Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hi, my name's Marie.

  • welcome to Oxford Online English!

  • In this video, we're going to show you how to add emphasis while speaking English.

  • But what does it mean to add emphasis?

  • Adding emphasis is a way to show your listener that certain words or ideas are more important.

  • In this lesson, you'll see how to use different pronunciation features and grammar structures

  • to add emphasis to your spoken or written English.

  • Another thing: don't forget to turn on subtitles if you need them!

  • This video has English subtitles; click the 'CC' button on the video player to turn

  • them on.

  • On your mobile phone, use the settings icon.

  • Let's start with one of the most common ways to add emphasis to an idea.

  • What time is John flying to Paris tomorrow?

  • He isn't flying to Paris *tomorrow.* Did you hear the stressed word?

  • Which one was it?

  • Hopefully, you heard that 'tomorrow', was stressed.

  • Why do you think this is?

  • Before we answer that question, let's have a look at three more examples.

  • Listen for the stressed words and think about what the stress means.

  • What time is John flying to Paris tomorrow?

  • He isn't *flying* to Paris tomorrow.

  • What time is John flying to Paris tomorrow?

  • *He* isn't flying to Paris tomorrow.

  • What time is John flying to Paris tomorrow?

  • He isn't flying to Paris tomorrow.

  • In the first sentence, 'flying' was stressed.

  • In the second, 'he' was stressed.

  • And the third?

  • There were no stressed words!

  • Trick question.

  • When you stress one word, you show that this idea is more important.

  • Often, you do this to show contrast with an opposite idea, or to disagree with someone.

  • In the first sentence, adding stress to 'flying' means that he is going to Paris

  • tomorrow, but that he isn't going by plane.

  • Maybe he's taking the Eurostar train

  • or driving.

  • What about the second sentence?

  • What does it mean if you stress the word 'he'?

  • This suggests that other people we know are flying to Paris tomorrow, but

  • '*he'* isn't.

  • What about our first example?

  • What does it mean if you stress the word 'tomorrow'?

  • Think about it.

  • Adding stress to 'tomorrow' means he is flying to Paris, but not tomorrow.

  • Maybe he's flying today, or the day after tomorrow.

  • Adding word stress is a simple way to add emphasis to your idea.

  • This is especially useful when you want to correct someone, or disagree with somebody

  • else.

  • So, what did you think of the movie?

  • Amazing!

  • It was so tense!

  • Yeah, I saw you jump so many times!

  • I know!

  • *Never* have I been so scared.

  • That basement scene was so frightening, I could hardly watch.

  • And the ending!

  • What a twist!

  • At no point did I see that coming.

  • What was the director's name again?

  • Maria Thornby, I think.

  • Not only did she direct it, but she also wrote and starred in it too!

  • She's one to watch, then.

  • Look at two sentences.

  • You heard one of these in the dialogue.

  • Do you remember which?

  • You heard number two.

  • Next question: what's the difference between these two sentences?

  • The structure in sentence two is called an inversion.

  • This is another way to add emphasis to your ideas.

  • When you make an inversion, you do two things: first, you start the sentence with an adverb,

  • like 'never', 'only', 'not only' or 'at no point'.

  • The adverb can be a single word or a phrase.

  • Secondly, you put an auxiliary verb before the main verb.

  • You can make inversions in different verb tenses.

  • For example, look at four sentences.

  • Can you say what verb tenses they are?

  • Could you do it?

  • Pause the video if you want more time to think.

  • Sentence one is past perfect.

  • Two is present simple.

  • Three is future, with 'will', and four is past simple.

  • Inversions like this are more common written English,

  • but you might hear them in conversations, too.

  • Like all emphasis, you shouldn't overuse them.

  • You're not coming to the party tonight, right?

  • I *am* coming!

  • Why would you think I wasn't?

  • Well, last time we went to their place, you were in a terrible mood.

  • It didn't look like you were enjoying yourself at all.

  • Well, I was quite tired, but I *did* have a good time.

  • OK, well that's good.

  • I *do* hope you're bringing Michelle with you, too?

  • I haven't seen her for ages.

  • Yes, she'll be there.

  • Is she going to make her orange cake again?

  • That was the best!

  • I'll ask her.

  • She *does* make the best cakes.

  • In the dialogue, you heard four examples of adding emphasis by stressing an auxiliary verb.

  • Can you remember the sentences you heard?

  • Which auxiliary verb did they use?

  • You heard these four sentences.

  • One of these four is different from the others.

  • Can you see which sentence is different, and why?

  • The sentence 'I *am* coming' is different.

  • It's different because in the other three sentences, you add an auxiliary verb for emphasis:

  • 'do', 'does' or 'did'.

  • Here, there's already an auxiliary verb – 'am' – and you simply pronounce

  • it with more stress.

  • If you have a sentence in the present simple or past simple, and you want to add emphasis,

  • with most verbs you can add an auxiliary verb 'do', 'does' or 'did' to make

  • your idea sound stronger.

  • You need to pronounce the auxiliary verb with stress, too.

  • Don't say 'I did have a good time'.

  • Say 'I *did* have a good time.

  • In other verb tenses, there is already an auxiliary verb.

  • For example: 'I am going to tell her.'

  • 'They can speak Italian.'

  • 'You have grown a lot.'

  • To add emphasis to sentences like these, simply pronounce the auxiliary verb with stress,

  • like this: 'I *am* going to tell him.'

  • 'They *can* speak Italian.'

  • 'You *have* grown a lot.'

  • Now, let's look at one more way you can add emphasis when you speak.

  • Olivier, can you come downstairs, please?

  • What's happened?

  • Look in the living room.

  • Did you break the TV?

  • I didn't break the TV!

  • Well, what happened then?

  • It was the dog who did it!

  • He ran through the living room chasing the cat and got caught on the wires.

  • OK, sorry, my mistake.

  • Look at a sentence you heard.

  • Here's a question: why say it like this?

  • Why not just say 'The dog did it'?

  • You can probably guess the answer: saying it this way adds emphasis.

  • But, do you know what this sentence structure is called?

  • It's called a cleft sentence, also known as a focusing sentence.

  • 'Cleft' has a similar meaning to 'split' or 'divided'.

  • In the sentence we used – 'It was the dog who did it' – you can see that the

  • sentence is in two parts.

  • The first, 'it was the dog' and the second 'who broke the TV'.

  • A cleft sentence will always have at least two verbs: one in the first part, and one

  • in the second.

  • Cleft sentences often start with the word 'it', but they can also start in different

  • ways.

  • You can also start a cleft sentence with 'what' plus a clause.

  • For example 'what I hate most about living here is the dark winters.'

  • 'What I need right now is a good long holiday.'

  • 'What I'd like to do is put this aside and think about it again after a good night's

  • sleep.'

  • It's also possible to make cleft sentences starting with 'all', 'something' or

  • 'one thing'.

  • For example 'All I want is to lie down.

  • I feel terrible!'

  • 'Something you should think about is choosing the words you use more carefully.'

  • In the last sentence, you could also use 'one thing', which is interchangeable with 'something'.

  • There are other ways to form cleft sentences, but these are the most common.

  • All these sentences follow the same pattern; they're divided into two parts, with at

  • least one verb in each part.

  • Thanks for watching.

  • See you next time!

Hi, my name's Marie.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it