Unit 45. 'I Paid ?200,000 for It.' 'How Much?'

Repeat Questions
Unit 45; Part A
We use some questions to get people to repeat all or part of whatthey have said. We may want to check that we heard it correctly, orperhaps we found it surprising. Because these questions are usuallymaking sure (see Unit 43), they ofen have a rising tone.![]()
All these repeat questions have a rising tone starting on the wh- word. When questions are used to find out (see Unit 43), they have a falling tone. In these finding out questions the falling tone starts afer the wh- word. Compare: A: I'll meet you at eight. B: WHAT time ↑? (making sure) but: A: I'll meet you at the station. B: what TIME ↓? (finding out) A: This parcel's for Mike. B: WHO'S it for ↑? (making sure) but: A: This parcel's arrived. B: who's it FOR ↓? (finding out) |
Unit 45; Part B
In other questions used to check hearing or understanding, we repeat the whole of what was said: A: Kathy's getting married again. B: she's getting MARried again ↑? or we focus on part of what was said using a wh- word or phrase at the end: A: We 're staying with Zara. B: You're staying with WHO ↑? A : There were at least 500 people i n the room. B: There were HOW many ↑? We can use what or do + what to focus on the verb or the part of the sentence beginning with the verb: A: I bought Chris a rabbit. B: You WHAT ↑? or: You did WHAT ↑? |
Unit 45; Part C
A number of common phrases with rising tone are used to ask people to repeat. For example: I'm SORRy ↑? SORRy ↑? PARdon ↑? WHAT did you say ↑? SAY that aGAIN ↑? SAY it aGAIN ↑? WHAT ↑? You WHAT ↑? (these two are less polite and some people avoid them) ![]() A: Zak told me he was leaving. B : WHAT did you SAY ↓? ( = What did you say to him?) |
Exercises
![]() | Unit 44 Unit 45 Unit 46 | ![]() |