I explain a little more about using intonation in English

Hello everybody

I thought that today you might be interested in listening to English intonation.

English has two main "tones": a "rising" tone for questions, and a "falling" tone for statements and commands.

Father: "Are you not going to play with your friends today?"

Son: "No, I'm not" (slight falling sound on "not")

Father: "Why not?"

Son: "Because I feel ill"

Father: "Oh dear! what is wrong?

Son: "I fell over and banged my head and I have a headache!"

Father: "Ok, I think you need to rest!..."

question sound: "today?"

statement: "I'm not"

question: why not? (sympathetically)

statement "I feel ill"

question: "what is wrong?"

statement: "I have a headache"

command: "you need to rest!"

This dialogue shows how we use the falling and rising tones for conversation a bit clearer.