Improving Intonation (Part 2)

In a previous post, we spoke of why it’s useful to better your ability to use various intonation patterns while speaking. We also looked at two common types of intonation, falling and rising.

In this post, we’ll first consider some more intonation types and then give you tips on how to improve your intonation.

Types of intonation

3. Rise-fall intonation
In this type, you raise the pitch of your voice and then drop it. This pattern is often found in:

• alternative questions
  E.g. Would you like ➚ tea or ➘ coffee?

• lists (pattern in the example – rise, rise, rise, fall)
  E.g. We’d need ➚ milk, ➚ sugar, ➚ flour, and ➘ eggs.

• conditional sentences
  E.g. If you see ➚ Danny, please ask him to call ➘ Rebecca.

4. Fall-rise intonation
In this type, you drop the pitch of your voice and then raise it. This pattern is commonly used to suggest that something is uncertain or incomplete. Have a look at these examples:

I don’t like drinking tea in the ➘mo➚rning.

(perhaps hinting that the speaker enjoys drinking tea at other times of the day)

The first half was ➘ex➚citing.

(perhaps hinting that the second half was boring)

Do you think this is ➘al➚lowed here?

(perhaps hinting that the speaker is not sure if something is permissible)

I can’t afford a car at the ➘mo➚ment.

(perhaps hinting that the speaker may be able to buy one in the future)

Ways to improve intonation

Here are some tips to help improve your ability to use various intonation patterns.

• Listen carefully to short recordings of native speakers of English, paying particular attention to the way their voices rise and fall. Then, imitate their intonation by just humming along, without saying the actual words. Remember to focus on the melody, not the words.
• Record yourself saying a sentence with absolutely no intonation, just like how a robot would do. Later, repeat the same sentence by using stress and intonation. Listen to both versions to know the difference that intonation can make.
• Record yourself saying any common word over and over again, changing your attitude each time. For example, repeat the word ‘coffee’, giving it different meaning each time to indicate different emotions, such as enthusiasm, displeasure, surprise, and relief.

Remember, it’s difficult to listen to our own pitch, so working with audio materials is the way forward for improving your intonation.