ONLINE PRACTICE Nº 1. Pauses, prominence and weak vowel sounds.
I. PAUSES. Listen to the recording (click on the link Pauses 2015) and mark the pauses you hear. The
passage is recorded twice.
Ladies and gentlemen on your left you will see Lumley Castle this belongs to Lord and Lady Lumley who live here with their
family all the land on the left of the road belongs to the Lumleys they have a famous collection of wild animals including lions
so please do not leave the coach until we are safely inside the car park we are lucky Lord Lumley is allowing us to leave the
grounds and go inside this beautiful stately home most people can only look at the castle from outside the time is quarter to
eleven please return to the coach by quarter past twelve don’t be late or we’ll miss lunch.
II. PROMINENCE.
a. Predict the prominent words in the utterances below. (each utterance is repeated 3 times, e.g. click
link labelled “Prominence 1 to listen to sentence 1, and so on)
b. Listen again mark the prominent words. ( listen to the recording as many times as you need it )
1. Ladies and gentlemen on your left you will see Lumley Castle
2. this belongs to Lord and Lady Lumley who live here with their family
3. so please do not leave the coach until we are safely inside the car park
4. most people can only look at the castle from outside
a. Justify the underlined words (why they are prominent or non-prominent), eg. Content or
structural word, etc.
On
See
who
Do
Not
car park
III. WEAK VOWELS. Transcribe all the weak vowels on structural words and non-prominent syllables of
content words.
We are lucky, Lord Lumley is allowing us to leave the grounds and go inside this beautiful stately home. Most
people can only look at the castle from outside. The time is quarter to eleven, please, return to the coach by
quarter past twelve. Don’t be late or we’ll miss lunch.
ANSWER KEY
Ladies and gentlemen / on your left you will see Lumley Castle / this belongs to Lord and Lady Lumley /
who live here with their family / all the land on the left of the road belongs to the Lumleys / they have a
famous collection of wild animals / including lions / so please do not leave the coach until we are safely
inside the car park / we are lucky / Lord Lumley is allowing us to leave the grounds / and go inside this beautiful
stately home / most people can only look at the castle from outside / the time is quarter to eleven / please
return to the coach by quarter past twelve / don’t be late / or we’ll miss lunch.
Text 2:
Ladies and gentlemen on your left you will see Lumley Castle this belongs to Lord and Lady Lumley who

live here with their family all the land on the left of the road belongs to the Lumleys they have a famous

collection of wild animals including lions so please do not leave the coach until we are safely inside the

car park we are lucky Lord Lumley is allowing us to leave the grounds and go inside this beautiful stately

home most people can only look at the castle from outside the time is quarter to eleven please return to

the coach by quarter past twelve don’t be late or we’ll miss lunch.
