SO - NEITHER

SO

SO is used to show agreement with affirmative statements by, or concerning, another person.

SO + Auxiliary + Subject (pronoun) :  So do I

Remember :
The Auxiliary in the response must agree with the verb tense in the original statement.

Here are some examples :

Speaker A	Speaker B
Charlie likes chocolate	So do I.	(= I like chocolate too.)
Emma lives in London.	So does Amanda.	(= Amanda lives in London too.)
Alex can swim.	So can Jenny.	(= Jenny can swim too.)
Pedro is good at sports.	So is Rafael.	(= Rafael is good at sports too.)
Our teachers are very strict.	So are ours.	(= Our teachers are very strict too.)
Enzo would love to work in Paris.	So would I.	(= I would love to work in Paris too.)
Alex will be angry.	So will I.	(= I will be angry too.)

NEITHER

NEITHER is used to show agreement with negative statements.
NEITHER can be replaced by NOR with no change in meaning.

Neither + Auxiliary + Subject (pronoun) :  Neither do I (Nor do I)

Remember :
The Auxiliary in the response must agree with the verb tense in the original statement.

Here are some examples :

Speaker A	Speaker B
Sam doesn't want to go out.	Neither do I.	(= I don't want to go out either.)
Wendy can't cook.	Neither can I.	(= I can't cook either.)
Jason doesn't have a ticket.	Neither does Tom.	(= Tom doesn't have a ticket either.)
I can't speak Chinese.	Neither can Sue.	(= Sue can't speak Chinese either.)
Peter hasn't finished yet.	Neither has Tom.	(= Tom hasn't finished either.)
Meg couldn't come today	Neither could Sue.	(= Sue couldn't come today either.)
Dad won't pay attention.	Neither will Mum.	(= Mum won't pay attention either.)

STRESSED WORDS WITHIN SENTENCES

Not all words receive equal stress within a sentence in English.

Content words are stressed. Content words include:

Nouns (e.g. school, station, train)

Normal verbs (e.g. run, work, speak)

Adjectives (e.g. beautiful, tall, friendly)

Adverbs (e.g. quickly, noisily, badly)

Function words are unstressed. Function words include:

Determiners (e.g. a, an, the)

Auxiliary verbs (e.g. can, have, may, will, etc.)

Conjunctions (e.g. and, but, as, etc.)

Pronouns (e.g.  you, he, she, us, it, them, etc.) 

Even if the listener does not hear some quickly pronounced function words, the meaning

of the whole sentence should be clear. This is how native speakers of English communicate.

Emphasis is put on the most important words.

For example: "Would you like a cup of tea?"

It is a general rule of English that when there is a sequence of equal stresses, the last stressed

word should be the strongest, or the loudest - which in the above case would be tea. 

Try to imagine receiving a text message like "train delayed home late".

You understand that this means: 'The train has been delayed. I will be home late"

Only content words are used in the message but the meaning is quite clear.

In English, words are stressed according to the meaning the speaker wants to convey. 

For example, depending in which word in the following sentence is stressed, the meaning changes:

• Are you going to the cinema tonight? (or is it someone else?)

• Are you going to the cinema tonight? (or not?)

• Are you going to the cinema tonight? (or somewhere else?)

• Are you going to the cinema tonight? (or another night?)

During a conversation, learners should listen for stressed content words in order to understand

the meaning of the whole sentence.

Likewise, they should practice stressing content words in their speech so that other people

will understand them.

Stress in English pronunciation

English is known as a stressed language. 

Stressed languages are languages spoken with differing degrees of emphasis on the words and syllables in the sentences. 

The content of this page is not intended to be a set of rules but rather an attempt to show

that native speakers of English use regular patterns of stress when speaking.

Although stress and intonation are an important part of English pronunciation, learners must

remember that it would be impossible for anyone to speak naturally with a set of rules in mind. 

By far the best way to improve one's pronunciation is through constant contact with native 

speakers of English, either through conversation, by watching films and news channels, or

listening to the radio. 

However, the patterns of stress outlined below may be useful to learners, for example when

preparing a discussion or a presentation, and help them to feel more comfortable. 

WORD STRESS

In English we accentuate or stress ONE syllable in a word. 

We pronounce that syllable louder than others.

There are words with just one syllable (e.g.. mind), and words with one STRESSED syllable

and one or more WEAK syllables (e.g. remind, reminder, reminding).

In the examples below, bold letters indicate stressed syllables.

1) When a noun or adjective stems from a one-syllable word, (for example art, mind), the stress

 usually stays on the syllable of the original word.

art	artist
break	breakable
friend	friendly
paint	painter
come	become
mind	remind

2) To differentiate between a noun and a verb with the same spelling, stress position changes.

noun	verb
a decrease	to decrease
an insult	to insult
an object	to object
a protest	to protest
a record	to record
a rebel	to rebel
a suspect	to suspect
a transfer	to transfer

3) In compound nouns (two words merged into one) the stress is on the first part:

• bookshop

• football

• notebook

• toothbrush

4) The stress is generally at the end of words ending in -eer.

• auctioneer

• engineer

• pioneer

• volunteer

5) Stress usually falls AFTER prefixes :

• demolish

• dismiss

• prepare

• untie

6) Stress usually falls on the syllable BEFORE the following letters:

 (The words below are just some examples - there are many more.)

Before -tion/-sion	Before -ic/-ical	Before -ity/-ety/-graphy/ -ody/-ogy	Before -ient, -cient, -ience, -ial, -ual - ious
Attention	Automatic	Authority	Convenient
Competition	Democratic	Majority	Efficient
Demonstration	Historic	Paternity	Experience
Explanation	Fanatic	Society	Essential
Invitation	Elastic	Variety	Official
Obsession	Biological	Geography	Potential
Permission	Illogical	Custody	Individual
Position	Philosophical	Rhapsody	Intellectual
Quotation	Political	Morphology	Conscientious
Repetition	Radical	Psychology	Judicious

Intonation in English Pronunciation

What is intonation?

Intonation and stress are closely linked. In fact it's impossible to dissociate them. They go 

hand in hand.

Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say, the way the voice rises and

falls when speaking, in other words the music of the language.

Just as words have stressed syllables, sentences have regular patterns of stressed words. In

addition, the voice tends to rise, fall or remain flat depending on the meaning or feeling we want

to convey (surprise, anger, interest, boredom, gratitude, etc.). Intonation therefore indicates the 

mood of the speaker. 

There are two basic patterns of intonation in English: falling intonation and rising intonation.

In the following examples a downward arrow (➘) indicates a fall in intonation and an upward 

arrow (➚) indicates a rise in intonation.

Again, these are not rules but patterns generally used by native speakers of English.

Just remember that content words are stressed, and intonation adds attitude or emotion.

This explanation on intonation is intended to serve as a general guide to help learners.

It should in no way make them unnecessarily anxious! 

It should be remembered that a written explanation can never be a substitute for a 'live' 

conversation with a native speaker. Attitudinal intonation is something that is best acquired 

through talking and listening to English speakers.

Falling Intonation (➘) 

(The pitch of the voice falls at the end of the sentence.)

Falling intonation is the most common intonation pattern in English. 

It is commonly found in statements, commands, wh-questions (information questions),

confirmatory question tags and exclamations.

• Statements
  • Nice to meet ↘you.
  • I’ll be back in a ↘minute.
  • She doesn’t live here ↘anymore.
  • Dad wants to change his ↘car.
  • Here is the weather ↘forecast.
  • Cloudy weather is expected at the end of the ↘week.
  • We should work together more ↘often
  • I'm going for a walk in the ↘park.

• Commands
  • Write your name ↘here.
  • Show me what you’ve ↘written.  
  • Leave it on the ↘desk.
  • Take that picture ↘ down.
  • Throw that ↘out.
  • Put your books on the ↘table.
  • Take your hands out of your ↘pockets.

• Wh- questions (requesting information.)
  (questions beginning with 'who', 'what', 'why', 'where', 'when', 'which', and 'how')
  • What country do you come ↘from?
  • Where do you ↘work?  
  • Which of them do you ↘prefer?
  • When does the shop ↘open?
  • How many books have you ↘bought?
  • Which coat is ↘yours?
  • Whose bag is ↘this?

• Questions Tags that are statements requesting confirmation rather than questions.
  Not all tag questions are really questions. Some of them merely ask for confirmation
  or invite agreement, in which case we use a falling tone at the end.
  • He thinks he’s so clever, doesn’t ↘he?
  • She's such a nuisance, isn't ↘she?  
  • I failed the test because I didn't revise, did ↘ I?
  • It doesn't seem to bother him much, does ↘ it?

• Exclamations
  • How nice of ↘ you!
  • That's just what I ↘need!
  • You don't ↘ say!
  • What a beautiful ↘ voice!
  • That's a ↘surprise!

SILENT LETTERS IN ENGLISH

Many words in English have silent letters. Silent letters are letters that are not pronounced,
but are there when you write the word.

Here is a list of common words with silent letters from A to Z.

Silent letters	Words containing silent letters
B	aplomb, bomb, climb, comb, crumb, debt, doubt, dumb, jamb, lamb, limb, numb, plumb, subtle, succumb, thumb, tomb, womb
C	abscess, ascend, ascent, crescent; descend; descent, disciple, fascinate, fluorescent, incandescent, isosceles, luminescent, miscellaneous, muscle, obscene, resuscitate,  scenario, scene, scent, science, scissors, sclerosis,
D	handkerchief, handful, handsome, Wednesday,
G	align, assign, benign, campaign, champagne, cologne, consign, deign, design, feign, foreign, gnarl, gnash, gnat, gnaw, gnome, gnu, reign, resign, sign
H	ache, aghast, anchor, archeology, architect, archives, chaos, character, charisma, chemical, chemist, chemotherapy, chlorine, choir, chorale, cholera, chord, choreography, chorus, Christian, Christmas, chrome, echo, ghastly, ghost, heir, honest, honour, hour, loch, mechanic, mechanical, melancholy, monarch, monochrome, orchestra, orchid, psychic, psychiatrist, psychology, rhyme, rhythm, scheme, school, stomach, technical, technique, technology, thyme
K	knack, knapsack knave, knead, knee, kneel, knell, knew, knickers, knife, knight, knit, knob, knock, knoll, knot, know, knowledge, knuckle
L	balk, balm, calf, calm, chalk, folk, half, palm, psalm, salmon, talk, walk, yolk
N	autumn, column, condemn, damn, hymn, solemn
P	coup, pneumatic, pneumonia, pseudo, psyche, psychedelic, psychiatrist,psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychotic, receipt
S	aisle, apropos, bourgeois, debris, fracas, island, isle, viscount
T	apostle, bristle, bustle, castle, fasten, glisten, hustle, jostle, listen, moisten, mortgage, nestle, ricochet, rustle, soften, thistle, trestle, whistle, wrestle
U	baguette, biscuit, build, catalogue, colleague, dialogue, circuit, disguise, guess, guest, guide, guild, guile, guillotine, guilt, guise, guitar, rogue, tongue
W	answer, awry, playwright, sword, two, whole, wrack, wrangle, wrap, wrath, wreath, wreck, wren, wrench, wrestle, wretch, wriggle, wring, wrinkle, wrist, write, writhe, wrong, wrote, wrought, wrung, wry

RATHER - RATHER THAN - WOULD RATHER

It is often difficult for learners of English to know when to use 'rather', 'rather than' or 'would rather'. The explanation below should help clarify things.

RATHER :

'Rather' is an adverb of degree like ‘fairly’, ‘quite’, etc. that can be used with nouns, adverbs,
adjectives and superlatives. 

 • That’s rather a nuisance!
 • He cooks rather well.
 • She’s got a rather nice voice.
 • That’s rather more than I expected to pay. 

OR RATHER :

When we want to correct what we have just said, or make it more precise, we often use
the expression ‘or rather’.

 • His son is a doctor, or rather, a surgeon.

To talk about preferences there are two structures: 'rather than' and 'would rather'.

RATHER THAN : 

• It would be better to go in September rather than in August.
• I prefer to leave now rather than wait for all the speeches.
• He decided to write rather than telephone.

WOULD RATHER :
The expression ‘would rather’ is followed by the bare infinitive e.g. the infinitive without ‘to’.

• Would you rather live here or go back to London? I’d rather live here.
(= I would prefer to live here.)
• I don't want to go to the swimming pool. I’d rather go to the beach.
(= I would prefer to go to the beach.)

To say that one person would prefer another to do something, ‘would rather’ is generally
followed by a past tense.

• Don’t come on Monday. I’d rather you came on Tuesday.

To express regret about something that has already happened, ‘would rather’ is followed by
the past perfect.

• I’d rather you hadn’t done that = I wish you hadn’t done that.

-ING forms:
When the main clause has a verb in the –ing form, ‘rather than’ can be followed by –ing.

• I prefer getting up early rather than rushing at the last minute.

Be careful to note the following: I'd rather + bare infinitive usually means 'I'd prefer', as in the following example: ◊ I’d rather have a cup of tea. = I’d prefer to have a cup of tea/I'd prefer a cup of tea. BUT, with certain verbs - like/enjoy/appreciate - the meaning changes: ◊ I’d rather like a beer = I’d quite like a beer /I would enjoy a beer.