Pronunciation Pronunciation

Hertford College Cambridge Yale ColumbiaCornell Dartmouth Princeton PennsylvaniaSantos Stewart Catherine KennedyForbes Nash Alicia Hansen

1. Listen and repeat

Princeton

ColumbiaCornell

Pronunciation Pronunciation

2. Listen and repeat. Notice how the stressed syllable changes.

institute institutionfinance financialelite elitismprotest protestantderive derivationsymbol symbolicmathematics mathematician

Pair works:

Student A reads the words in the left column and Students B reads those on the right. Then switch roles.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Mark Hi Janet. Welcome to England. What are you reading?Janet English.Mark How about you, Kate?Kate My major is law. And you?Mark I’m studying PPE.Kate That’s a special Oxford subject, isn’t it?

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3. Listen and underline the words which the speaker stresses.

What is PPE? I’ve never heard.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Mark Hi Janet. Welcome to England. What are you reading?Janet English.Mark How about you, Kate?Kate My major is law. And you?Mark I’m studying PPE.Kate That’s a special Oxford subject, isn’t it?

Answers

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Stressing different words in English can often give a different meaning, emphasis or attitude to the content.

1. John never goes home after midnight.

A. Whatever the others may do.

B. There are no exceptions.

C. Wherever else he may go.

D. Sometimes, it’s even later.

Try to read the sentences with stress on different words according to the four given meanings.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

3. Apples ought to be a lot cheaper this year.

A. But other fruit may not be.

B. But I wonder whether will be.

C. Prices should be very much lower.

D. They were expensive last year.

2. I’m going to the theatre with Jane tonight.

A. Whether you like it or not, I’m determined to go.

B. Not the cinema, as you might expect.

C. Not with Mary, after all.

D. Not tomorrow, as we’d arranged.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Mark Hi Janet. Welcome to England. What are you reading?Janet English.Mark How about you, Kate?Kate My major is law. And you?Mark I’m studying PPE.Kate That’s a special Oxford subject, isn’t it?

4 Listen to the conversation in Activity 3 again and read the lines aloud.

Follow-up practice: Work in groups of three. Read the dialogue by the roles and make sure you stress the words correctly.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Oxford is a very old university,↗ the oldest English-speaking university in the world. And so there’re many traditions↗ which are associated with the colleges, ↗with the times of the year,↗ and with sport, and with eating, for example. Formal Hall is when we all eat together here in college,↗ the professors and the

5. Listen and notice how the speaker’s voice rises to show she hasn’t finished the sentences.

Rising intonation in unfinished sentences Our voices usually fall at the end of sentences, although not always at the end of questions. In longer or complex sentences, our voices rise at the end of the first part of the sentence to show the sentence is unfinished.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

students. Usually it takes place at seven o’clock in the evening,↗ and the professors sit on high table,↗ which is the table over here, and the students sit on common table, which are the tables here. But everybody eats together. It’s a very beautiful evening because there’s a special meal and we eat by candlelight. When the students take exams,↗ they must go to a special building and it’s called Examination Schools.

Follow-up practices:

Variation 1: Work in pairs and take turns to read the passage to each other.Variation 2: Volunteer to read the passages to the whole class, appoint one student to reads the following sentence. Then the second student carries on.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Sense groupsWhen you hear people speaking English, they pause after each sense group. It may not be a long pause, but it’s just enough to mark the end of one sense group and the start of the next one. If you can pause after sense groups, you’ll sound more fluent.

Remember to pause after each

sense group!

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Originally the Ivy League referred to the sports teams from the universities which competed against each other, especially in football, basketball and ice hockey. But in the last 50 years, Ivy League schools have accepted a wider range of students because it wasn’t possible to be both world-famous for research and also top class in sport. But I suppose worldwide, the two that would be definitely known all over the world would certainly be George Bush who went to Yale, and John F Kennedy, President Kennedy, who was at Harvard.

6. Listen and notice how the speaker pauses after each sense group. Mark the pause with “/”.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Nash believes that he’s been asked to work by William Parcher for the US Department of Defense on breaking Soviet codes.

And so the story ends when he goes on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Originally / the Ivy League / referred to the sports teams / from the universities / which competed / against each other, / especially / in football, / basketball / and ice hockey.

But / in the last 50 years, / Ivy League schools / have accepted / a wider range of students / because / it wasn’t possible / to be / both world-famous / for research / and also / top class / in sport. But / I suppose / worldwide, / the two / that would / be definitely known / all over the world /would certainly be / George Bush / who went to Yale, / and John F Kennedy, / President Kennedy, / who / was at Harvard.

Answers

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Nash believes / that he’s been asked to work / by William Parcher / for the US Department of Defense / on breaking / Soviet codes. And so / the story ends / when he goes on / to win / the Nobel Prize / in Economics.

Answers

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Fun time: Tongue Twister

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.The shells she sells are surely seashells.So if she sells shells on the seashore,I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

Pronunciation Pronunciation

Fun time: Tongue Twister

Betty Botter had some butter,"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.If I bake this bitter butter,it would make my batter bitter.But a bit of better butter--that would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,better than her bitter butter,and she baked it in her batter,and the batter was not bitter.So 'twas better Betty Botterbought a bit of better butter.