Concord, Intonation,Stress and Tone

Concord

Concord means that certain grammatical items agree with each other. Concord is therefore also called agreement.
• There are two types of concord:
-Concord of number (singular- the pen is…
plural- the pens are …)
- concord of person (first person-I’m…..,
second person-you are ….)

A. Concord of number
I. Subject - verb concord:
a. With all verbs except ‘be’ the question of number concord arises only in the present tense.
b. Be differs from other verbs in having many forms: am, is, are (the present tense) and was, were (the past tense)
c. In the future tense also there’s no concord variation. The model auxiliaries differ from other verbs in having only one form.
(Must, can, will, may etc)
d. In the past tense, there’s no concord variation e.g. Gita danced. People danced.
e. A clause acting as subject counts as singular.

II. Pronoun concord
- A pronoun which refers back to a singular noun phrase is in the singular, and a pronoun which refers back to a plural noun phrase is in the plural.

B. Notional concord
• Some times we find the singular form of certain nouns can be treated as plural. This is called notional concord.
-In the notational concord, the plural verb agrees with the idea of plural in the group noun (family) rather than the actual singular form of the noun.
- But it is also possible to treat a group noun like ‘family’ as singular. At the time it is called grammatical concord (singular subject+ singular Verb, plural subject+ plural verb)
-Plural concord after a group noun is more frequent in informal speech than in formal writing. Also, plural concord is more characteristic of than .

C. Grammatical concord
• It is also possible to treat group noun like ‘family, public’ as singulars because the basics grammatical rules says –sing.sub.+ sig. verb and plu. Sub.+ plu. verb
• Actually when the group is being considered as a signal undivided body the singular tends to be used, but it’s often hard to see such a meaning distinction .
• Other group nouns which allow both singular and plural concord are: association, audience, board, commission, committee, company, council, crew, department, government, jury, party, public, staff
[ Many of these group nouns are decision making bodies…]

There’s also a special case of plural concord with singular proper names which denote sports team:

D. Attraction/ Proximity:
- The basic concord rule [ sing. sub + sig. verb,
And plural sub + Plural verb) is sometimes violated / influenced by attraction / proximity. This means that the verb tends to agree with a noun or pronoun that closely comes before it instead of the headwork of the sub. This is called proximity.
- Attraction clearly works together with notional concord in many cases, in that head noun (number, variety, majority…) conveys the idea of plural.

E. Concord with coordinated subject
When a subject consists of two or more different noun phrases coordinated by ‘and’ the verb is typically in the plural.
• When two noun phrases are joined by ‘or’ or ‘either…or’ the general rule is that the number of the verb is determined by the number of the last noun phrase. This is the factor of attraction or proximity.
- But such sentences are often felt to be awkward. To avoid such concord problems, it is usually possible to use a model aux. verb which has the same form in singular and plural.

F. Concord with indefinite expression of amount:
- Indefinite expression of amount esp., ‘any, no, and none’ often cause concord problems.
- With ‘none of +a plural noun phrase’: both a singular and plural verb occurs.
But with ‘none of + a singular noun phrase’: a singular verb occurs.

- With ‘none of’ grammatical concord insists that ‘none’ is singular but notional concord invites a plural verb. A singular verb is typical of <> style whereas a plural verb is the natural choice in<> English. In conversations, a plural verb is the more natural choice.
The same rule applies to ‘neither’ or ‘either’.

G. Concord of person
• Like concord of number, there is concord of person, too.
• ‘Be’ has three forms in the present tense.
• Main verbs have only two forms in the present tense.
• Model auxiliaries have only one form.
• Notice that ‘you’ behaves like a plural pronoun for number concord. This is because, historically, you were a plural second person form: The old singular form (thou) is almost never used today.

Intonation

• Intonation means rise and fall of tone. Intonation is an important part of spoken language.
• To understand English, we need some knowledge of English intonation patterns. This is because features of intonation are important for signaling grammatical distinctions, such as that between statements and questions.
• They are leaving: statement with falling tone.
• They are leaving: statement with rising tone.

First feature of intonation:
• Stress, symbolized by a stress mark(`)
`under – stress on the first syllable.
dis`cover – stress on the second syllable.
agri`cultural – stress on the third syllable.
admini`stration – stress on the fourth syllable.
Second feature of intonation:
• Tone unit(s), with their boundary/ies marked by a vertical bar (| …… |).
I The attempt seemed futile I
I The parking looked dull I
I This section I needs new waiter I
Third feature of intonation
• Nucleus: The focal point of tone unit, is symbolized by underlining the syllable carrying the nucleus.
- The task seemed difficult
Fourth feature of intonation
• Tones: Tones are falling, rising or combinations of rising and falling.
A falling tone is marked: o`bviously
A rising tone is marked: o’bviously
A fall-rise tone is marked: obviously- ^

Stress

• Stress ,in grammar, is symbolized by a stress mark (`)
• The result of an extra force given while pronouncing a syllable or syllables of a word is stress.
• To consider a syllable as a stressed syllable, there must be at least one vowel.eg `said, `went, `paid
• Syllable: Unit of pronunciation forming whole or part of a word, and usually having one vowel sound often with consonant(s) before or after. e.g. water
• Stress: quantity measuring pressure (tension, emphasis)
• The rhythm of English is based on stress. In connected speech, we feel the rhythm of the language in the sequence of ‘stressed’ syllables.
• E.g. I’ll `call you on the `way to `cinema.

Rules of stress
1. Generally stress occurs on original root of a word.
drink- ‘drunkard (suffix)
speak- ‘speaker (suffix)
Prefix:
side= be’side
see= fore’see
hold= up’hold
2. If there’s ‘ed’ at the end of a word and pronunciation is [Id], stress occurs on the syllable before it. E.g. ‘wicked , ‘crooked, ‘naked, ‘wanted, ’needed
3. Stress occurs on the first syllable if the following suffixes occur at the end of original root:
able=‘bearable, ‘capable, ‘syllable
ible= ‘flexible, ‘horrible
let= ‘booklet, ‘toilet
ture= ‘culture, ‘picture, ‘temperature
ise = ‘advertise
ize = ‘finalize, ‘authorize
yse = ‘analyse
ism= ‘criticism, ‘mechanism, ‘modernism

4. If there’s ‘ify’ at the end and consonant at the beginning of the word , stress occurs in the first syllable.
‘beautify, ‘clarity, ‘certify, ‘simplify
5. If there’s ‘ify’ at the end and vowel at the beginning of the word, stress occurs in the second syllable.
e’lectrify, i’dentify, in’tensify
6. In case of having following suffixes, stress occurs in themselves.
tine= rou’tine
teen = can’teen
toon = car’toon
ar = ba’zaar, ci’gar
7. If there’s ‘a’ and the prounciation is / a / of a two syllables word, stress occurs in the second syllable or after ‘a’.
e.g. a’bove, a’broad, a’gain, a’gainst, a’go, a’lone
8. Generally stress occurs in the second syllable in the verbs having two syllables.
a’bide, a’buse, ac’cept, ab’sorb,ap’ply
9. If the pronunciation is like the given suffix, stress occurs in the first syllable in the following cases:
ow = ‘follow, ‘borrow
er = ‘order, ‘muder
rry = ‘carry, ‘marry
ue = ‘argue, ‘value
en = ‘hasten, ‘happen
10.Stress occurs on the first syllable in the word having two syllables (except verb that has ‘a’ in the beginning and the pronunciation is / a / ) ‘accident, ‘adult, ‘beauty, ‘canvas, ‘often
11. Stress occurs on the first syllable in the word having two syllables that has ‘Y’ at the end and its pronunciation is – / I /
‘easy, ‘dirty, ‘empty, ‘angry, ‘icy, ‘hungry, ‘happy, ‘beauty, ‘lucky, ‘rainy.
12.Stress occurs in first syllable in those words having two syllables (except verbs) that have ‘ar/er/or/our ‘ at the end and sound like / ar /
ar = ‘beggar, ‘lunar, ‘solar
er = ‘barber, ‘border, ‘summer
or = ‘author, ‘tailor
our= ‘neighbour, ‘colour
13.Stress occurs on first syllable in those words having two syllables (except verbs) that have /ect/ at he end and pronunciation in like \Ikt\ , but stress occurs on second syllable if pronunciation is like /ekt/ or the word itself is a verb.
ect (ikt) = ‘subject, ‘object, ‘project, ‘perfect
ect (ekt) = af’fect, ef’fect, se’lect, ob’ject
14.Stress occurs on first syllable if there are two syllables in the word (except verb) having ‘ain’ (pronunciation -In ) at the end.
‘captain, ‘mountain, ‘ foundation
15.Stress occurs on the first syllable in the word having ‘at’ at the end which is changed from abstract noun to common noun.
‘democrat, ‘diplomat, ‘aristocrat,
16.Stress occurs on first syllable if there is ‘ate’ in the last syllable of the word having three syllables.
‘candidate, ‘duplicate, ‘delegate
But stress occurs in second syllable if there is ‘ate’ in the last syllable of the word having more then three syllables.
com’municate, ap’propriate, ac’comodate
17.Generally stress occurs on second syllable in the verb having three syllable.
con’tinue, con’tribute, de’velop, di’minish
18.Stress occurs on first syllable if there’s “less” and “ful” at the end of a word.
‘useless, ‘helpless, ‘harmless, ‘powerless, ‘useful
19.Stress occurs nearly in the suffix itself if the following suffixes are there at the end of the words.
ere = se’vere, sin’cere, inter’fere
eer= car’eer, engi’neer, pio’neer
ier = cash’ier, brigad’ier
ee = absen’tee, deg’ree, car’toon
oon = ba’loon, after’noon, car’toon, mon’soob
o = a’do
oo = bam’boo, sham’poo, kanra’roo
oe = can’noe
20.Stress occurs on first syllable in case there’s ‘and’ at the end of the noun and the pronunciation is (and).
‘husband, ‘thousand, ‘island
21.Generally stress occurs on first syllable if there’s – ‘man’ at the end of a word.
‘human, ‘woman, ‘German
22.Generally stress occurs on first syllable in joint-word.
‘breakfast, ‘football, ‘midday, ‘grandfather
But if there are following suffixes in the joint words , stress occurs in themselves.
self – my ‘self, our’seves, your’self
ever – what’ever, when’ever, how’ever
out – through’out, look’out
23.If there’s ‘live’ at the end of word having more than two syllables, stress occurs in the third syllable while counting from the back.
con’servative , ‘talkative, ‘relative, Inter’rogative
24.If there’re following suffixes and their pronunciations sound as they appear, stress occurs in a syllable before the suffixes.
en = ‘burden, ‘garden, ‘even
on = ‘button, ‘cotton, ‘lesson
in = ‘certain, ‘curtain,
ent = ‘agent, ‘patient, ‘dif’ferent
25.Stress occurs in content or lexical words.
Nouns: book, pen, head
Verbs: eat, dance, sleep
Demonstratives: this, that, those , these
Adjectives: good, long, red
Adverbs : just, quite,
Interrogatives: who, which, whom
26.Generally stress doesn’t occur on function or grammatical words.
Determiners: a, an, the, some
Prepositions: at, to, by, for
Auxilaries : have, do, be
Personal pronouns: I, he, they
Relative pronouns : which, who
Conjunctions: but, and ,or
27.Stress occurs on preposition if it comes as phrasal verb.
put ’on , take ’off
28Stress occurs on auxiliaries if they come as content words (Normally it happens when it comes at the end).
He’s taller than I ‘am.
Go home, ‘will you?
29.Generally stress doesn’t occur in different forms of ‘be’ verb [am, is, are, was, were] even if they come as main verbs.
The girl was sad. He is here.
But stress occurs in these verbs if they come at the end of sentences and if there is no stress in the respective subjects of them.
a. I know where it ‘is.
b. I know where the ‘girl is.
30.Generally, there will be no stress in the various forms of ‘have’ even if they come as main verbs.(has, have, had)
She has a blue sari.
They have pens.
31.Auxiliaries get stressed in the following cases.
a. While giving, emphasis to a verb.
we ‘do dance.
b. With ‘not’ in contracted form.
I ‘haven’t played.
c. While leaving, main verb.
Yes, he ’had.

Tone unit / Intonation unit
-The basic unit of intonation in English is the tone unit.
-A tone unit is stretch of speech which contains one nucleus. It may also contain other stressed syllables, normally preceding the nucleus.
-The boundaries of a tone unit are marked by vertical bars. |……|
| He is from Madi |
| she is bringing | water|
In the first sentence tone unit has the whole sentence length.
- A sentence often contains more than one tone unit . The number of tone units depends on the length of the sentence and the degree of emphasis given to various part of it.
For e.g. |This room| requires new furniture|

The nucleus/ focal point
• A nucleus is a strongly stressed syllable which marks a major change of pitch direction, i.e. where the pitch goes up or down.
Not all stressed syllables are of equal importance. Some stressed syllables have greater prominence than others and form the nucleus or the focal point of an intonation pattern.
The change of pitch on the nucleus is marked by an arrow : upward or downward arrow.
As a nucleus is always stressed, there’s no need to put a stressed mark.
- He is going to the Madi
[ Here in this sentence ‘Madi’ is strongly stressed in comparison to ‘going’ .So it has marked a major change of pitch direction where the pitch goes down and marks the end of the sentence]
Why don’t you visit?
{Here the pitch goes up…….}

Tone

-Tone is the type of pitch change which takes pace on the nucleus.
-There are three different tones in English. They are:
a. falling tone
b. rising tone
c. fall - rise tone

Falling tone:
In falling tone, the tone gradually decreases from high to low and normally tone ends with silence. This tone is very popular in English. It’s symbolized by [ ` ]
E.g. ri`ce, doo`r
Some important uses:
a. In a complete and fixed statement.
I’ve cut my finger.
c. In Wh. question ( who/ which/ when …..).
What’s the name of the town?
d. To express gratitude – Thank you
e. In strong exclamation.
splendid!
f. After a falling tone the rest of the tone unit is at a low pitch

Meaning of falling tone
• Generally it expresses certainty, completeness, independence. Thus, a stateforward statement normally ends with a falling tone, since it asserts/ claims a fact of which the speaker is certain. It has an year of finality.
-I am a teacher.

Rising tone
• In rising tone, tone gradually increases from low to high. This tone is marked by (‘)
Uses:
1. In yes/no questions.
Would you like some coffee?
Are you going to town today?
2. In statement giving consolement .
Don’t worry.
3. In request.
Please sit down.
4. If the sense is of a question (if not question according to the grammar)
In Japan?
5. If the sense is of question when exclamation is used.
Really!, Fast!
6.In greeting, farewell, encouragement, command are generally spoken with rising tone.
Good Morning. Good Bye. Ask me if you wise. Do sit down.
7.In wh. question (when something is missed to listen or failed to understand even if listened)
He went to Pokhara ~ Where did she go?
8. After a rising tone, the rest of tone unit moves in an upward pitch direction.
9. Parenthetical and subsidiary information in a statement is also often spoken with a rising tone. The reason is that this information is incomplete and dependent far its full understanding on the mean assertion.
-|If you like| we can go to my house.
-Ram (the tall and handsome boy) is really helpful.

Meaning of rising tone
Rising tone expresses uncertainty or incompleteness or dependence.
-Are you going?

Fall-Rise Tone
- The fall-rise tone consists of a fall in pitch followed by a rise. If nucleus is the last syllable of the tone unit, the fall and rise both take place on one syllable- the nuclear syllable. Otherwise the rise occurs in the remainder of the tone unit.
- The novel is interesting.
- I know his father it was not his guilt.
- He said he was lonely.
- He didn’t mean to do it.

Meaning of fall-rise tone
• A fall rise tone combines falling tone’s meaning of assertion, certainty with rising tone’s meaning of dependence, incompleteness. At the end of a sentence it often conveys a felling of reservation. It asserts something and at the same time suggests that there is something else to be said. There is often an implied contrast.
- That is not my` ‘diary.
- Are you` ‘sick?