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!