Questions vs. Statements

How does the intonation of a phrase change for questions and statements?  Learn the difference in this video.

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Video Transcript:

Today I’m going to talk about word stress and questions vs. statements. In English, statements generally tend to go down in pitch throughout the phrase. I’ll be there by three. I’ll is higher than three. Questions, on the other hand, tend to go up at the end. Have you seen Mary? Have you seen Mary? Let’s look at three phrases that can be either questions or statements. For example, you know what I mean. This can be a statement if you’re talking to somebody and you’re explaining something, but you know that they understand, maybe because they’ve had the same experience. You might say, You know what I mean. Statement. But if you’re talking and you want to make sure that the person is understanding you, you might say, You know what I mean? Asking a question. Statement: You know what I mean, You know what I mean. Voice goes down. Question: You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Voice goes up at the end.

The simple word me could be a question or a statement. Let’s say, for example, you’re with a group of people and someone says, who can help me tomorrow? You might volunteer and say me. Me, Me, voice goes down in pitch. Me. But let’s say the person who asked who can help me? is staring right at you. And you feel like, are they asking me? Then you might say Me? Question. Me? As in, are you specifically asking me to help? Me, statement. Me? Question.

See you tomorrow. Let’s say you’re at work and you know that you’re going to be at work tomorrow and so is your colleague. When you part ways you might say See you tomorrow. Statement. But maybe you’re not sure that your colleague will be there. Then you might say, see you tomorrow? Question. That would be like asking, are you going to be in tomorrow? See you tomorrow? Statement: see you tomorrow. Voice goes down. Question: see you tomorrow? Voice goes up at the end.

The next clip uses free software that can analyze speech. See RachelEnglish.com for a link to this free software. Here you will see the pitch of the three phrases in both question and answer form. You know what I mean. You know what I mean? Me. Me? See you tomorrow. See you tomorrow?

Now you will hear some phrases. You need to decide if it is a question or a statement based on the word stress. You’re coming at three … You’re coming at three. Question. I am trying to confirm that this person will be coming at three. You’re coming at three? Voice goes up at the end. He saw her yesterday. He saw her yesterday. Statement. He saw her yesterday. Voice goes down throughout the phrase. We’re going. We’re going. Statement. Voice goes down in pitch. We’re going? We’re going? Question. Voice goes up in pitch. He hurt her feelings? He hurt her feelings? Question: voice goes up at the end. He hurt her feelings? They said no. They said no. Statement. They said no. Voice goes down in pitch throughout that phrase. We’ll see them Monday? We’ll see them Monday? Question. Voice goes up at the end. We’ll see them Monday? 987 Today I’m going to talk about the TS sound. I’ve noticed, working with my students, that many people have problems putting the T into the TS sound. So, let’s ends up sounding like less. So what is the difference between the S and the TS? A stop, the T stop. So, to make the S, the tip of the tongue is forward, here, ss, lightly touching behind the bottom front teeth. Corners of the lips will be pulled a little wide, teeth are closed, and the lips are parted, letting out the sound. To make the T, one would ordinarily lift the tongue to the roof of the mouth, tt, and release.

However, in the TS sound, there’s actually a short cut that the tongue does. Rather than lifting the tip for the T, the tip stays down here, ss, ss. And it’s further back, the front part of the tongue, but not the tip, that will raise and touch the roof of the mouth, to cut off the air flow. Sst, sst. So rather than the tip coming up, it’s simply the front part raising. And still, that contact with the roof of the mouth makes the stop because it cuts off the airflow. So to work on this sound, we’re actually going to begin by practicing an S sound with a stop T at the end rather than a TS sound. So the first sound, the S. Ss, ss, tip of the tongue down low. Sst, and the stop. Bringing the front of the tongue to the roof of the mouth while leaving the tip in its place. Sst, sst, sst, sst. Practise that along with me. Sst, sst, sst.

So as the tongue moves up, it cuts off the airflow. Now let’s practise alternating the S with the stop T a little quicker this time. Sst, etc. So to make the TS sound, it’s simply starting with the stop T, and moving into the S: ts, ts, ts, ts. So you want to start with the front part of the tongue raised, the tip down, and air in a cut-off manner. Ts. You then pull the tongue back down with the tip still forward, releasing the air out for the S. So let’s take a look at the two words from before. Let’s, and less. Let’s, the tongue is raising in the front part, cutting off the airflow. Let’s, and, less, less, less. No stop in the sound. Let’s, less. So as you’re practicing this, make sure you hear that pause. Let’s. You might even want to exaggerate it like that to make sure you’re getting it in.

The TS sound is very common in English. It’s, what’s, let’s. Also, any noun in plural form that ends in a T, for example, cats. And the conjugation of some verbs that end in a T, like sits. So let’s look at some more examples. It’s raining, it’s, ts, ts, it’s raining. That’s what I said. Tha-ts-, that’s what I said. He fights with his boss a lot. He fights, ts, fights, he fights with his boss a lot. That takes some guts, guts, that takes some guts. Let’s go. Let’s, let’s go. That’s ts, ts, that’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 1112 The P and B consonants. These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position. P is unvoiced, pp, meaning only air passes through your mouth. And B is voiced, bb, meaning, uh, uh, bb, you’re making a sound with your vocal cords. To make this sound, the lips will stay together while the teeth part a little bit, pp, bb. These are stop consonants. In stop consonants, there are two parts. There is a stop of the airflow, and a release. So the stop of the airflow happens, pp, as the lips remain closed, and the release when they part and the air comes through. Let’s look at the nature of a stop consonant in the sample word nap. Na–, the lips are together, cutting off the airflow, nap, pp, and they part, the air is released. Stop consonants at the ends of words or syllables are sometimes not released. In other words, there’s just the first part, the stop of air flow. Let’s take for example the sentence I’m going up later. I’m going up later. So the lips came together to make the P — I’m going up later — but when they opened and the sound continued, it simply went into the L consonant sound, which was next, without the release. I’m going up, I’m going up, I’m going up later.

Here is the sound from the front, where the lips are together but the teeth are slightly parted. That is why it doesn’t look relaxed. And here from the side. Again, you can see this tension in the chin as the teeth are slightly parted even though the lips are closed. Here, parts of the mouth are drawn in. The soft palate is raised in this sound, and the tongue itself raises just a little bit, b ut the tip of the tongue is still touching the bottom front teeth. Sample words: pad, bad, pot, bought. Sample sentence: Pick a big print for the bedspread. Now you will see this sample sentence up close and in slow motion both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.,

Pick, the lips press together as the jaw drops slightly. A big, again, the lips press together as the jaw drops. Print, again the P sound. Tongue goes up to make the T. Lip comes up to make the F in ‘for’. The, lips together, bb, bedspread, and here again to make the P in spread. Jaw drops to make the ‘eh’ as in ‘bed’ vowel sound, and the tip of the tongue up to make the D. And here from an angle. The lips press together even as the jaw drops and the teeth part. Pick, the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ sound. Pick a big, again the lips come together for the B, big. And again for the P, print. Tongue up for the T. For the. Lips together for the B in bed-, and again for the p in -spread. The ‘eh’ as in ‘bed’ and the tongue up to make that D. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 1102 The ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ vowel sound. This is a very relaxed vowel sound. You can see, uh, the jaw drops but the rest of the mouth remains very neutral, uh, uh. The tongue is also very relaxed. The back presses down just a little bit, and the tip is forward, lightly touching behind the bottom front teeth. Uh, butter. Here we see the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left.

Here we see the inside parts of the mouth drawn in. As with all other vowels, the soft palate is raised in this vowel. But more importantly, note the position of the tongue. It is forward and relaxed, and slightly pressed down in the back. The ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound. Sample words: mother, sudden, lucky, ton. Sample sentence: I love my younger brother, but sometimes he bugs me. Now you’ll see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.

I, the jaw drops to make the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Tongue comes up to make the L and comes through the teeth, love and the jaw drops. This is the ‘uh as in ‘butter’ sound. Bottom lip comes up for the V, and the lips come together for the M, my. Younger, another ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’, but it’s very fast. We’re already now into the R, younger. Brother, another uh vowel sound. The tongue comes through the teeth for the TH. Er, brother. But, another uh vowel sound. Teeth come together for the S, sometimes, uh, another ‘butter’ sound. -Times, he bugs – lips come together for the B and again, the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound. The tongue comes up in the back to make the G. Me, with the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound.

Again from an angle. The jaw drops for the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong, I love, the tongue forms the L, jaw drops for the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’. Bottom lip up to the teeth to make the V sound, my. The tongue moves up to make the Y consonant sound: younger. There’s the R consonant sound. Brother, a quick ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’. Tongue through the teeth to make the TH. Lips together for the B. But, another quick ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’. The teeth together to make the S, sometimes, a quick ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’, -times, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Lips together to make the M. He bugs, with the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound. You can see the tongue moved up in the back to make that G sound. Me, with the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel and the corners of the lips pulled back. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 1117 The CH and JJ consonant sounds. These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position. CH is unvoiced, meaning only air passes through the mouth, and JJ is voiced, meaning, uh, uh, jj, you’re making a sound with the vocal cords. These consonants have a stop consonant component, but unlike stop consonants, they’re always released. The stop consonant is when the front part of the tongue raises and touches the roof of the mouth in the front in the T/D tongue position. The mouth takes the position of the SH and DJ sounds, where the teeth are together, the corners of the lips are in, and the rest of the lips are flared. Ch, jj. So the tongue will move up and press the roof of the mouth, air builds up, and when the tongue releases, the air comes through, ch, jj, making the sound.

Here is the sound on the right, compared with the mouth at rest on the left. Notice how the lips in this sound come away from the face. Here parts of the mouth are drawn in. The soft palate is raised in this consonant sound. Notice how high the tongue reaches. It presses against the roof of the mouth before pulling away to release the air. The ch/jj sounds. Sample words: char, jar, chump, jump. Sample sentence: I was on the edge of my seat watching each match of the major tournament. Now you will see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.

I, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong, lips circle into the W, was. On the edge, now here we have the jj consonant sound. Watch the lips as the teeth come together. Of my seat. Lips pull wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’. Watching, lips make the W. Ch, here is the ch sound. Watch the lips. Each, lips pull wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ and again, the ch. Match, again it ends in the ch consonant sound. Of the major, with the jj consonant sound, jj. Tournament. Lips together for the M, tongue up for the N position, and the T.

And now from an angle. I, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong. Was on the edge, watch the jj sound. Jj. Of my seat, corners of the mouth pulled wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’. Watching, lips make the W. Watch-, here’s the ch sound. Watching. Each, corners pull wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’, and now form the ch. Match, again ends in ch. Of the major, watch for the jj – there we are – major, tournament. Lips together for the M, tongue up to make the N, and the teeth together for the T. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 948 Today I’m going to talk about the phrases ‘want to’ and ‘going to’. Wanna and gonna are acceptable, although casual, pronunciations of these phrases. For example, in a job interview, you might not want to use this more casual pronunciation. You might say a phrase like, ‘I want to contribute … blah blah blah.’ Want. Where you actually make that T sound. But if you’re in more casual conversation, for example with a friend, you might say something like ‘I want to be there by 6.’ Wanna, wanna, here it would be appropriate to use that word.

In the words wanna and gonna, it is the first syllable that is accented. Wanna, gonna. And the vowel sound in the first syllable is most likely going to be the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound, though you may at times hear it a little closer to the ‘ah’ as in ‘father’ sound. I think I myself pronounce it closer to the ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound. Wanna, gonna. In both of these words, the final syllable is a simple schwa sound, short and unaccented. Wanna, gonna.

Another note about ‘wanna’, wanna is short for the words ‘want to’. Not ever for the words ‘wants to’. So, for example, in the phrase ‘ I want to be there by 6′, I’m replacing ‘want to’ with ‘wanna’. But if we change the subject to he, he wants to be there by 6, now the word is wants, with the S, and not want (because of the different conjugation). Therefore, we cannot shorten it into ‘wanna’. He wanna be there by 6. Can’t say that because ‘wants to’ does not shorten into wanna. Only ‘want to’.

Going to, or gonna, is used with a subject and the conjugated verb ‘to be’. I am going to be there at 6. If we’re going to shorten ‘going to’ into gonna, we’re also going to want to shorten ‘I am’ into I’m, a contraction. I’m gonna be there by 6. You are going to becomes you’re gonna. He or she is going to becomes he’s gonna, she’s gonna. We are going to becomes we’re gonna. They are going to becomes they’re gonna. They’re gonna. If you’re going to be shortening these words, they’re, the contraction, gonna, the more casual pronunciation, you don’t want to pause between them. They’re gonna, they’re gonna. The whole point in shortening them is to say it faster. So, if you pause in between, it will make the sentence sound a little strange. They’re gonna. We’re gonna. I’m gonna. It all melts together, almost as if it’s one longer word.

Repeat the following sample sentences. I want to see the movie on Friday. They wan to be here. We want to get there early. I’m going to see her tomorrow. Are you going to be there? They’re going to pay for it. We’re going to stop by later. 965 In this video, I’m going to talk more about linking and reduction. I have done an ‘Intro to Linking’ video — if you haven’t seen that already, you might want to check it out. Today we’re going to talk about thesituation with the letter H beginning a word. Let’s look at the following sentence as an example: I’ll tell her we’re leaving. I’ll tell her we’re leaving. I’ll tell her we’re leaving. I’ll tell her we’re leaving. Could you tell a difference in the two different ways I pronounced this? I’ll tell her … er … I didn’t pronounce the H in ‘her’. I’ll tell her we’re leaving. I reduced the word ‘her’ by leaving out the H. Perhaps you’ve noticed this. Native speakers do it quite a lot.

Now, if you drop the H, you have to be certain that you link it to the word before. Tell her, tell her, it’s almost like it becomes one word. Teh-ler, tell her. How do you think I’m going to pronounce this phrase? I’m going to drop the H, reducing the word ‘he’. And because I’m going to do that, I want to make sure that I really link things. So I’m actually going to almost think of the Z sound as beginning a word ‘zi’. Wuh-zi there? Was he there? Was he there?Try saying that all very smooth and linked. Was he there? Was he there?

Before we go further, let’s talk quickly about punctuation. A period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, a dash: these things will all signify a stop, a break, a pause. So, we don’t want to link sounds over that kind of punctuation. Let’s take a look at an example sentence. At first he never came; he now comes regularly. Notice there was that pause there where the semicolon is. And because of that I didn’t link, and I didn’t drop the H in ‘he’ the second time. At first he never came: I do drop that H, reducing the word and linking. At first he, at first he, at first he never came; he now comes regularly.

So we’ve looked at ‘he’ and ‘her’, what are some other possibilities? If we’re going to reduce a word, it has to be an unstressed word. So let’s review which words we’ll stress, and which ones will be unstressed. Content words are stressed. These are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, in general. Function words will be unstressed. These are words that don’t have a meaning on their own, like ‘with’ or ‘if’. These are prepositions, conjunctions, articles, and helping verbs.

So, common function words beginning with H: has, have, had. These are helping verbs. Example: What have you done? What have you done? Notice that the H is dropped in ‘have’, and the vowel is actually reduced from aa to the schwa: uv, uv, uv. That is how we’re pronouncing the word ‘have’ in the sentence. What have, what have, what have you done? And do note that it’s linked to everything around it. What have you, what have you, what have you done?

Another example: my friend has seen it twice. The word ‘has’ is pronounced without the H and the vowel sound is reduced to the schwa. My friend has, has, has, my friend has seen it twice. Also, again, it is linked to everything around it. My friend has seen it twice. Now, I want to point out that in ‘What have you done?’, ‘have’ is the helping verb for ‘done’. And in ‘My friend has seen it twice’, ‘has’ is the helping verb for ‘seen’.

Now if these words were the only verb in the sentence, the main verb in the sentence, they wouldn’t be reduced. Because then they would be the verb, not a helping verb. For example, I have two. Now, I may say ‘have’ very quickly, but I’m probably not going to drop the H, and I’m not going to reduce the vowel. I have two. Because it is the only verb in the sentence. Therefore, it is not a helping verb. It is the main verb. I have two.

How do you think I will pronounce ‘her’ here? If you guessed er, you’re right. I saw her sister in Chicago. I saw — er — sister, saw her sister, saw her sister. I saw her sister in Chicago.

And here, how will I pronounce ‘his’? Iz, iz, I will drop that H. What was his name again? What was, iz, name again? What was his name again? What was his name again? And how will I pronounce ‘him’? I will drop that H. ‘Im, ‘im. I told him no. I told — im — no. I told him no. I told him no. How will I pronounce ‘his’? I’m going to drop the H. Do you remember John? This is his sister. This is — is — sister. This is his sister.

As you listen to native speakers, keep this in mind. Try to identify it and then imitate it. And when you feel comfortable, bring it into your everyday speech. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 1100 The ‘aw’ as in ‘law’ vowel sound. To make this sound, the jaw drops, but the tongue raises a bit, aw, not just the front or the back, but the whole thing really, It also shifts back a little bit, aw, which means the tip of the tongue is not touching anything in the mouth, aw. You’ll notice too that the corners of the lips come in a little bit, aw. Really it’s almost like the cheeks come in and shift forward a little bit, aw, to make this sound. Law.

Here is the ‘aw’ as in ‘law’ vowel sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left. Notice that the corners of the mouth are pressed forward somewhat, which brings the center part of the lips away from the face. Here, parts of the mouth are drawn in. As with all vowels, the soft palate is raised. But more importantly, look at just the tongue. You can see in the aw sound that the tongue comes up and backwards. This means the tip of the tongue is not touching the teeth. The ‘aw’ as in ‘law’ sound. Sample words:bought, crawl, wrong. Sample sentence: Your daughter is taller than when I saw her last fall. Now you’ll see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, , so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.

Your, the lips form the Y consonant sound position. Daughter, with the aw sound. Dd, aw. The tongue comes up to pronounced the T, which here is pronounced as a D. Daughter is tt taller, another aw vowel sound here, aw. The tongue comes up for the L. Than when, the lips form the W, I saw, the teeth come together to make the S, aw, another ‘aw’ as in ‘law’. Her last, tongue comes up to make the L. And finally, fall, with another ‘aw’ as in ‘law’ sound.Aw. And the tongue comes up to the L.

Your, the lips form the Y consonant sound, daughter, with the aw as in law. There’s the position. Tongue moves up to make that D sound, and then back to make the R. Daughter is taller, another aw, aw. Tongue comes up to make the L. Than when, tongue goes up to make the N. I saw, another ‘aw’ as in ‘law’, aw. Her, tongue goes up to make the L, last fall. Another ‘aw’ as in ‘law’ sound, aw, and the tongue goes up to make the L. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 1108 The ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong. The first sound in this diphthong does not occur on its own as a vowel in American English, e, e, ay. To make this first sound, the tongue will push forward and press behind the bottom front teeth, e, e. The front part will be wide, ay, ay. The second half is the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ vowel. So to make this part of the diphthong, the front/mid part of the tongue will raise towards the roof of the mouth, ay, ay. As the tongue raises, the jaw will close somewhat. Ay, say.

Here are the two sounds side by side. You can see that in the first sound of the diphthong, the jaw is dropped slightly more. Here are the two sounds in profile. Again, note that the jaw drops slightly more for the first sound. Here, parts of the mouth are drawn in. In the first sound of the diphthong, the tongue pulls more forward. In the second sound it is more forward and up, and the tongue raises closer to the roof of the mouth. In both sounds, the tip of the tongue is touching the front bottom teeth. Sample words: maybe, play, neighbor. Sample sentence: I was afraid if I stayed late that I’d be tired today. Now you’ll see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.

I, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong, was, lips make the W shape, afraid, bottom lip up for the F, and now here is the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong. Tongue tip up to make the D. If I stayed, again the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong, and the tongue tip up for the D. Late, again the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong, and the tongue moves into the T position. That I’d be tired, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong, today. Again the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong.

And now from an angle. I, with the ‘ay’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong, was afraid. The ‘ay’ as in ‘say’, tongue forward and then up more towards the roof of the mouth. There the tip makes the D. If I stayed, again the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ but it’s very quick here, the jaw doesn’t drop much before the tongue moves up to make the D sound. Now here’s the L, and it pulls down again, la-, into the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong. That I’d be tired today. And again, the ‘ay’ as in ‘say’ diphthong. The jaw drops, the tongue comes forward, and then the jaw closes as the tongue raises towards the roof of the mouth. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 1098 The ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel. To make the sound, the front part of the tongue raises very high towards the roof of the mouth while the tip still remains down, lightly touching behind the bottom front teeth, ee, ee, ee. The tongue doesn’t touch the roof of the mouth,but it’s very close up there, ee, ee. You can see also the corners of the lips pull wide, ee, ee.

Here is a photo of the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel sound on the right, compared with the mouth at rest on the left. Notice that the corners of the mouth are pulled slightly back in this ee sound. And here with the inside parts drawn in. As with all vowels, the soft palate is raised, but more importantly, note the tongue. It’s raised very high in the mid-front, though not quite touching the roof of the mouth. The tip of the tongue lightly touches the back of the bottom front teeth. Sample words: please, ski, even. Sample sentence: She needs to see there’s a reason to believe me. Now you’ll see this sentence close up and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.

She, S-H sh, and the ee. Needs, see how much further the corners of the lips pull back, needs, as it is more stressed than she. To see, again, the corners of the mouth are pulled back. There’s, the tongue comes through the teeth, a reason, again the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ rr ee son. To believe, lip comes up to make the V, me.

And now from the angle. She, sh here, she, needs, tongue goes up to make the N. And watch the corners of the mouth really pull back. Needs. To, t-uh here. See, teeth come together to make the S, see. There’s, tongue comes through the teeth. A reason, lips form the R, re-, corners pull back, re-son. To believe. Lips together for the B, tongue up to make the L and the corners of the lips pull back for the ee. Lip moves up to make the V. Me, corners pull back again for the ee sound. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

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