Listen and repeat the French words in coloumn a. Then try to match them with the brief definition in coloumn b. Use the example sentences below the table.
-
A
B
1
bête noire
a
describing something you must have or do to
appear fashionable
2
cause célèbre
b
a false name used by a writer
3
de riɡueur
c
an embarrassing small disagreement
4
Clientele
d
a person or thing that particularly annoys you
or that you dislike
5
Contretemps
e
being able to do or say the right thing in any
situation
6
en suite
f
the customers or clients of a business
7
nom de plume
g
a controversial event that attracts a lot of public
8
savoir-faire
h
describing a connected bathroom and bedroom
My particular bête noire is people who use mobile phones when they are driving.
The trial of the two teenagers became an international cause célèbre.
Where I work, smart suits are de riɡueur for the women.
The restaurant has a clientele that includes film stars and famous sportspeople.
There was a contretemps between the neighbours over the fence dividing their gardens.
All the rooms in the hotel are en suite.
She writes under the nom de plume of Cathy Kay.
I really envy him for his savoir-faire.
Read the sentences aloud, paying particular attention to the pronunciation of the foreign words.
Poetry
Sonnet XVIII
by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate;
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Transcribe, mark the intonation, read and learn Sonnet XVIII by heart.
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Conversational style (Colloquial speech)
Pronunciation in slow and fast speech
In different contexts we change the speed at which we speak.
We are likely to speak more slowly, for example,... |
... when we are carefully explaining to someone what we want them to do, when we are talking to a large audience, or when we are talking about an unfamiliar or difficult topic. |
We are likely to speak more quickly, for example,... |
... in conversation, when we are talking to friends or relatives, or when we are talking about routine or familiar topics. |
Speech is broken up into units, often with a pause between them. Within these speech units, words are linked together smoothly. In fast speech in particular, these units may be quite long and the words spoken quickly.
In fast speech, sounds that are found in words spoken slowly may be missed out. Listen and notice how the highlighted sounds are missed out in this conversation extract:
/
d/
is missed out the two /t/sounds merge
into one
It occurred to me that Terry hadn't been in touch for ages, so I thought I ought to phone him. Well, just then there was a ring on the front door and there he was.
/ h/ is missed out /t/ is missed out /h/ is missed out
As well as sounds, syllables or whole words that we would expect to hear in slow speech may be reduced or missed out In fast speech. Listen and notice how the highlighted parts are reduced or missed out in this conversation:
it's' is reduced to /s/ 'are' is missed out
B : I don't suppose you've seen my glasses?
A : Have you lost them again?
B : You'd better carry on. I can't go without my glasses.
‘I’ is missed out 'd' is missed out ‘I’ is missed out
‘Have’ is reduced to /v/
the vowel /ə/ is missed out and the word is said with one syllable
Sounds in words may also change in fast speech compared with how they are said in slow speech or how they are represented in dictionaries. Listen and notice how the sound /t/ changes in the highlighted parts of this conversation:
/n/ is missed out
and /t/ is said like
/t/ + /j/ is said /ʧ/ /p/ before /m/
A: I want you to paint my kitchen.
B : What colour?
A : A light green.
B : Right.
/t/ is said like /k/ before /ɡ/ /t/ is said as a ‘glottal stop' (a sound made by stopping the flow of air by closing the vocal cords)
‘Throw away’ words
Listen to this conversation. Note that the underlined expressions don’t really have any meaning; you could easily understand the text without them.
A: Ugh! This coffee is really horrible!
B: Yeah, I know. Machine coffee, I mean, why do we drink the stuff?
A: It’s sort of like… someone puts the contents of an ashtray in water and ehm… like, heats it up or something, you know…
B: Yeah, that’s what it tastes like, … and… I mean, have you tried the ehm… the tea?
A: Oh yeah, the tea! That’s even worse!
B: I mean the plastic cups don’t help, do they?
A: No, I know, … plastic cups! … We like even have champagne in plastic cups, you know, at what’s-her-name’s leaving party…
B: Jenny. Jenny Glen. Yeah, I remember that, last January it was… I kind of liked Jenny. I wonder what she’s doing now…
The same expressions which people use as ‘throw away’ words have meaning in other contexts. Listen and notice: the ‘throw away’ words are said faster than the expressions that have meaning and in a low voice.
Expressions
Tell me everything you know.
‘Blue Mountain’ is a kind of coffee.
We like to go away at weekends.
I mean the one on the right.
‘Throw away’ words
She tells me everything, you know.
‘Blue Mountain’ is kind of nice.
We like go to the beach or whatever.
I mean, what’s the point of buying one shoe?!
Exercises