IELTS Preparation Series 1, Episode 24: Perfect siesta
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Hello, and welcome again to Study English, IELTS Preparation. I'm Margot Politis.
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Today we're going to look at intonation- how we use a rising or falling tone of voice to
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convey meaning - and we'll also have a quick look at how to use commas.
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But first, let's watch a clip about sleep. We'll see a researcher doing some tests on
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a subject, to see just what the benefits are of an afternoon nap.
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Researchers at Flinders University say a short sleep in the mid afternoon could actually
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increase a worker's productivity.
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Each subject performed a series of tests before and after their mid afternoon sleep.
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Some subjective tests of alertness, fatigue, vigour, and also some cognitive performance
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tasks, some which are pencil and paper and some that are done on the computer, and also
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an objective measure of alertness, which is how long it takes someone to fall asleep.
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So if it takes them a long time to fall asleep, that would suggest that they're quite alert,
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and a short time to fall asleep would mean that they're quite sleepy.
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Do you think you were asleep?
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Yes, hard to tell but I think so. I think I did for a bit.
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For how long?
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It felt like probably a couple of minutes, I reckon.
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I want you to do exactly the same thing now. I want you to start here and want you to go
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as quickly and as accurately as you can until I tell you to stop.
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So in that clip we heard a researcher talking to the subject of her tests.
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You'll notice her intonation changed a lot.
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Intonation refers to the changes in pitch in our voice as we speak - whether our voices
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go up, or down.
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Intonation is very important to learn. It has many functions in a language.
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It conveys emotion. We can tell immediately listening to someone how they feel.
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Someone can sound happy, or sound sad.
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Hello, how are you?
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Hello, how are you?
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Intonation also conveys meaning. It let's the listener know whether something is a question
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or a statement, or it can indicate different levels of certainty or uncertainty.
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Hello, are you well?
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Hello, are you well?
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Learning intonation is especially helpful for learning to ask questions, and indicating
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what sort of answer we expect.
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Watch part of the clip again, and listen closely to the intonation as the doctor talks to her
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subject.
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Do you think you were asleep?
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Yes, hard to tell but I think so. I think I did for a bit.
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For how long?
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It felt like a couple of minutes, I reckon.
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The doctor says to the subject, "Do you think you were asleep?"
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Does this have a rising or falling tone?
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Listen again.
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Do you think you were asleep?
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Do you think you were asleep?
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Her voice goes up at the end of the sentence. We call this a rising tone.
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The rising tone is used for yes/no questions - questions that need a yes or no answer.
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Listen now to the second question. Does it have a rising or falling tone?
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For how long?
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It felt like a couple of minutes, I reckon.
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The doctor says, "For how long?"
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This is a question too, but it has a falling tone.
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A falling tone is used with information questions.
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They're questions that need information as an answer, not just a yes or no answer.
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The man answers with a statement: A couple of minutes, I reckon. This takes a falling
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tone.
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In English, statements usually end in a falling tone.
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The falling tone at the end tells the listener that the statement is finished.
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Listen to the intonation used to give instructions.
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I want you to start here and I want you to go as quickly and as accurately as you can
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until I tell you to stop.
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Did you hear the falling tone at the end?
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She said, "until I tell you to stop".
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This tells the listener that this is the end of the instruction.
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So, let's look at when to use rising and falling tones again.
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