rising tune

Status
Not open for further replies.

kirimaru

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Hi,

I am confused with the intonation in English. Could you please tell me something about the high rising tune ? When do we use this?
Any idea on this will be nice to me.
Many thanks for your help.
 

Anglika

No Longer With Us
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Member Type
Other
When asking a question, the voice naturally rises in tone at the end of the sentence.
 

kirimaru

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Thank you all for your ideas.
I have one more question,please help me with it.
I found these two sentences when studying the low rising tune;
1.You liked it,did you?
2.They'd like some more,would they?

In the first sentence,"liked" receives stress and in the second one,"like" and "more" are stressed. My book says that we can use the low rising tune if neither the statement nor the tag-question have the word "not" in them. However,I am confused that when we use such intonation ,can we disregard the rule for tag-question ? I mean if the statement is positive like"You liked it",according to the rules,the tag must be in negative form like"didn't you" ,but the two sentence above don't follow the rule.
This really made me puzzled. Please help me.
Thank you in advance.
 

kirimaru

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Please help me with this, my dear teachers and friends ^^
 

Anglika

No Longer With Us
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Member Type
Other
Thank you all for your ideas.
I have one more question,please help me with it.
I found these two sentences when studying the low rising tone;

1.You liked it,did you?
2.They'd like some more,would they?

In the first sentence,"liked" receives stress and in the second one,"like" and "more" are stressed. My book says that we can use the low rising tone if neither the statement nor the tag-question have the word "not" in them.

However,I am confused that when we use such intonation ,can we disregard the rule for tag-question? I mean if the statement is positive like"You liked it", according to the rules, the tag must be in negative form like "didn't you" but the two sentences above don't follow the rule.

This really made me puzzled. Please help me.
Thank you in advance.

You liked it, didn't you? - the tone will drop on the second you, as the expected answer is "yes".

You liked it, did you? - the tone will rise as the answer is uncertain.
They would like some more, would they? - the same applies.
 

bickle

Member
Joined
May 27, 2008
Member Type
English Teacher
Thank you all for your ideas.
I have one more question,please help me with it.
I found these two sentences when studying the low rising tune;
1.You liked it,did you?
2.They'd like some more,would they?

In the first sentence,"liked" receives stress and in the second one,"like" and "more" are stressed. My book says that we can use the low rising tune if neither the statement nor the tag-question have the word "not" in them. However,I am confused that when we use such intonation ,can we disregard the rule for tag-question ? I mean if the statement is positive like"You liked it",according to the rules,the tag must be in negative form like"didn't you" ,but the two sentence above don't follow the rule.
This really made me puzzled. Please help me.
Thank you in advance.

Yes, according to your book these sentences are wrong. But why are they "wrong"? Grammatically both are okay.
The tag-question structure you use affects the politeness of the sentence. Let's look at these with the stressed words in caps, and the possible hidden meanings in parenthesis:

1.You LIKED it,did you? (I don't believe you. How can you possibly like it? I'm mad at you for liking it.)
2.They'd LIKE some MORE, would they? (Tough luck, I'm not giving them any more.)

1.YOU liked it,didn't you? (It would hurt my feelings if you don't like it.)
2.THEY'D like some more, WOULDN'T they? (Please feed those hungry children.)
 
Last edited:

AngloKelt

Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2008
Member Type
Other
1.You LIKED it,did you? (I don't believe you. How can you possibly like it? I'm mad at you for liking it.)
2.They'd LIKE some MORE, would they? (Tough luck, I'm not giving them any more.)

1.YOU liked it,didn't you? (It would hurt my feelings if you don't like it.)
2.THEY'D like some more, WOULDN'T they? (Please feed those hungry children.)

That is very interesting, how about:
you LIKED it, DIDN'T you (I know you liked it, don't tell me you didn't because I know you really liked it!)

It's not what you say - it's how you say it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top