B. Stress
Stress is the emphasis given to a certain syllable, word, phrase in a sentence. Mark the contrast between syllables or words you read with force and those read without force.
Nice to meet you.
7 Listening for Stressed Words. Listen to the first part of the conversation again. The underlined words are stressed.
Ian: Claire! Hey, Claire! How's it going?
Claire: Ian! Hi! I'm fine. How're you?
Ian: Fine, thanks. Claire, this is Chan. Chan, this is my friend, Claire.
Chan: Nice to meet you.
Claire: Nice to meet you too. Are you from around here?
Chan: No. I'm from Taipei, Taiwan.
Claire: Oh, that's interesting. Taipei’s the capital of Taiwan, isn't it?
Yes, that's right. How about you? What's your hometown?
C. Contractions
Contractions are a way to combine words. When you put the two words together, you drop letters and replace them with an apostrophe (’). People use them in speaking and in writing. For example,
Long Form Contraction
I am from Brisbane, Queensland. I’m from Brisbane, Queensland.
8 Comparing Long Forms and Contraction. Read the following sentences from the conversation after your teacher. They contain contractions.
Long Form Contraction
1. How is it going? How’s it going?
2. I am fine. I’m fine.
3. How are you? How’re you?
4. Taipei is the capital. Taipei’s the capital.
5. It is a really big city. It’s really big city.
Let’s speak it:
1. Pair up with your classmate. Each of you should choose a role-play card and read the
information on the card. You are going to answer questions about the character on
your card.
2. Write the name of your classmate in the space at the top of the chart.
3. Look at the example (Daisy). Practice asking your teacher the questions and write his
or her answers on the chart.
Example What's your name?
Daisy.
Where are you from?
I’m from Felton.
Ask your partner the questions. Then write his/her answers on the chart.
What’s your name?
Daisy
Teacher
Charlotte
Name
_________
Name
_________
1. Where are you from?
Felton
Davao
2. Where’s that?
Delaware
Philippines
3. Is your hometown
small, medium-sized,
or big?
Medium-sized
Big
4. What’s the
population?
124,315
1.6 Million
5. Is there a good public transportation?
Yes
Yes