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Manue Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Intonation in exclamations

I am teaching Exclamations and struggling to find anything on intonation. I presume they go up then down, most of the time in a high pitch voice, but is that correct?

Here are some of the senttences I am using:

What a shame! What nonsense!

What a great idea! How amazing!



Thank you.
  

Top answer

Yes, you've got it, basically. The stressed syllable rises and then tails off. I would suggest that it is just an extreme form of the unexclaimed statement: What a /SHEI um/ (sorry, I have no shwa on my keyboard) What a great /ai DI: a/ What /NAN sens/ How /a MEI zing/

— Mister Micawber

  • Yes, you've got it, basically.
  • The stressed syllable rises and then tails off.
  • I would suggest that it is just an extreme form of the unexclaimed statement: What a /SHEI um/ (sorry, I have no shwa on my keyboard) What a great /ai DI: a/ What /NAN sens/ How /a MEI zing/
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4 Answers
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Yes, you've got it, basically. The stressed syllable rises and then tails off. I would suggest that it is just an extreme form of the unexclaimed statement:

What a /SHEI um/ (sorry, I have no shwa on my keyboard)
What a great /ai DI: a/
What /NAN sens/
How /a MEI zing/
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Dear Forum Guru,

Thank you very much for your prompt answer. Could you kindly help me out again?

I still do not understand why it is What a shame! and not What shame! as shame is clearly uncountable.

Thank you for your help.
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On the contrary, shame (as with many uncountable nouns) can be countable-- and vice versa; it is just that they are more commonly used one way than the other.

From One Look Dictionary Search:

Quick definitions (shame)

  • noun: a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or gu
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    Thank you for your help. I will keep this particular example for the end of the session as it might confuse them like it did me ;-)

    Manue
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