How stress placement changes meaning (I didn't say HE stole it), thought groups, and intonation of finality vs continuation
I can move sentence stress to steer meaning and read intonation contours precisely.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
I didn't say SHE broke the printer — I said someone did.
I didn't say SHE broke the printer — I said someone did.
The hotel was... fine. (fall-rise) — meaning: book somewhere else next year.
The hotel was... fine. (fall-rise) — meaning: book somewhere else next year.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
One sentence, seven meanings:
| Stress | Implication |
|---|---|
| I didn't say he stole it | someone else said it |
| I didn't say he stole it | I implied it |
| I didn't say he stole it | someone else stole it |
| I didn't say he stole it | he borrowed it, perhaps |
| I didn't say he stole it | he stole something else |
Thought groups chunk speech: When the bell rang | the students | who had finished | left. Falling tone = done; rising = more coming; fall-rise = reservation ("It's fine↘↗" = ...but).
Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesStress not used contrastively
Move the nucleus to the contrasted word
Fall-rise reservation missed
fine↘↗ = yes-but
I didn't say SHE broke the printer — I said someone did.
I didn't say SHE broke the printer — I said someone did.
Contrastive nucleus on the pronoun.
The hotel was... fine. (fall-rise) — meaning: book somewhere else next year.
The hotel was... fine. (fall-rise) — meaning: book somewhere else next year.
Fall-rise = polite reservation.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises