'Wasthat the question?

'
he asked.
Reading punctuation'
aloud:'pronouncing
Listen to this text. Notice that in speechthere are pauseswhere, in writing, there are
punctuation marks.

I can never guessthe weather

right. If I wear a warr-nshirt, the
weather'shot. If I rvearcool
clothes,there'sa cold wind.
Wren I don't take my r-rmbrella,
it rains. If I take my umbrella,
doesit rain?Of coursenot! Then
I leaveit on the busl Oh well. We ,i/
all have our weaknesses, I guessl

'pronounce
thepunctuationl
[, aloudisgoodpronunciation
*o,.r Reading practice.
Don'tforgetto

Pausescan change the meaning of what we say. Listen to these pairs of sentencesand note the
differencein pronunciation.
a It was cold outside. There was snow on the ground.
b It was cold. Outside, there was snow on the ground.
'Was
a that the question he asked?
b .Was that the question?'he asked.
a I got up, quickly got dressed,and went downstairs.
b I got up quickly, got dressed,and went downstairs.
'We
lWtu'ô# need to use pausesto give us time to think, and to give the listener time to take in the
information. Listen to this address and note that there are pauseswhere there are line breaks and
where there are gaps in the telephone number. Notice also that when the speaker spells her
surname and email address,she divides the letters into groups.

Linda Wharton
29 Bolton Road
Wigan
Lancashire
wI16 9FT
England
Tel:0908277365
email: linwar@applegroove.com

lA *oa., Practise
saying
thespelling if yourname
howyouwillgrouptheletters,
of yourownname.Decide
is long.

EnglishPronunciotionin Use (lntermediate)

 Section C Conversotion

Fxercises
42"1 aloud,'pronouncing
Readthisweatherforecast the punctuationi
Record if youcan.
yourself
Thenlistenandcompare.
"cî
And for Friday,well, another wintry day in all
partsof the region. Temperaturesnear freezing tn
many places,and along the coast,the wind will
make it feel very cold indeed. Inland, some snow
on the hills, and there may be fog in the valleys.
If you're out and about driving, watch out for
those icy roads!And for the weekend?Well, we're
not expectingmuch change,I'm afraid.And that's
all from me. Goodnieht.

&e " z Thetextsbelowarereallytwo sentences, but the punctuation is missing. Thetwo sentences are
c10' d i v i d ebde f o r e oor f f e r t h e u n d e r l i n e d e x p r e s s i o n . L i s t e n a n d d r a w o n e l i n e / t o s h o w w h e r e t h e
, I"'
sentences aredivided.
Exe-uprn They're leaving/ soon it'll be quieter.
1 Therewas nothing inside it was empfy.
'We
2 walked carefully downstairs it was dark.
3 I watchedhim silentll' he openedthe drawer.
4 The rain didn't stop the next day it just carriedon.
5 The weatherwas hot at the weekendit was 40 degrees.
6 I saw her clearly shewas hungry.
7 It wascold last night the roadswere icy.

and andcontactdetailsthat Vouhear.

Listenandwritethe name,address
,{ir'
ç€r

&2^4' Sayyourown name,address it if possible.

Record
andcontactdetails.

in Use (lntermediote)
EnglishPronunciotion 93