Intonation

Intonation is very significant in English. It can:

• Mean the difference between questions and statements,e.g. She likes the music? She likes the music.
• Show the speaker’s attitude and emotion, e.g. She likes the music.
• Divide speech into meaningful segments.
  

By improving your ability to segment speech properly, you will improve your communicative skills both conversationally and in oral presentations.

Use a dictionary to practice learning and saying difficult words until they sound natural to you. Before practicing, do the following example exercise:

1. Look up the word, "alacrity" in a dictionary. Note the IPA transcription.
2. Note how many syllables it has and where the stress is placed.
3. Check whether there are two pronunciations and decide which one to use.
4. Try to pronounce each individual syllable.
5. Say all four syllables together with the stress on the second syllable.
6. Say the word several times to make sure you are saying it naturally and pronouncing each syllable correctly.
7. Make up a sentence using the word and practise saying it correctly within a sentence.