Can I ask you something?
Student
~
1 Can I ask you something?
Of course you can.
2 It's all sa hardo
Let's discuss yOUIproblems.
3 I'm faUing behind.
Don't miss your lessans.
4 I don't understand.
Well, llse your head.
S My accent's bad.
WeU, practise your pron.
6 Should I listen to same tapes?
Please yourself.
7 I don't know what to write.
Just express yourself.
8 I make lots of mistakes.
Revise your grammar.
9 How d'you think I'U do?
You're sure to pass your exam.
lODa
a
Teacher
you reaUy think I will?
You'll amaze yOUIfriends.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFED
R a p p in g t h e r u le s
These fi.rst three Parts have covered the main features o t spoken English, in terms of rhythm and stress.
These are summarized in a set of five rules, which I've written as a rap.
1 You have to stress the correct syllables. And the weak syllables must never be too long. The schwa,
in particular, is very short. Remember that placing main stress in the wrong place can cause people
not to understand you.
2 To keep the rhythm flowing along you have to link individual words. Remember:
one napple, two wapples, three yapples, four rappies
3 And it's much easier if you elide the sounds that native speakers do, especially the
between consonants.
Id l
and
Iti
4 Natural speech also means that we can make it easier to pass from one sound to the next by
changing the first to be more like the second (i.e., anticipatory assimilation).
S Finally, twa sounds may join together to become one, especially when
(i.e., coalescent assimilation).
68
I d / , I t i, ts !
and
Ifl
meets
I jl
Part III
Fast, natural speechonmlkjihgfedcb
If you want to make your English come alive,
just listen to my rules from one to five.
1 If you don't want your English to sound a rness,
2/3zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
you've got to hit the beat, you've got to hit the stress.
But you're going to sound funny, it's going to go wrong
if you make your weak sounds much too strong.
2 And words go together like links in achain;
they follow each other like wagans on a train.
3
ow listen really close and you will hear
that certain kindsgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
o t sound can disappear.
4 And remem ber if you want to increase your range
that a sound can make another sound change.
S You're getting better now, but to be the best,
just remember twa sounds can coalesce.
You've got five senses, you've got five rules,
sa use them all and you won 't be fools.
Sa, to make your English buzz like a hive,
just think of one, rwo, three, four, FIVE!
Task 34 Listen to the rap again very carefully in order to see how the rules apply when you
speak at this speed.
This last task is like a final examination to see how good your ear has become. (And remember this: the
rap might sound fast, but it's no faster than regular, informal spoken English.)
50 go through the text and note:
a) every example ot linking in Verse 2;
b) every example ot elision in the introduction and Verse 5;
c) every example o t anticipatory assimilation in Verses3, 4 and 5;
d) every example o t coalescent assimilation in the who le rap.
In these first three parts you have learned a lot about what hap pens in spoken English.
The rest of the book is to help you put your new skills into practice.
69
>
P A R T baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
IV
P la y in g w ith p o e m s
onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Part IV presents a number of poem s that have been chosen for two reasons:
•
to give you practice in the rhythm of spoken English;
•
to improve and increase your vocabulary.
The tasks in this unit are of various types. Most involve filiing gaps with appropriate words, in others you will
have to match parts of sentences, do some rewriting, and so on.
Ali the limericks have been recorded, so you can listen to the recordings to help you during the task or after
completing it.
W hatever the task, remem ber that the choice of words depends on two things: first, the meaning; obviously, a
word has to make sense, to fit into the rest of the text; but as these texts are poem s, it also has to fit the metre
(i.e., the beat, the rhythm) and, if the word is at the end of a line, it has to fit the rhyme scheme too.
Feel free to listen to the poem s before trying the tasks, if you feel happier. And if you are wondering which
word fits a gap, try the DAH du du technique; this will help you to work out if you need a word with one
o. or • o, for
syllable, or two or three. If it is a two-syl!able word, it will help you decide if the pattern is zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfed
example.
Remember, once more, not to worry too much if you do not fully understand al! the words. Concentrate on the
rhythm and musie; imagine the words flowing by like waves on the sea and follow them along, with al! their up
and down movements. Poems are to be enjoyed, not to be worried about.
C h a p te r 1 0
L im e r ic k s
W h a t a r e I im e r ic k s ? zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Limericks are very simple poems. Listen to the following, very typical one.
A:
A:
B:
B:
A:
There once was a person from Lyme
who married three wives at a time.
When asked 'Why a third?'
He replied, 'One's absurd!
And bigamy, sir, is a crime!'
Limericks have the following characteristics:
• They consist of five lines.
• The rhyme scheme is A A B B A.
This me ans that lines l, 2 and 5 have one rhyme (in the case abovegfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
L y rn e / tirn e / c rim e i, while lines 3
( t h ir d / a b s u r d ) .
and 4 have a different rhymebaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
• The metre (or beat) is as regular as the rhyme scheme: three beats in the A lines, and two in the B
lines.
ote also that the first line refers to a person from a particular place. This is not obligatory, but many
limericks have a similar reference in the first line.
Listen again while beating it out.
aonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
ONE
and a TW a
and a
THREE
A: There once was a person from Lyme
a
O
E
A: who married
a
ONE
B: When asked
a
ONE
B: He replied,
and a
TW a
and a THREE
three wives
and a
at a time.
TW a
'Why a
third>
and a
TW a
'One's absurd!
a ONE and a TW a
and a THREE
A: And bigamy, sir is a
crimer
When doing the tasks in this section, it is a good idea to have a good dictionary handy, so that you can
check the rhymes (as well as the meanings).
G a p - f ilI t a s k s
Task 35 The rhyming words in the following
end. Fili them in as quickly as you can.
1
2
3
4
S
There once was an old man frorn ...
who dreamed he was eating his ...
He woke up in the ...
with a terrible ...
and found it was perfectly ...
fright / shoe / true / night / Crewe
72
limerick have been jumbled
together
at the
P art IV
T a s k 3 6 XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
H e r e a r e tw o Iim e r ie k s o n th e th e m e
a t th e
e n d . A g a in ,
fili th e m
a s q u ie k ly
o f m u s ie ,
wit h
th e ir
P la y in g zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZ
witonmlkjihgfedcbaZY
h poem s
r h y m in g
w o rd s
ju m b le d
up
a s p o s s ib le .
t r a m Hang ...
A musician who camebaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Composed a new popular ...
But the song that he ...
Was all on one ...
S Though it sounded superb on a ...
1
2
3
4
6 A musical girl called ...
7 Played 'Gad Save the Queen' on a ...
8 ar sa she ...
9 But people who ...
1 0 Were never quite able to ...
tell / wrote / Kong / heard / song / Estelle / averred (= said, stated, claimed) / bell / gong / note
T ask 37
And
now
u p . A n d th is tim e
w e g o u p to th r e e
a n e x tr a
w o rd
lim e r ie k s
has been
added
w ith
th e
r h y m in g
fo r e a c h r h y m e ,
w o rd s
le ft o u t a n d ju m b le d
to c o n fu s e
th in g s .
1 A diner while dining at ...
2 Found a rather large mouse in his ...
3 Said the waiter, 'Don't ...
4 And wave it ...
S ar the rest will be wanting one
!'
6
7
8
9
10
A glutton who came fram the ,
When asked at what hour he would ...,
Replied, 'At ...,
At three, five and ...,
And eight and a quarter past ...',
11 There was an old lady of ...
1 2 Whose nose was remarkably ...
13 One day, they ...,
1 4 She folIowed her ...,
1 5 For no-one knows which way she ...
about / bent (= not straight) / chew / Crewe / dine / eleven / grows / heaven / Kent / nine / nose / Rhine
/ sent / seven / shout / out / stew (= a dish cooked slowly in water) / suppose / too / wine / went
73
Rhymes and RhythmbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
C o r r e c t in g
ta sk s
In the following tasks, you will have to correct mistakes in a number of limericks. In same, the lines are
jumbled together, in others, there is something wrong with the rhyrne scheme ar metre.
Task 38
This time we have mixed three limericks together. Only lines 1 and 3 are in the
correct place in each limerick.
1 There was a young girl in the choir
Used language I dare not pronounce.
3 Till it reached such a height
Pulled her chair out behind
For careless old people like you!'
6 A girl who weighed many an ounce
Once dropped her false teeth in the stew.
8 For a fellow, unkind,
'It's horrid to cater
And they found it next day in the spireo
11 A certain old lady from Crewe
Whose voice rose up high er and higher
13 Said a sensitive waiter
It was elear out of sight
Iust to see (sa he said) if she'd bounce.
Vocabulary notes
b o u n c e is what happens to a rubber balI, for example, when you drop it on the floor; to c a te r = either
togfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
'look after' ar 'provide food for': a c h o ir (pronounced /kwala/) is a group of people who sing together;
an o u n c e is a small unit of weight, sa 'weighed many an ounce' = 'was very fat'; se n sitiv e , here, = 'easily
hurt, easily upset'; a sp ite is a thin tower on top of a church; ste w was explained in the last task.
Task 39
In the following limericks, the lines in bold have the correct rhymes, but something
has gone wrong with the others. Suggest correct rhymes for them. (lf you find this too
difficult, choose the words from the list after the limericks.)
1
2
3
4
S
6
7
8
9
10
A sprightly old man from LA
Once said to his wife, 'If I might,
I think I will walk
On my head in the Strand,'
To which she retorted: 'Why not.'
A greedy old grandad from Duns,
Once said he'd eat ninety-nine cakes.
At the seventy-ninth,
He unluckily burst,
Sa the rest were consumed by his boss.
stand / okay / buns / fint / may / sons
Task 40
This time the rhymes are all fine, but something has gone wrong with the metre,
except in one line per poem, printed in bold. Some words are too long, others too short; or
there are too many or too few words.
•
See if you can wark out what is wrong.
•
Then look at the list of words which you will need to use.
•
And if that is still too difficult, listen to the recording to hear what needs changing.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFE
74
Part IV
Playing with poems
Vocabulary notes
l't limerick:gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a n a c q u a in ta n c e is someone you know, but not very well; ta m e is the opposite of w ild (dogs
are tame, but lions are usually wild).
onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
limerick: a g r e e d y person is someone who eats a lot; g h e r k in s = pickled cucumbers; to p ie k le = 'to
2nd
preserve food - vegetables usually - in vinegar or salt water'; in te r n a l w o r k in g s , in this poem, means 'the
inside of her body'.
3rd limerick: a b la z e is a strongly burning fire; c h a r r e d means 'burned black on the outside'; to
bum gently, but brightly'.
g lo w =
'to
awfully / could not / fear / friends / fuel /her / heightened / man / remind / started / terribly / threw / young
There was an old gentleman of Khartoum
Who kept two tam e sheep in his room.
To make him think, he said .
Of two acquaintances of his who were dead;
But he was completely unable to remember of whom.
A greedy lady called Perkins
Was fond of small gherkins.
She devoured forty-three
One day for tea
And pickled all of her intemal workings.
When the shortage of things to bum made it hard,
To maintain the big blaze in our yard;
We decided to throw on Aunt Flo,
Who began to glow,
And ended up very charred.
Here is a well-known limerick which breaks the rules of both rhyme and metre. Why it do es so should be
obvious.
Two poets from Lytham,
Had simply no sense of rhythm.
Their limericks would rhyme
Only occasionally
So the editor sadly rejected all their work
And off they went taking their poems with 'em.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
L im e r ic k s d e m o n s t r a t in g
W e a k f o r m s o f g r a m m a t ic a l
a sp e c ts o f fa st sp e e c h
it e m s
The last limerick contained the rhymes L y th a m / r h y th m / w ith 'e m . It only functions as a rhyme if you use
the weakest form of the pronoun th e m . The following poem s all use weak forms of pronouns or of other
grammatical items dealt with earlier in the book.
The most common pronoun used this way is the weakest form of th e m , pronounced /am/. This is because
it provides a rhyme for place names ending in - h a m which, as you may remember from Part I, is also
pronounced la m /.
Vocabulary notes
b r a n d -n e w = 'completely new'; a q u id
minister of religion.
= 'a pound'; a th r ifty person is very careful with money; a v ic a r is a
75
R h y m e s a n d R h y t h m zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Said a man to his wite down in Sydenham,
(= them)
'My trousers - now where have you hidden 'ern?onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
It's perfectly true
That they're far from brand-new
But I foolishly left half a quid in 'eml'
A thrifty young fellow of Shoreham
Made brown paper trousers and wore 'ern:
He looked nice and neat
Till he bent in the street
To pick up a pin: then he tore 'em.
There was a young lady of Twickenham
Whose shoes were too tight to walk quick in 'em.
She came back from a walk
Looking whiter than chalk
And took 'ern both off and was sick in 'em.
And remember thatgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
-s te r at the end of place nam es also contains schwał which means it can rhyme with
h e r.
the weakest form of the pronounbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
There was a young lady from Gloucester
Whose parents thought that they had lost 'er
From the fridge came a sound
And at last she was found;
The trouble was how to defrost 'er.
The possessive adjective
her
(=
her)
also weakens to schwa in its shortest form.
There was a young lady of Ryde
Who ate some green apples and died.
The apples fermented (= became alcohol)
Inside the lamented, (= the dead person)
And made cider inside 'er inside. (= inside her inside)
= dm meid 'sardar In 'sardar In 'sard
Finally, here's a rhyme that only works if two sounds are elided.
There was a young fellow named Sydney
Who drank till he ruined his kidney.
lt shrivelled and shrank
As he sat there and drank.
But he had a good time at it, didn'(t) (h)e?
To end the section on limericks, here is something I wrote just to demonstrate that it is possible to
produce a poem, each stanza of which is a limerick.
ISO
y o u t h in k y o u 'v e g o t p r o b le m s ! '
There's really no problem with lexis,
it's easy whatever your sex is.
The words are the same
from sleepy old Thame
right over to Galveston, Texas.
And syntax should cause you no pain,
there's no need for worry or strain.
They use the same pattern
from Leeds to Manhattan,
from southern ew Zealand to Maine.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
76
P a r t I V zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ
Playing wit h poems
But 'prori' is a different matter;
the brightest of brains it can shatter.
You start off confused,
aggrieved and bernused, .
and end up as mad as a hatter.
A student of mine from Algiers
would frequently burst into tears,
for her rhythm and stress
were a terrible mess
and yet she'd been studying for years.
Another from Lima (Peru)
said 'Teacher, just what should I do?
Does "cough" rhyme with "rough"
and "bough" with "enough",
and what about "thorough" and "through"?'
Another young student from Spain
said 'Teacher, please could you explain
why "bury" and "ban"
and "very" and "van"
are different? To me they're the sarnel!'
'That's easy', said Tanaka-san,
(a nice, unassuming young man)
'but "redli, "right" and "wrong"
and "led ", "light" and "long"
are problem s to us from Iapan.'
An obstinate student from Spa
refused to acknowledge the schwa.
He said 'go to town'
and 'jump up and down'.
That's taking things rather too far!
So students and teachers all sigh,
they jibber and shiver and ery,
tearing hair from their heads,
sobbing late in their beds,
they won der if succour is nigh.
But don't worry, help is in sight.
I'm really aware of your plight.
just taking a look
at my latest book
will help you (at least it just might)
77
C h a p te r 1 1
O th e r ty p e s o f p o e m
'G o in g s h o p p in g ' zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Start oft by listening to the poem without looking at the text. It has a rather complicated rhyming
scheme: A A B C C B. In other words, you have: a rhyming couplet followed by an non-rhyming third
line, then a second rhyming couplet followed by the final line, which rhymes with the third. Pay
attention to the metre as well; the scheme carries over six lin es and goes like this:
ONE
TWO
(THREE)
buys
A: Every
tirne
A: Mary
Wil1ams
B: great big
IOrry just to
shoppun
whoppuę
car-y aU she
C: For her
family's
large
C: that she
reaUy needs a
B: (there are
twenty-fOUI
she go es out
drives a
so
(pause, pause)
barge
of
eV(e)ry shape
and
sizei.
So there are two main beats in the A and C lines, with three in the Blines. Pay close attention
or you will try to fit in words that match the meaning but not the metre.
to the beat
And when you re ad the poem aloud, remember what you have learned from earlier in the book. The
unstressed grammatical wordsgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a n d and o f must be very short, or you will not keep to the beat. So careful
with b r e a d a n (d ) ja m a n (d ) h o n e y ; ju m p a n (d ) c h e e r a n (d ) s h o u t and a s a c k o f m a c a r o n i, for example.
But please dori't read it like a machine. Think of the meaning. Listen to the way the voice goes up and
down. And don't think that the end of a line always means the end of a grammatical unit. Sometimes it
does as in:
E v e r y tim e s h e g o e s o u t s h o p p in g .
But not in:
M a r y W illia m s
d r iv e s a w h o p p in g .
Mary Williams doesn't drive a 'w h o p p in g ',
should read lines 1-3 like this:
Every tirne
she goes out
she drives a w h o p p in g g r e a t b ig lo r r y (= a very big lorry). You
shoppną
•onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
•
•
Mary Wil1ams
•
78
~.
drives a
whoppme
great big IOrry just to carry
•
•
•XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
•
all she
•
buys.
Part IV
Playing with poems
Vocabulary notes
b a r g e is a long, fiat boat for carrying goods on a river or canal; b o lo n e y is a type of sausage (originally
abaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
from B o lo g n a , in Italy); m u t t o n is meat from sheep; t r a d e s m e n are people who own shops ( t r a d e s p e o p le
wouldn't fit the metre); w h o p p in g g r e a t b ig means e x t r e m e ly b ig . onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Task 41
Choose from the words below to complete gaps 1-10 in the following poem.
OnIy one will work at the end of lines, but there may be more than one option mid-line. Try out the DAH
du du system to see if a word fits the metre as well as the meaning.
age / all / bag / big / bit / bus / can / car / cash / cat / city / cłap / confetti / dog / down / each / every /
gets / hat / height / jump / money / packet / pound / sack / shout / spaghetti / tin / town / truck / up /
village / wave
Task 42
Now complete gaps 11-22. This time, see how quickly you can spot the possibilities.
There are three words for each gap. Sometimes only one fits, sometimes twa, sometimes all three.
who
jeans
Charley
must
sugar
time
they
beans
Peter
can
chocolate
cash
he
means
Sally
does
biscuits
money
bread
meeting
wheat
kilo
yoghurt
crates
cake
heating
meat
pound
cream
pounds
coke
baking
meet
tin
cheese
bags
Every time she goes out shopping
Mary Williams drives a whopping
great big lorry just to carry all she buys.
For her famiIy's sa large
that she really needs a barge
(there are twenty-four of every shape and size).
As she drives her lorry (1)
to the centr e of the (2)
all the tradesmen start to (3)
.
.
and cheer and (4)
For she spends vast sum s of (S)
just on bread and jam and honey
(not to mention all the wine and beer and stout).
.
And (6)
day she buys (7)
(that's for Margaret, Fred and Betty)
and some mutton chops with very little fat.
And a metre of baloney
with a (8)
and a (9)
.
of macaroni
of something tasty for the (10)
Then there's artichokes and (11)
and a case of tinned sardines,
with some anchovies and cabbages and steak.
And especially for (12)
(as he likes things slightly sweeter)
lot s of (13)
.
.
.
.
and a slice ar twa of (14)
She buys mustard by the (15)
salt and pepper (freshly ground)
and vast quantities of butter, milk and (16)
.
,
,XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
79
R hym es
a n d R h y t h m zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
And for Cathy, Joe and Reg
(17) (
several (18)
eat nothing else but veg)
of earrots, radishes and peas.
As for her, what (19)
she eat,
?
is it fish or fruit or (20)
What's the kind of thing that mothers like the best?
Well she's got no (21)
for eating
for she's cooking ar she's (22)
.
up the food she's bought to serve to all the rest.
'S o n g f o r L o n d o n '
•
This poem/song, with its simple A B C B rhyming seheme, sums up the way I feel about London. Yes,it's
noisy, polluted, dirty and sometimes dangerous; but it's also one of the most exeiting eities in the world,
with lively street markets, greenery and water, and just about the best theatre, art and musie seenes you
will
find anywhere, with a population from a11over the world.
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
You ean wark on this poem in different ways:
a) ]ust read it and try to guess what the missing words are. (Usually, just one word is missing, but gaps 4,
19, 22, 29 and 3S eontain three words eaeh, sa you eould leave these to last.)
b) Look at the following word lists and ehoose the ones that fit.
c) Use it as a dietation, by listening to the poem and filling the gaps.
But take eare if you try methods a ar b. Some words may fit the meaning but not the metre. So say a line
out loud, with a du DAH or a DAH duh duh, and sa on, to replace the missing word. Ask yourself, 'is
there one syllable missing here? Two? Three?' Then try out the word you think best fits.
Pre-task and voeabulary notesbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
B r ic k L a n e and C a m d e n T o w n have lively markets at the weekend;
D r S a m u e l J o h n s o n was an 18th-eentury writer, best known for his dietionary;
to c h o k e = usually 'not to be able to breathe';
togfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
g lin t = 'to shine when the light eatehes an objeet, a ring, for example';
to h u r t le = 'to move very fast, usually past something eJse';
to lu r k = 'to hide in wait for someone, perhaps to attaek them';
to m e s s u p = 'to make something dirty or untidy';
p o t h o le s are very big holes in roads, espeeially dangerous for eyclists like me;
a s p y h o le is alittle glass-eovered hole in a door, sa you ean see who a visitor is but they ean't see you;
tr a s n = r u b b is h : 'things thrown away'.
80
Part IV
Playing with poems
Task 43 Choose from the words below to complete the following poem. Sometimes more
than one can fit a gap. Gaps 4, 19, 22, 29 and 35 will be completed in Task 44.gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGF
P a rtA
glad
arrows
pleased
buses
rising
shining
dirt
weather
explain
trains
by
diamonds
in
darkness
use
know
speak
drive
ery
pub
frightened
buses
cycle
eoncert
tubes
for
happy
setting
fog
rainbows
agree
gold
at
smog
fumes
die
play
afraid
for
film
after
midnight
look
scared
lorries
dark
cars
decide
agree
sleeping
breathing
put
but
stroll
trash
rubbish
though
P a rt B
nightfall
P a rt C
cats
helicopters
up
cycle
Task 44
at
you
tired
3/4
walk
dogs
take
pollution
traffic
night
down
dark
get
Now sort out the following words to fili gaps 4, 19,22,29
at
care
door
to
tell
of
leave
life
why
seems
and 35.
the
eight
A The roads are fuli of potholes
and the streets are full of trash,
the pavements lined with youngsters
asking, 'can you spare some cash?'
The (1)
and the (2)
If you want to get to town (3)
you'd better (4)
But when the sun is (5)
and the river glints like (6)
and the bridges curve like (7)
then the city takes its hold.
And I'm (8)
though I really can't (9)
And London's where I live,
despite the (10)
B The (12)
as I (13)
If I come home after (14)
I'm (15)
You hardly (16)
(17)
and (18)
when someone's (19)
are packed to bursting
always late.
noon
_
.
,
,
to be in London,
.
/ the (11)
and rain.
hurtle past me
to my work.
.
of who might lurko
your neighbours
20 years or morel
alittle spyhole
_XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
81
R h y m e s a n d R h y t h m zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
But when I'm sitting waiting
for the (20)
to begin,
by some young writer
or a (21)
makes me think that we might win,
then I'm glad to be in London,
though it's hard to (22)
And London is the city
where I'lllive until I (23)
C The (24)
the kids daren't use the park;
the traffic wreeks the daytime;
alarms disturb the (25)
The (26)
(27)
old folks have trouble (28)
and no-one (29)
_
.
mess up the pavement,
.
chokes the gutters,
fills the air,
.
_
But when I (30)
through Brick Lane or Camden Town,
I realize that, though
there's plenty here to (31)
at weekends
~-----~
me (32)
.
I (33)
with Doctor Johnson
(34) (.
I can't speak for my wife)
that a man who's tired of London
is a man who's (35)
_
'F a ilu r e '
Vocabulary notes
when the stock marketgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
c r a s h e s , the value of shares goes down;
a fa k e is something (usually a work of art) that is a copy of the original, used to deceive;
a p h e a s a n t is a game bird, i.e., a bird bred for shooting and eating:
to p o t - 'to hit a ball into the pocket' when playing billiards or snooker. If you aim for one colour and
hit another you lose points;
to be given the s a c k is to be fired, to lose your job;
ta m e is the opposite of w ild ;
a w r e n is a small song-bird.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a
Task 45
T h is is a n o th e r
poem
in r h y m in g
c o u p le ts .
A s y o u c a n s e e fr o m
th e fir s t c o u p le t,
it is
a b o u t a m a n fo r w h o m e v e r y th in g
g o e s w ro n g .
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Something has gone wrong with the poem, too. Your task is to match the endings to the beginnings of
each line.
He studied so hard but the others all passed.
He tried to be first but he a1wayscame 1ast.
1 He 1earned Iapanese
2 He lost his umbr ella
a) but the weather decided to break.
b) which proved to be tame.
3 He wore his best suit
4 He trained as an actor
c) who cou1dn't stand men.
d) the day ot the rain.
5 He aimed for the yellow
6 He worked very hard
e) but landed a shark.
f) but nobody came.
7 He invested in shares
8 He .collected fine china
g) while the others wore jeans.
h) but wounded a wren.
82
I
Part IV
i)
Playing with poem s
which just wouldn't bark.
but nabody went.
9 He bought a Picasso
10 He stripped
j)
11 He held a big party
12 He hunted a tiger
k) but was transferred to Spain
I) until, sadly, he died.
13 He bought a huge watchdog
14 He fished for a salmon
m) but all of it smashed.
n) while the others alllied.
15 He played at roulette
16 He opened a cafe
o) but was given the sack.
p) which tumed out a fake.
17 He shot at a pheasant
18 He married a woman
q) but potted the black.
r) but he lost every cent.
s) then joined the marines.
19 He stuck to the truth
20 And sa it went onbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
t) then the stock market crashed.
'S t a n f e lt s t ic k y '
Task 46
Here is another poem in rhyming couplets. Match the endings to the beginnings ot
each line.
1 Stan felt sticky, sa he
2 Ruth felt like running, sa she
a) went to see a friend
b) sang a lively song
3 Henry felt hot, sa he
4 Willy felt like walking, sa he
c) ran aft to the beach.
d) wandered down the path
S Fanny felt frozen, sa she
6 Sally felt like sailing, sa she
e) went and picked a peach
f) tried to sing along
7 Sammy felt small, sa he
8 Cindy felt like selling, sa she
g) tried to hire a boat.
h) had alittle snooze
9 Hannah felt hungry, sa she
10 Sammy felt like swimming, sa he
i)
11 Freddy felt funny, sa he
12 Shirley felt like shopping, sa she
k) drove into the town
l) played a lonely blues
13 Sandy felt sad, sa she
14 Sally felt like sleeping, sa she
m) had a cold bath
n) went and got a coat
15 Harry felt happy, sa he
16 Iacky felt like joining in, sa
o) went and had a shower
p) went and found a buyer
17 Laurie felt lonely, sa she
q) jogged for half an hour
j)
grew alittle higher
went and sat down
Benny went to bed, sa that had better be the end.
'M u s t n 't g r u m b le '
We British are known for aur understatements. If you ask people from the USAhow they are, they're
Iikely to reply 'Fine!' , 'Great!' ar 'Never been better!', all with firm falling tones. In Britain, you're more
likely to hear 'Not too bad', ar 'Could be worse', with that very British fall-rise. My twa favourite replies
are 'mustn't grumble' and 'can't complain'. And it was while thinking about how these normally
involve both elision and assimilation - /'IllASd!) 'grxmbl/,baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
lik a : ! ) kam'plem/ - that the idea for this poem
came to me.
83
Rhymes and RhythmonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Task 47 Some ot the words below are missing trom the poem (a tew extra words have been
thrown in). As you can see, they al! rhyme either with grumble or complain. Fili each gap in the
poem with an appropriate
word. You may use an English dictionary it you wish.
train
pain
stain
cane
grain
agam
rain
lane
main
explain
chain
insane
rurnble
tumble
humble
fumble
bumble
stumble
crumble (see c) below)
Vocabulary
jumble (see d) below)
notes
a) agfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
c o c k ro a c h is a dark-brown ar black insect, sometimes
found in kitchens;
n a u g h t y s n o w tla k e s refer to one winter when trains in the south of England stopped running
b) thebaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
because, as British Rail explained, the snow was 'the wrong kind';
c) a c r u m b le is a type of pudding,
sugar;
d)
is used in the sense of
sold for charity.
ju m b le
with a topping made of flour (ar flour and muesli) mixed with brown
ju m b le
s a le ,
where people give away things (especially clothes) to be
'Mustn't grumble', 'Can't cornplain'
aur traditional refrain.
Dori't be pushy, best be humble.
Dori't complam. and never grumble.
()
?
Broken pavings make you (1)
Cockroach in your apple (2)
Mustn't grumble, can't complain.
?
?
8:05 is late (3)
Naughty snowflakes stopped the (4)
Dori't complain, you shouldri't grumble.
?
Govemment begins to (S)
Housing prices start to (6)
Mustri't grumble, can't complain.
?
?
Global warming brings rnore (7)
Medicine won't kill the (8)
Don't cornplain, no need to grumble.
Kiddy's clothes come from the (9)
Somewhere guns begin to (10)
Do not ask them to (11)
just accept it, don 't complain.
Mustn't grumble,
Mustn't grumble,
Mustn't grumble.
.
?
?
?
;
c
o
'MybaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
m o t h e r s a id '
This is an old anonymous poem (that means we don't know who wrote it). As it gets near the end, and
the speaker jumps on the horse, the number of unstressed syllables increases and you have to speak faster
to keep to the beat of the horse's hooves.
84
P a r t I V zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ
Playing with poems
My mother said, I never should
play with the gypsies in the wood.
If I did then she would say:
'Naughty child to disobey!'
'Your hair shan't curl and your shoes shan't
You gypsy child, you shan't be mine!'
And my father said that if I did,
he 'd rap my head with the teapot
shine,
lido
My mother said that I never should
play with the gypsies in the wood.
The wood was dark, the grass was green;
By came Sally with a tambourine.
I went to sea - no ship to get across;
I pa id ten shillings for a blind white horse.
I upped on his back and was off in a crack,
Sally tell my mother I shall never com e back.
'O n y o u r b ik e '
a
I really think
I must be the only person in London who regularly rides a bike but can also drive a car. Car
and lony drivers have no idea of the space that cyelists need and are often a great danger to them; and
baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
cyelists fail to realize, for example, that motorists do not expect to be overtaken by a cyelist coming up
between them and the pavement.
By the way, I do not recommend
you to call peoplegfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
id io ts , b a s ta r d s or b e r k s unless you want a fight.
A When I'm on my bike I am the angel of the street;
I'm courteous and friendly to everyone I meet.
I never mount the pavement, I just keep to the road;
I don't infringe in any way the sacred Highway Code.
I signal to the motorists and make my movements
I ride along the gutter and I never swerve or veer.
elear;
But what about those bastards in their lorries and their cars?
They stare at me suspiciously as if l came from Mars.
That's if they even notice me as zombie-like they drive;
I need my wits about me if I want to stay alive.
They pass and then tum left or open doors right in my face;
I sometimes think that drivers aren't aware we need some space.
So when you see me cyeling in my helmet and my mask,
just use alittle courtesy; is that too much to ask?
B
ow when I'm at the wheel I'm always perfectly polite;
aware of all the cyelists, sympathetic
to their plight.
I follow very carefully the details of the Cod e;
I flash to let them cut across a really busy wad;
I check the nearside minor just in case there's one in sight;
and take especial care whenever driving late at night.
But what about those bastard s cyeling merrily along?
You'd think their parents never tried to teach them right from wrong.
They pass you on the left when you are checking to the right,
then wave their stupid fists at you; they do it out of spite.
They go both ways down one-way street s, tum left when lights are red.
The bloody little idiots deserve to end up dead.
So when you see me in my car while cyeling to work,
just use some common sense, can't you, you stupid little berkI
When in my car or on my bike it's very plain to see:
the roads are fuli of lunatics,
with one exception:
ME!
85
C h a p t e r 1 2 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Similes,
s a y in g s a n d s o u n d s
In this final part of the book we will play with the magie of words and rhythm, eoneentrating on words
and phrases that belong so elosely together that you have to leam the rhythm of the phrase together with
its meaning.
S im ile s
If you say that something isgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
a s lig h t a s a [ e a th e r or a s h e a v y a s le a d , you are using asimile: eomparing one
thing with another.
Some similes are so eommon that they have beeome eliehes, expressions you use without thinking about
them. Others are more original and eause the listener to think in a new way about what you are referring
to.
.
And some similes are so old that we understand them as a whole, but not the individual words. H, for
example, you say that something is a s p la in a s a p ik e s ta f(, we know that it means 'absolutely obvious;
is, In faet, it was a smooth type of stiek,
100% elear', but hardly anybody knows what a p ik e s ta ffa e tu a lly
and the simile originally meant 'as smooth as a pikestaff' (Le., with no lumps, bumps or deeorations).
This partieular simile, together with several others, is found in the first poem in this seetion.
'As'
(a n o n y m o u s)
This is a poem made up entirely of well-known, proverbial similes. There is heavy stress on the adjeetives
and nouns, while the grammatieal words a n d and a s are very short, both eontaining sehwa. When you
repeat it, remember to make the links in, for example, wet~as~a / dry~as~a / poor~as~a / free.jas the.jau.
Vocabulary notes
m o /e s are short-sighted animals whieh live underground. Their soft skin used to be made into elothes
(espeeially mole-skin trousers);
p a r tr id g e s are game birds, i.e., birds bred to be shot and eaten in the autumn. They are plump (= 'fat')
because they are ready to eat;
a p ik e s ta ff(n o w
arehaic) was a type of stiek with a plainonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
(= smooth) surface; nowadays, the expression
as plain as a pikestaff = 'obvious, self-evident'.
As wet as a fish - as dry as a bone;
As live as a bird - as dead as a stone;
As plump as a partridge - as poor as a rat;
As strong as a horse - as weak as a cat;
As hard as flint - as soft as a mole;
As white as a lily - as black as coal;
As plain as a pikestaff - as rough as a bear;
As tight as a drum - as free as the air;
As heavy as lead - as light as a feather;
As steady as time - uncertain as weather
86
Part IV
Playing with poems
'Sensible similes'onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Task 48 In this poem, the first line of each couplet is made up of two well-known slmiles. The
second (rhyming) line has been made up by me. I cali these 'sensible' similes, since they al!
make sense (compared to the 'silly similes' that folIow). Vour task is to put the following
adjectives into the correct places in the poem. The first couplet is complete.
Vocabulary notesgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
c o m m o n is used here in the sense of 'vulgar, badly educated, badly behaved';
a [ id d le is a violin (a stringed instrument), though why it should be associated with good health I do
not know;
fit in this sense means 'in good condition, in good health';
ic in g is a sugary topping for cakes, especially for birthdays and Christmas;
k e e n is used in the sense of 'eager, enthusiastic', though other meanings include 'sharp, acute, strong',
as in the expression 'a keen sense of smell';
lo n g lo c k s = 'long hair';
a p e a c o c k is a male bird, with extremely beautiful tail feathers;
a ra k e is a long garden instrument used to rake up (or remove by pulling along the ground) de ad leaves,
plants, etc.;
a ro c k e r, in this sense, is a rock musician, especially one who plays loud, older forms of rock musie:
a te th e r is a line or rope attaching an animai (horse, goat, dog, etc.) to a particular place. When it is a t th e
e n d o f its te th e r it can go no further, so this has come to mean 'frustrated, irnpatient, ready to crack up'.
tight
proud
steady
cool
thin
poor
sad
boJd
keen
strange
fi.t
strong
blind
happy
wild
clever
deep
common
light
sickly
rough
As white as a lily, as blue as the sky,
as bright as the fiags on the Fourth of July.
As (1)
as (3)
as a cucumber, (2)
as a child falling fiat on its bum.
As (4)
as (6)
as a bat, as (S)
as a horse at the end of its tether.
As (7)
as (9)
as a church mouse, as (8)
as Chinese men dining on duck.
as adrum,
as a feather,
as muck,
As (10)
as (12)
as a peacock, as (11)
as kids who are top o t the class.
as brass,
As (13)
as (15)
as mustard, as (14)
as a rocker with long, filthy locks.
As (16)
as (18)
as a fiddle, as (17)
as icing on top of a cake.
As (19)
as (21)
as the ocean, as (20)
as time,
as a simile used in a rhyme.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
as an ox,
as a rake,
87
R h y m e s a n d R h y t h m zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
'S illy s im ile s '
The vocabulary in this poem is difficult, since these are really anti-similes: the adjectives have nothing at
all to do with the nouns. In fact it is a nonsense poem, in the tradition of Lewis Carroll. If I were you, I
wouldn't bother about the meaning at all to start with: just let the words roll over you.
Vocabulary notesgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
b lu n t is the opposite of sharp (as in a knife, razor, etc.);
c r u e l a s a c u c u m b e r is a variant of c o o l a s a c u c u m b e r onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
(= calm), which we met in 'Sensible similes';
M ic h a e lm a s D a y is the feast day of Saint Michael, my patron saint;baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
m ild e w is a disease that affects plants;
m u tto n is sheep-meat. (The meat from a young sheep is lamb.);
a r is s o le is a type of meat dish;
a w a is tc o a t is what is wom under the jacket in a three-piece suit. In the USA, it is called a v e s t;
you w e a v e cloth, wool, silk, etc., not pies, of course.
As fond as a finger, as safe as a spoon,
as cruel as a cucumber planted in June.
As bold as a button. as mildewed as May,
as merry as mutton from foggy Bombay.
As fast as a feather, as grand as a glove,
as weary as weather alllimpid with love.
As blunt as a blazer, as clever as clay,
as ripe as a razor on Michaelmas Day.
As high as a handle, as hot as a hare,
as scarce as a scandal in Washington Square.
As lean as a lever, as silken as sighs,
as wet as a weaver of marmalade pies.
As weak as a waistcoat, as fat as a flea,
as pale as a parson from sunny Dundee.
As pro ud as a plum stone, as poor as a peach,
as wise as a whistle on Cheltenham beach.
As tough as a tailor, as drunk as a door,
as soft as a sailor at quarter to four.
As rich as a rissole, as dense as a duck,
as sad as a simile down on its luck.
S a y in g s a n d p r o v e r b s
English, like alIlanguages, has a large number of sayings and proverbs. And many of them are rhythmic
and often contain alliteration and rhymes.XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Task 49
1
2
3
4
S
6
7
8
9
L is t e n t o t h e f o llo w in g
a n d th e n
m a tc h th e m
Their bark is worse than their bite.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
lt's no use crying over spilt milk.
Too many cooks spoił the broth.
A stitch in time saves nine.
There's many a slip twixt (= between) cup and lip.
AlI that glitters is not gold.
Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
Least said, soonest mended.
1 0 Easy com e, easy go.
88
w it h t h e e x p la n a t io n s .
a) People with similar tastes and interests
tend to meet up.
b) Remedy any slight defects early before
things start to get really bad.
c) Unsupervised people are likely to
misbehave.
d) It is best not to be too optimistic about
the outcome ot your projects.
e) Things acquired with little effort are likely
to be just as easily lost.
Part IV
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Birds of a feather fIock together.
To put the cart before the horse.
To put the cat among the pigeons.
When the cat's away the mice will play.
The pot calling the kettle black.
Two heads are better than one.
To make a mountain out of a molehill.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Give them an inch, they'U take a mile.
Better be safe than sorry.
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)
1)
m)
n)
o)
p)
q)
r)
s)
t)
Playing with poems
You are more likely to make the correct
decision having asked for a second opinion.
To get your priorities wrong.
They are likely to tak e advantage if you
make the slightest concession.
They sound more threatening than they
actually are.onmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFED
There is no point complaining about past
events that carmot be changed.
To stir up trouble deliberately.
Pay more attention to what you have
than to what you might possibly have.
Do not be fooled by outward appearances.
To make too much of something rather
trivial.
Caution is often the best approach.
'No comment' may well be the wisest
choice.
It can be unwise to have too many people
coUaborating on a project.
Things can go wrong, even at the very last
moment.
Accusing someone of a defect that you
also have.
It's best not to pin your hopes on a single
person or project.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFE
D o u b l i n g XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
U p sou n d s
English is full of phrases in which sounds are doubled. This may involve:
alliteration
rhyme
vowel change alone
e.g.,baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
s p ie k a n d s p a n I t o p s y gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
tu r v e y I h e a d o v e r h e e ls
e.g., d o o m a n d g I o o m I n a m b y p a m b y I [ u n n y m o n e y
e.g., m is n m a s n I z ig z a g I c r is s c r o s s I t it t le t a t t le
A surprising number ot such phrases start with the letter
selection ot them.
Task 50
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
(corresponding to the sound
Ih /).
Here is a
Listen to them, then see if you can match them with the definitions.
l hale and hearty
2
3
4
5
6
h
( a d j. )
hanky panky ( n o u n )
hel ter skelter ( a d v . )
higgledy piggledy ( a d j. / a d v . )
high and mighty ( a d j. )
hurly burly ( n o u n )
hocus pocus (n o u n i
hoi polloi ( n o u r i;
head over heels ( a d j. )
huffing and puffing ( v .)
(by) hook or by crook ( a d v . )
hooray Henry ( n o u n )
hunky dory ( a d j. )
hugger mugger ( a d j. la d v . lp h r . i
hot spot ( 1 1 0 U I 1 )
hot pot t n o u n )
hotch potch ( n o u r i;
ho o-ha ( n o u n )
humdrum ( a d j. )
hob-nob ( v . )
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)
1)
m)
n)
o)
p)
q)
r)
s)
t)
(done) in a great and disorganised hurry
breathing noisily
any way possible, including dishonest means
noisy activity
in disorder; mixed together any old how
very healthy and active
cheating or deceit or sexually improper behaviour of a
not very serious kind
fine, OK
noisy talk or fuss about something unimportant
disorder
too ordinary; without variety or change
a number ot things mixed up without any sensible
order or arrangement
ton proud and certain of one's own importance
the ordinary people
a loud-mouthed, empty-headed, upper-class man
to have a pleasant social relationship, often with
someone in a higher social position
a place where there is likely to be a lot of trouble
completely, uncontrollably
a mutton, potato and onion stew
the use of trieks to deceive
89
R hym es
a n d R h y t h m XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Task 51
frorn Task 5 0 .
F ili e a c h g a p in th e to llo w in g s e n te n c e s w ith o n e o t th e p h r a s e s ( 1 - 2 0 ) zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZY
1 He's not very fit, poor man. He was
just 10 minutes after the start of the
match.
2 In cheap supermarkets, they often pile up things all
instead of putting
them neatly on the shelves,
3 He's gone all
since he got that new job. Won't have anything to do with
his old friends.
4 They hardly ever go out; never been abroad. A pretty
life altogether, if you
ask me.
1'11 get my own back on them
.
SonmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
6 I hear the vicar's been up to a bit of
with someone in the choir!
7 They couldn't cope in the
of life.
8 How's things? Everything
?
Finally, to end the book, here are two nonsense sequences using a number of doubled-up phrases. Look
up the meanings in a good dictionary, if you want to. But if I were you, I would just do as I have
o t the language.
suggested before; enjoy the magie of sounds, and listen to the rhythm and musiebaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC
hankypanky
hale and hearty
hubble bubble
hurdy gurdy
hurly budy
hocus pocus
hunky dory
helter skelter
tall and lanky
arty farty
toil and trouble
rather wordy
short and cudy
out of tocus
thirteenth story
gimme shelter
see saw
knick knack
mish mash
flip flop
chitter charter
ping pong
hi-fi
hee haw
tick tack
splish splash
tip top
pitter patter
ding dong
bye bye
90