美语听力与发音技巧 listen 12

（单词翻译）

美语听力与发音技巧 第12期（问句的语调）

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on the intonation¹ of questions.
Remember that intonation is the rising and falling of the pitch of your voice. So “she’s here.” is a statement, but “she’s here?” is a question. But it isn’t true that all questions have a rising intonation. Today, let’s just look at the intonation of three types of questions: “Yes/No” questions, “Wh-” questions and choice questions.
“Yes/No” questions have a rising intonation. “Wh-”qusetions have a falling intonation. And choice questions have a rising intonation for every choice except the last choice, which has a falling intonation.
“Yes/No” questions such as “Do you like Taiwan?” “Can you speak Chinese?” have a rising intonation. The listener must answer either “yes” or “no”. “Wh-” questions start with the words “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”,” why”, “which” and “how”. “Wh-” questions have a falling tone². For example, “What time is it?↘” “Where do you live?↘” Don’t say “What time is it?↗” “Where do you live?↗” In choice questions, the listener is expected to choose one item from several. For example, “Would you like juice, Coke, Tea or coffee?” A rising tone is used for every choice except the last, which has a falling tone. Listen to another example. “Do you like basketball, baseball, soccer or football?”. So remember that “Yes/No” questions, “Wh-” questions, and choice question have different intonation patterns, and make sure to intone them properly.
This has been today’s daily tip on learning English. Tune³ in tomorrow for another tip.