Unit 60. It was Brilliant!

High Tones

Unit 60; Part A

Important for listening!

Listen to these three peopte saying thank you. Notice thatthe woman who forgot her bag makes her voice go very high. This showsthat she realty means what she is saying. The other two people do notreally mean it, and so their voices do not go high.
60.1.jpg

Note: Sometimes the ticket collector's voice goes up at the end when he says thank you,which makes it sound like a routine habit: he doesn't really mean it.And of course the woman in picture 3 doesn't really mean thank you. She means the opposite

Unit 60; Part B

Important for listening!When we give an opinion about something with a very strong adjective like excellent our voice usually goes high to show our strong feeling, If we use weaker adjectives like nice,our voice does not usually go high. Listen and compare the voices ofthe man and woman telling their friend about their holiday.

    Liz:     So, how was your trip?
    Claire: Oh, it was quite nice.
    Paul:   What do you mean, nice? It was brilliant!
    Liz:     Good hotel?
    Claire: Quite pleasant, yes.
    Paul:   Pleasant? It was excellent! Superb!
    Liz:     How about the food?
    Claire: It was OK.
    Paul:   OK? It was absolutely delicious!
    Liz:     And the scenery?
    Claire: Quite pretty.
    Paul:   It was amazing! Beautiful!

Unit 60; Part C

Important for listening!

People often say strong adjective like brilliant with a flat voice, to mean the opposite. For example, you could say brilliantwith a flat voice after something bad happens. Listen and compare thepronunciation of this word in these two conventions. In the first one,the person really means it, and in the second she doesn't.
60.3.jpg

Note: If you use strong adjectives, make your voice go high or people may think you do not mean it!

Exercises

1 Write the names in the correct column.

Listen. What do Sue and Jim think about the people they are speaking about? Write the names in the correct column.

People they like	People they don't like
	Jeremy

Sue:   Jeremy is going to stay at the same hotel as us.
Jim:   Oh great!
Jim:    Anne's invited us to a party.
Sue:    Fantastic!
Jim:    Kathleen's coming to stay with us for a few days.
Sue:    That'll be fun»
Sue:    Gail and Tim want to come on holiday with us.
Jim:     That'll be nice!

2 Say stronger opinions.

You will hear Claire (from part В on the opposite page) giving heropinion about these things on their holiday. Imagine 60.2.jpg

you are Paul.Listen and say stronger opinions. There are gaps on the recording foryou to speak. Don't forget to make your voice high.

Example:
You hear Claire say The beach was quite nice. You say Nice? It was absolutely fantastic!

3 Draw lines to show if you think the voice will be flat or go high.

The responses to the pairs of sentences a and b below are the same, but the speafcer pronounces them differently. For example, in the response to Example a, the voice is flat, but in the response to Example b, the voice goes high. Draw lines to show if you think the voice will be flat or go high. Then listen and check.

1a - Forget the beach; it's raining again! - Brilliant! 2a - I got an A in the exam! - Well done! 3a - I can count to three in German. - Amazing!	1b - They say we don't have to pay; it's free. - Brilliant! 2b - I've crashed the car again! - Well done! 3b - I learnt how to fly a plane while we were on holiday. - Amazing!
4a - We could pick fresh fruit off the trees in the garden. - Delicious! 5a - Frank says he'll take us to the airport. - Excellent!	4b - We had a tiny bit of cheese on a dry, old piece of bread. - Delicious! 5b - The car's broken down and there are no taxis. - Excellent!

Unit 59 Unit 60