Pronunciation
1. Listen and repeat
Hertford College
Cornell
Santos
Forbes Nash
Cambridge
Dartmouth
Stewart
Alicia
Yale
Princeton
Catherine
Hansen
Columbia
Pennsylvania
Kennedy
Columbia
Princeton
Cornell
Pronunciation
2. Listen and repeat. Notice how the stressed syllable changes.
institute
finance
elite
protest
derive
symbol
mathematics
institution
financial
elitism
protestant
derivation
symbolic
mathematician
Pair works:
Student A reads the words in the left column and Students B
reads those on the right. Then switch roles.
Pronunciation
3. Listen and underline the words which the speaker stresses.
Mark Hi Janet. Welcome to England. What are you reading?
Janet English.
Mark How about you, Kate?
Kate My major is law. And you?
Mark I’m studying PPE.
Kate That’s a special Oxford subject, isn’t it?
Check the answers >>>
What is PPE? I’ve
never heard.
Pronunciation
Answers
Mark Hi Janet. Welcome to England. What are
you reading?
Janet English.
Mark How about you, Kate?
Kate My major is law. And you?
Mark I’m studying PPE.
Kate That’s a special Oxford subject, isn’t it?
Pronunciation
Stressing different words in English can often give a
different meaning, emphasis or attitude to the content.
Try to read the sentences with stress on different words
according to the four given meanings.
1. John never goes home after midnight.
A. Whatever the others may do.
B. There are no exceptions.
C. Wherever else he may go.
D. Sometimes, it’s even later.
Pronunciation
2. I’m going to the theatre with Jane tonight.
A. Whether you like it or not, I’m determined to go.
B. Not the cinema, as you might expect.
C. Not with Mary, after all.
D. Not tomorrow, as we’d arranged.
3. Apples ought to be a lot cheaper this year.
A. But other fruit may not be.
B. But I wonder whether will be.
C. Prices should be very much lower.
D. They were expensive last year.
Pronunciation
4 Listen to the conversation in Activity 3 again and read the
lines aloud.
Mark Hi Janet. Welcome to England. What are
you reading?
Janet English.
Mark How about you, Kate?
Kate My major is law. And you?
Mark I’m studying PPE.
Kate That’s a special Oxford subject, isn’t it?
Follow-up practice:
Work in groups of three. Read the dialogue by the roles
and make sure you stress the words correctly.
Pronunciation
Rising intonation in unfinished sentences
Our voices usually fall at the end of sentences, although not
always at the end of questions. In longer or complex
sentences, our voices rise at the end of the first part of the
sentence to show the sentence is unfinished.
5. Listen and notice how the speaker’s voice rises to
show she hasn’t finished the sentences.
Oxford is a very old university,↗ the oldest Englishspeaking university in the world. And so there’re many
traditions↗ which are associated with the colleges,↗
with the times of the year,↗ and with sport, and with
eating, for example. Formal Hall is when we all eat
together here in college,↗ the professors and the
Pronunciation
students. Usually it takes place at seven o’clock in the
evening,↗ and the professors sit on high table,↗ which is the
table over here, and the students sit on common table, which
are the tables here. But everybody eats together. It’s a very
beautiful evening because there’s a special meal and we eat by
candlelight. When the students take exams,↗ they must go to a
special building and it’s called Examination Schools.
Follow-up practices:
Variation 1: Work in pairs and take turns to read the
passage to each other.
Variation 2: Volunteer to read the passages to the
whole class, appoint one student to reads
the following sentence. Then the second
student carries on.
Pronunciation
Sense groups
When you hear people speaking English, they pause
after each sense group. It may not be a long pause, but
it’s just enough to mark the end of one sense group and
the start of the next one. If you can pause after sense
groups, you’ll sound more fluent.
Remember to
pause after each
sense group!
Pronunciation
6. Listen and notice how the speaker pauses after each
sense group. Mark the pause with “/”.
Originally the Ivy League referred to the sports teams from
the universities which competed against each other, especially in
football, basketball and ice hockey.
But in the last 50 years, Ivy League schools have accepted a
wider range of students because it wasn’t possible to be both
world-famous for research and also top class in sport.
But I suppose worldwide, the two that would be definitely
known all over the world would certainly be George Bush who
went to Yale, and John F Kennedy, President Kennedy, who was
at Harvard.
Pronunciation
Nash believes that he’s been asked to work by William
Parcher for the US Department of Defense on breaking
Soviet codes.
And so the story ends when he goes on to win the Nobel
Prize in Economics.
Pronunciation
Answers
Originally / the Ivy League / referred to the sports teams
/ from the universities / which competed / against each
other, / especially / in football, / basketball / and ice
hockey.
But / in the last 50 years, / Ivy League schools / have
accepted / a wider range of students / because / it wasn’t
possible / to be / both world-famous / for research / and
also / top class / in sport.
But / I suppose / worldwide, / the two / that would / be
definitely known / all over the world /would certainly be /
George Bush / who went to Yale, / and John F Kennedy, /
President Kennedy, / who / was at Harvard.
Pronunciation
Answers
Nash believes / that he’s been asked to work / by
William Parcher / for the US Department of Defense / on
breaking / Soviet codes.
And so / the story ends / when he goes on / to win /
the Nobel Prize / in Economics.
Pronunciation
Fun time: Tongue Twister
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I'm sure she sells seashore shells.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Pronunciation
Fun time: Tongue Twister
Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter-that would make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.