Phrases and pauses
Reading aloud
A When you listen to English, perhaps you think it’s difficult to understand because it’s too fast.
And perhaps you would like to speak faster. But when people speak English - or any other
language - they don’t speak fast and non-stop. They speak in short phrases, and they stop, or
pause, between the phrases.
B First, read this story, and make sure you understand it.
Lots of people get arrested for dangerous driving, of course. But how old is the oldest? Who's the
world record holder? Well, I read about a man who was a hundred and four! He went through red
lights, crashed into parked cars and drove along the pavement And how old was his car? Only thirty.
C29a Now listen to the story, reading at the same time, and notice the pauses between the lines.
Lots of people get arrested for dangerous driving,
of course.
But how old is the oldest?
Who's the world record holder?
Well,
I read about a man
who was a hundred and four!
He went through red lights,
crashed into parked cars
and drove along the pavement
And how old was his car?
Only thirty.
c29h It’s OK - or even better - to pause more
often, because it gives you more time to
think of what to say next, and it makes C29b It’s also important to stress the most
listening easier. Listen to this version - important words. Listen again, and
the words are the same, but there are this time notice the stress on the words
more pauses. in bold.
Lots of people Lots of people
get arrested get arrested
for dangerous driving, for dangerous driving,
of course. of course.
But But
how old how old
is the oldest? is the oldest?
Who's the world record holder? Who's the world record holder?
Well, Well,
I read about a man I read about a man
who was who was
a hundred and four! a hundred and four!
He went through red lights, He went through red lights,
crashed into parked cars crashed into parked cars
and drove along the pavement and drove along the pavement
And how old was his car? And how old was his car?
Only thirty. Only thirty.
Practise reading this story, phrase by phrase, paying attention to the pauses and the stresses.
74 English Pronunciation in Use (Elementary)
Section c Phrases, sentences and grammar
Exercises
33.1 Listen to this story and mark the pauses like this: I.
C3° A few years ago / I read in a newspaper that the staff at a library ...
A few years ago I read in a newspaper that the staff at a library in a small town in the
west of England had noticed that the number of visitors to the library was going down
and down, and the number of books they were borrowing was going down even faster.
They couldn't understand this, so they decided to do some research to find out the
reason. They interviewed people and asked them to fill in questionnaires and so on. And
guess what they discovered. The reason was simply that everybody had read all the books
already!
Check with the Key.
C3° Listen again and mark the main stresses by underlining them.
A few years ago /1 read in a newspaper / that the staff at a library ...
Check with the Key and practise reading the story yourself. You could also practise reading together
with the recording.
33.2 Listen to this story and mark the pauses.
This seems unbelievable but it's a true story in fact A farmer was working in the fields
with his tractor. The fractor crashed and he fell out and landed on the ground
unconscious. As he fell, his mobile phone fell out of his pocket Soon after, a bird that
was flying around the fields saw the phone and started pecking it with its beak.
Amazingly it dialled the number 999 and soon the emergency senrices arrived to help
the farmer.
Check with the Key.
031 Listen again and mark the main stresses.
Check with the Key and practise reading the story yourself. You could also practise reading together
with the recording.
Tip: You might find it helpful to rewrite the stories with each phrase on a separate line, like this:
A few years ago
I read in a newspaper
that the staff at a library ...
A Note: When we write, we mark some of the main pauses with commas, like this:
This seems unbelievable, but it’s a true story, in fact
English Pronundation in Use (Elementary) 75
