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  • Hello everyone. My name's Phil Todd and today I'm going to talk about word stress and intonation during presentations.

  • First some definitions.

  • Stress and intonation are used for a variety of purposes in English. When presenting, they

  • are often used to make the important content of your talk clear. Often there is a rise

  • in intonation on a key word. But sometimes, there is a fall, especially at the end of

  • sentences. The important thing is that there is a "contrast" in intonation with words that

  • surround the one you want to stress. Without appropriate stress and intonation, your listeners

  • may miss the points you are trying to make. What's worse, you may end up sounding like

  • a robot. To make it easier for you to understand, I'm

  • going to say a short sentence without stressing any of the key words, and with no intonation.

  • OK, here it is.

  • My name's Phil Todd and I work at the English Language Centre.

  • Would you want to continue listening to me

  • if I spoke like that? I don't think so! Ok, here is the same sentence with key words stressed.

  • My name's Phil Todd and I work at the English Language Centre.

  • Much better right?

  • OK, so now I'm going to say a short introduction. First read though the introduction in your

  • notes. Underline two words in each sentence that you think should be stressed. To help

  • you do this, try to identify which two words carry the most important information. Understand?

  • So, now pause the video! When you're ready, start the video again.

  • Good morning, everyone. Thank you. Thank you all for coming

  • We're delighted to be able to present to you today.

  • My name's Phil, and I'd like to introduce my partner James.

  • We're both studying design. OK, let me ask you a question: how many of

  • you own a smartphone? Please put up your hand if you do

  • Well, it seems that nearly all of you own one.

  • OK, now, let me show you a picture

  • This is the first smartphone. It was invented in 1992 by IBM.

  • Now the question is: are they safe to use?

  • Well, this is the aim of our presentation today

  • Is frequent use of smartphones harmful to us?

  • We've divided the presentation into four parts. First, I'll talk about how we use smartphones

  • in our daily life. I'll then outline the arguments that support

  • the statement. James will then present the arguments against it.

  • He'll also give a brief conclusion.

  • Our presentation will last for around ten minutes.

  • We welcome any questions that you may have at the end.

  • Ok, that was the introduction. If you need to hear it again, rewind the video by about

  • 30 seconds. If not pause the video now and double check your answers. Once you are ready,

  • play the video from here, and you will hear the introduction again, and also see the correct stress.

  • Right, for more help with word stress and

  • intonation, visit CILL in A305 and Z213. And go to the CILL Facebook page. Scan the

  • QR code or click the link below the video.

Hello everyone. My name's Phil Todd and today I'm going to talk about word stress and intonation during presentations.

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