Intonation

Intonation means the rise and fall of your voice when you speak.

Someone who is very excited will speak with a lot of intonation. A computer or a robot will speak with no intonation at all.

You don't want to sound like a robot!

When you speak, it is important to say the intonation of the entire sentence correctly, not just pronounce the words correctly. Practice using emotion and letting your voice go up and down, like this:

and not like this:

Here are some places you can practice intonation online:

• Sentence Stress: Listen to a recording and decide which emotion the speaker is feeling.
• English Club: At this site you can read about intonation and click on audio to hear the examples.
• Intonation About.com: This is an advanced reading that explains what words are stressed in English sentences.