EXERCISE –V

INTONATION – STRESS AND RHYTHM

DATA INTERPRETATION

INTONATION – STRESS AND RHYTHM:

Stress is putting emphasis or force on a syllable in a word. For example in the word ‘banana’ the
stress is on the second syllable, in the word ‘orange’ the stress is on the first syllable.
In sentences, we usually stress the most important, ‘content’ words.
Rhythm is about how we use a combination of stressed and unstressed words in sentences.
Sentences have strong beats (the stressed words) and weak beats (the unstressed words).
Intonation is the way the pitch of a speaker’s voice goes up or down as they speak. We use
intonation to help get our message across. Intonation is about how we say things, rather
than what we say, the way the voice rises and falls when speaking, in other words the music of the
language.

Just as words have stressed syllables, sentences have regular patterns of stressed words. In addition,
the voice tends to rise, fall or remain flat depending on the meaning or feeling we want to convey
(surprise, anger, interest, boredom, gratitude, etc.). Intonation therefore indicates the mood of the
speaker.

There are two basic patterns of intonation in English: falling intonation and rising intonation.

In the following examples a downward arrow (➘) indicates a fall in intonation and an upward arrow

(➚) indicates a rise in intonation.

These are not rules but patterns generally used by native speakers of English.
One should remember that content words are stressed, and intonation adds attitude or emotion.

Falling Intonation (➘)

(The pitch of the voice falls at the end of the sentence.)

Falling intonation is the most common intonation pattern in English. It is commonly found in
statements, commands, wh-questions (information questions), confirmatory question tags and
exclamations.

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  Statements
 Nice to meet ↘you.

 I’ll be back in a ↘minute.

 She doesn’t live here ↘anymore.

 Commands
 Write your name ↘here.

 Show me what you’ve ↘written.

 Leave it on the ↘desk.

 Wh- questions (requesting information.)

(questions beginning with 'who', 'what', 'why', 'where', 'when', 'which', and 'how')
 What country do you come ↘from?

 Where do you ↘work?

 Which of them do you ↘prefer?

 Questions Tags that are statements requesting confirmation rather than questions.
Not all tag questions are really questions.
Some of them merely ask for confirmation or invite agreement, in which case we use a falling
tone at the end.
 He thinks he’s so clever, doesn’t ↘he?

 She's such a nuisance, isn't ↘she?

 I failed the test because I didn't revise, did ↘ I?

 Exclamations
 How nice of ↘ you!

 That's just what I ↘need!

 You don't ↘ say!

Rising Intonation (➚)

(The pitch of the voice rises at the end of a sentence.)

Rising intonation invites the speaker to continue talking.
It is normally used with yes/no questions, and question tags that are real questions.
Yes/no Questions
(Questions that can be answered by 'yes' or 'no'.)

 Do you like your new ➚teacher?

 Have you finished ➚already?

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  May I borrow your ➚dictionary?

 Questions tags that show uncertainty and require an answer (real questions).

 We've met already, ➚haven't we?

 You like fish, ➚don't you?

 You're a new student ➚aren't you?

We sometimes use a combination of rising and falling intonation in the same sentence.
The combination is called Rise-Fall or Fall-Rise intonation.

Rise-Fall Intonation (➚➘)

(The intonation rises and then falls.)

We use rise-fall intonation for choices, lists, unfinished thoughts and conditional sentences.

 Choices (alternative questions.)

 Are you having ➚soup or ➘salad?

 Is John leaving on ➚Thursday or ➘Friday?

 Does he speak ➚German or ➘French?

 Lists (rising, rising, rising, falling)

Intonation falls on the last item to show that the list is finished.

 We've got ➚apples, pears, bananas and ➘oranges

 The sweater comes in ➚blue, white pink and ➘black

 I like ➚football, tennis, basketball and ➘volleyball.

 Unfinished thoughts (partial statements)

In the responses to the following questions, the rise-fall intonation indicates reservation.
The speaker hesitates to fully express his/her thoughts.

 Do you like my new handbag? Well the ➚leather is ➘nice... ( but I don't like it.)

 What was the meal like? Hmm, the ➚fish was ➘good... (but the rest wasn't great).

 So you both live in Los Angeles? Well ➚Alex ➘does ... (but I don't).

 Conditional sentences

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 (The tone rises in the first clause and falls gradually in the second clause.)

 If he ➚calls, ask him to leave a ➘message.

 Unless he ➚insists, I'm not going to ➘go.

 If you have any ➚problems, just ➘contact us.

Fall-Rise Intonation (➘➚)

The voice falls and rises usually within one word.

The main function of fall-rise intonation is to show that the speaker is not certain of the answer they
are giving to a question, or is reluctant to reply (as opposed to a falling tone used when there is no
hesitation). It is also used in polite requests or suggestions.

 Hesitation/reluctance:

 So you'd be willing to confirm that? ...Well ... I ➘sup➚pose so ...

 You didn't see him on Monday? I don't quite ➘re➚member ...

 Politeness-Doubt-Uncertainty: (You are not sure what the answer might be.)

 Perhaps we could ➘vis➚it the place?

 Should we ➘cop➚y the list?

 Do you think it's ➘al➚lowed?

DATA INTERPRETATION:

Data Interpretation or DI refers to the implementation of procedures through which data is reviewed
for the purpose of arriving at an inference. Data can be obtained from multiple sources e.g. data from
running of industries, census population data etc. Interpreting data requires analyzing data to infer
information from it in order to answer questions. Data can be provided in a number of formats viz:
Bars, tables, line graphs, pie graphs.

Bar Graphs:

A bar graph or bar chart represents explicit data with rectangular bars. The heights and lengths of
these bar graphs are proportional to the values of data they represent. There are two types of bar

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graph, one is called horizontal bar graph and other is called vertical bar graph. The important thing to
remember is that the longer the bar, the greater its value. Bar graphs made up of two axis, one is
called x- axis and other is called y- axis. In a horizontal bar graph, y-axis shows the data categories
and x- axis shows the scale. In vertical bar graph, x-axis shows the data categories and y-axis shows
the scale. In a nutshell, we can compare easily different sets of data between different groups with
the help of bar graph.

Tables: In tables, data is described in the form of rows and columns. In DI table's questions, we are
required to read data from table/tables analyze the data and answer the questions asked on the basis
of the given data.
What is represented in a Data Interpretation Table?

DI Questions based on Tables are very common in competitive exams. Rows and Columns of tables
consist of various types of data like income of company, expenditure on various items, and marks of
Applicants and so on. First column and row of tables represent the titles. Level of Questions in
Tables may be lower or higher in comparison of other graphs form, depending on given data in the
table and the way, questions are framed.

Line Graphs:

A line graph basically is used to visualize values over a certain time period. It is basically used to
change over time as various points of data connected by straight line on two axes. It helps to
determine the relationship between two sets of values; and also one data set is always dependent on
the other set. In many competitive exams, you will see various questions based on line chart
problems, in which you are supposed to analyze the data and then answer them.

Pie Charts:

Pie charts are circular shaped graphs which are divided into sectors to represent numerical
proportions. In a pie chart, the central angle of a particular sector is proportional to the quantity it
represents. In other words, we can say a Pie Chart resembles a Pie in which a circle is cut in various
sized sectors from center to the boundary. In simple words, the bigger the sector, the higher the
proportion.

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Example

1. Look at the following graph. It shows the result of S.S.C. Exam of H.D. High school. Write a paragraph
giving all the information of S.S.C. result.

90
80
of

70
60
50
Percentage
Passing

40
30
20
10
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Years

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Ans. S.S.C. RESULT OF H.D. HIGHSCHOOL

We are given the S.S.C. result of H.D. High school for five continuous years. In 1997,
30% boys passed the S.S.C. exam and 20% girls passed the exam. In 1998 the result was
improved. In this year 40% boys and 35% girls passed the S.S.C. exam. However in 1999
the result came down. In this year 25% boys and 20% girls passed the exam. In the year
2000 the result was better than the previous year. Here 30% boys and 40% girls passed the
exam. In 2001 60% boys and 65% girls passed the exam. We see that the girls bettered in
their performance and their percentage of passing was more than the boys in 2000 and
2001.

Example 2

Observe the following pie chart and prepare a writeup of about 100 words describing the causes of
‘Increasing Road Accidents’.

Ans. Increasing Road Accidents

With the increase in motor vehicles, traffic on the road has increased. This has resulted in
an increase in the number of road accidents everywhere. Why are there so many
disastrous road accidents?
As per the pie chart survey - analysis, nearly 30 % of the accidents are caused by drivers
who are not yet 18 years old. They are without a license. In their frenzy mood, they drive
in an irresponsible manner, causing accidents.
The second major cause of accidents lies in speeding beyond limits. This
recklessness of the drivers causes 25 % of the accidents. Very often drivers ignore
traffic rules. While this results in 15 % of the road accidents, another, 15 % are caused
by drivers who are on talking on their mobile phones while driving. Wrong parking

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 leads to another 15 % of the accidents. Road accidents can be lessened if every driver
understands his moral responsibility while he is at the wheel.
Activity
Draw a tree diagram to represent the following: There are many different kinds of musical
instruments. They are divided into three main classes according to the way that they are
played. Some instruments are played by blowing air into them. These are called wind
instruments. Some of these are said to be of the woodwind family. Some instruments
are played by banging or striking them. Instruments like this are called percussion
instruments. The last big group of musical instruments has strings. There are two
kinds of stringed instruments. Examples are the harp and the guitar, the violin and the
cello.

EXERCISE – V
(ACTIVITY SHEETS 1-5)

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ACTIVITY SHEET-1
INTONATION
There are _____ tone patterns in Intonation.

Mark tone on the following sentences.

1. She doesn’t live here anymore.

2. Does he speak English or Hindi?

3. Leave it on the desk.

4. Unless he insists I am not going to go.

5. What is your name?

6. Did you complete dinner?

7. I like Football, Tennis, Basketball and Cricket.

8. That’s a surprise!

9. May I borrow your dictionary?

10. You like fish, don’t you?

11. If he calls ask him to leave a message.

12. Perhaps we could visit the place.

13. He likes to chat, doesn’t he?

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 14. Here is the weather forecast.

15. The sweater comes in blue, white, green and red.

16. When does the shop open?

17. I failed the examination because I didn’t write well, did I?

18. We should work together more often.

19. Take the picture down.

20. Is Ravi leaving on Monday or Tuesday?

21. If you have any problems do contact us.

ACTIVITY SHEET-2
SENTENCE TRANSCRIPTION
Transcribe the following sentences and expressions with a tone mark. First one is done for you.

1. What is your name? / wɒt ɪz jɔː neɪm?/

2. I have a pen. ___________________________.

3. He is a good boy. ___________________________.

4. The sky is blue. ___________________________.

5. The cat drinks milk. ___________________________.

6. Today is a lucky day. ___________________________.

7. It’s my pleasure. ___________________________.

8. Birds fly. ___________________________.

9. Food for thought ___________________________.

10. Fill the bottle with water. ___________________________.

11. Bring an apple now ___________________________.

12. Who is he? ___________________________.

13. She learns English. ___________________________.

14. They speak well. ___________________________.

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 15. You must work hard. ___________________________.

16. It was raining yesterday. ___________________________.

17. Go and open the window. ___________________________.

18. Write as you wish. ___________________________.

19. The car is red. ___________________________.

20. Wealthy are rich. ___________________________.

21. Jack and Jill went up the hill. ___________________________.

22. Does she wake up early? ___________________________.

ACTIVITY SHEET-3
IDENTIFY THE SENTENCES
The following sentences are transcribed, identify them and write
English sentences by marking with a tone.

1. / hiː ɪz hænsəm bɔɪ/ He is handsome boy.

2. / təˈmɒrəʊ ɪz ə hɒlədeɪ/ ____________________________.

3. / juː ʃʊd spiːk ɪn ɪŋglɪʃ əʊnli/ ____________________________.

4. / ðeɪ ɑː pleɪɪŋ krɪkɪt/ ____________________________.

5. / ɪt ɪz reɪnɪŋ / ____________________________.

6. / pʊt ðə bʊks ɒn ðə teɪbl / ____________________________.

7. / wiː ɑː wɒʧɪŋ ə fɪlm / ____________________________.

8. / maɪ fɑːðə hæz kɔːld miː / ____________________________.

9. / ðə ˈbɪldɪŋ hæz mɛni flɔːz / ____________________________.

10. / hæv juː gɒt ðə ʤɒb? / ____________________________.

11. / gəʊ həʊm / ____________________________.

12. / kʌm təˈdeɪ ɪn ði ɑːftəˈnuːn / ____________________________.

13. / ðeər ɑː plɛnti vəˈraɪəti ɒv fruːts ɪn ðə mɑːkɪt / ______________

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 14. /hiː ænd aɪ ɑː gʊd frɛndz / ____________________________.

15. /ɔːl ðæt glɪtəz ɪz nɒt gəʊld / ____________________________.

16. /juː mʌst wɜːk hɑːd / ____________________________.

17. /ðə ʃɒp sɛlz njuː fəʊnz / ____________________________.

18. /wɛn dɪd juː kʌm? / ____________________________.

19. /ɒnɪsti ɪz ðə bɛst pɒlɪsi / ____________________________.

20. /ʃiː klaɪmz ðə stɛps iːzɪli / ____________________________.

21. /ðeɪ ɑː ˈpleɪɪŋ krɪkɪt / ____________________________.

ACTIVITY SHEET-4

TRANSCRIBE THE PARAGRAPH – I

Transcribe the following paragraph by marking the tone.

Once upon a time, in a forest, there lived a monkey who resided on a jamoon (berry) tree, which was
on the banks of a river. In the same forest, there lived a crocodile and his wife. One day, the
crocodile came to the banks of the river and rested under the tree. The kindhearted monkey offered
him some fruits. The crocodile came back the next day for more fruits, as he loved them. As days
passed by, the crocodile and the monkey became good friends.

One day, the monkey sent some fruits for the crocodile’s wife. She ate the fruits and liked them, but
was jealous, as she didn’t like her husband spending time with the monkey. She told her husband, “If
the fruits are so juicy, I wonder how sweet the monkey’s heart would be. Get me the heart of the
monkey.” The crocodile was not willing to kill his friend, but had no choice.
He invited the monkey to his house for dinner and that his wife would like to meet him. The monkey
was happy, but couldn’t swim, so the crocodile took him on his back. The crocodile was happy that
he had tricked the monkey, however, while talking, he blurted out the real reason for taking the
monkey home. The clever monkey said, “You should have told me earlier, I left my heart on the tree.
We must go back and get it.” The crocodile believed him and took him back to the tree. Thus, the
clever monkey saved his life.

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Transcribe the above passage:
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ACTIVITY SHEET-5
TRANSCRIBE THE PARAGRAPH - II
Transcribe the paragraph accordingly by marking a tone.

Once upon a time, there lived a greedy lion that attacked and killed animals, because of which every
animal in the jungle was very afraid of him. One day, they decided that each animal would go to the
lion, per day, as his prey. The lion agreed. When it was the rabbit’s turn, they decided to send the
wise old one. He travelled slowly and reached the lion’s den before sunset. The lion furiously asked
him, “Why are you so late?” The rabbit answered,”A group of rabbits were coming to you, but on
their way, the others were attacked by another ferocious lion. I managed to escape and came here.”
The rabbit also mentioned that the other lion was challenging this one.

The lion was extremely angry and asked the rabbit to take him to meet the new lion. The wise rabbit
took the lion to a deep well, and showed him his own reflection. As the lion growled, his reflection
did the same. He considered this reflection to be his enemy. The enraged lion jumped into the well to
attack the other lion, and ended up dying. Thus, the wise old rabbit saved himself, and all the animals
in the forest.

Moral of the Story: One must always focus on solutions, rather than problems.
Transcribe the above passage:

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