Listening Practice
Exercise 1
Just as words have stressed and unstressed syllables, so do phrases.
Listen to the speaker say these word/phrase pairs. In each pair, the rhythm of the word is repeated in the phrase.
|
Word |
Phrase |
|
overthrow |
In a row |
|
volunteer |
She was here |
|
permit |
Learn it. |
|
presented |
She sent it. |
|
herself |
An elf. |
Excercise 2
Each box has three phrases. Each phrase has a different number of syllables but takes the same amount of time to say. Listen to the speaker say these phrases.
|
CLEAR VIEW= 2 syllables CLEAR reVIEW= 3 syllables CLEARly reVIEW= 4 syllables |
|
QUICK SLEEP= 2 syllables QUICKly SLEEP= 3 syllables QUICKly aSLEEP= 4 syllables |
|
SLOW TURN= 2 syllables SLOWer TURN= 3 syllables SLOWer reTURN= 4 syllables |
English is a stressed-timed language. The number of syllables doesn't determine how long it takes to say a sentence. The number of stressed syllables determines how long it takes to say a sentence.