GRAMMAR matters or….grammar MATTERS

GRAMMAR matters or….grammar MATTERS

Intonation and sentence stress.
The title of this blog entry can be understood in two different ways, depending upon where we choose to place the intonation. By stressing the first part of the two-word title, we understand we will be discussing the importance of grammar. The second version, with the intonation on the second word, informs us we will be discussing various topics pertaining to grammar in general.

Deciding where to place sentence stress or intonation is a matter of some interest, as the following examples will show.

Imagine sitting around the dining room table and addressing your family in the following way:

I love you (meaning nobody else does) or I love you, (but I don´t love anybody else)

The same words, but with very different meanings, by the judicious placement of intonation..

Consider the changes in meaning brought about by changing the intonation in the following:

A black bird nest – as opposed to a mud-coloured one

A black bird nest – as opposed to a nest of something else – snakes, perhaps.

A black bird nest – as opposed to a black bird feather.

A black bird nest – a nest not of a robin or a sparrow.

Whilst trawling the net, I found various amusing examples to further demonstrate this point:

I love your mother’s cooking. (Emphasis of natural meaning).

I love your mother’s cooking. (A particular mother. I don’t, for example, like his mother’s cooking).

I love your mother’s cooking. (Particular family member. I don’t, for example, like your father’scooking).

I love your mother’s cooking. (One aspect of the mother you love. I, for example, hate your mother but love her cooking).

What do you make of the following statements?

I didn’t say we should kill him. = Someone else said we should kill him.

I didn’t say we should kill him. = I am denying saying it.

I didn’t say we should kill him. = I implied it / whispered it / wrote it down.

I didn’t say we should kill him. = I said someone else should kill him /you should kill him, etc.

I didn’t say we should kill him. = I said we shouldn’t kill him / we must kill him, etc.

I didn’t say we should kill him. = I said we should take him to dinner /take care of him / send him on a diving holiday.

I didn’t say we should kill him. = We should kill someone else.

In my next blog entry we will discuss the effective use of commas, because remember, if I tell you I met a dog with a broken leg called Gimpy, you are bound to wonder what his other legs are called, are you not?

Author: Naomi Sidaway Sollinger

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