1. a) Consult a dictionary and practise the pronunciaton of the following words:
rigidly, nuisance, bouquet, chrysanthemums, transient, exhilarate, intransigence, awe, ensemble, casino, chord, delineate, syncopate, octave, vigorous, intricate, coon, minstrel.
b) Get together with another student. Listen to his/her reading. What recommendations would you give to correct any mispronunciations?
2. a) Read out aloud the following sentences from the text; divide them into intonation groups using proper intonation patterns; observe stresses, strong and weak forms. Make them sound rhythmically correct:
I. I am looking for a young woman of color whose name is Sarah, he said. 2. She is said to reside in one of these houses. 3. He was a stocky man with a red-complected shining brown face, high cheekbones and large dark eyes so intense as to suggest they were about to cross. 4. Mother, not thinking clearly, was suddenly outraged that he had presumed to come in the door. 5. The colored man took another glance at the child, rose, thanked her and departed. 6. One Sunday the colored man left a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums which in this season had to have cost him a pretty penny. 7. Mother said he was well-spoken and conducts-himself as a gentleman. 8. It was important, he said, for a musician to find a place that was permanent, a job that required no travelling. 9. He had heard it in his nightlife period in New York. 10. Well, he said, it appears as if Miss Sarah will not be able to receive me.
b) Get together with your partner. Listen to his/her reading, analyse possible variants in the intonation group division.
3. Complete the following sentences:
1. There is something nice in the way... 2. There is something exciting to (about).,. 3. There was something unusual... 4. This is the jnpst the girl... 5. This was the most the main... 6. This will be the most the children... 7. Delicious or not the dinner... 8. Pleasant or not... 9. She was about to... 10. We are about to...
4. Paraphrase the following sentences using the speech patterns (p. 108):
1. He has a pleasant way of looking at her. 2. She has a poetical way of speaking. 3. This was the biggest meal David Copperfield had eaten for a week. 4. She had never before said anything so unpleasant to him. 5. No matter how tired she was she was always ready to give a helping hand. 6. We shall buy the piano whether it is expensive or not. 7. She was just leaving the house when the telephone rang. 8. She was on the point of tears when he suddenly appeared in the doorway.