Teach english new edition r

antonym 
(opposite) of the word ‘cold’ - and this fact helps 
us understand the m eaning of each word. When words mean the same thing (e.g. ‘hold-up’ 
and ‘delay’) we call them
synonyms 
- though since one word can have many meanings 
(see page 63), it will depend on which meaning is being used. Whereas ‘cold’ may be an 
antonym of ‘hot’ when talking about tem perature, it is more likely the antonym of ‘warm ’ 
if the words are being used to describe someone’s character.
A speaker’s knowledge of a word also includes an understanding of how the shape 
of that word can be altered so that its grammatical meaning can be changed. We call the 
system of rules that determine how these changes can be made 
morphology. 
For example, 
a simple morphological change will make the sentence which started this section less 
categorical (‘It’s warmish in here’) whereas adding ‘-er’ to the adjective (‘It’s warmer in 
here’) makes it a comparative adjective. In the same way adding ‘-ed’ to a regular verb (‘he 
walked’, ‘she played’) makes it a past tense verb.
Using words appropriately means knowing these things and, crucially, knowing which 
grammatical slots (see above) they can go into. In order to do this, we need to know what 
part of speech a word is (see pages 64-65).
Pronunciation
The way the sentence is spoken will also determine exactly what it means. For example, 
while reading this chapter so far you may have heard the speaker’s voice (in your head) 
drop on the word ‘warm’. However, if we change the speaker’s 
intonation 
(the way the voice 
goes up or down as we speak) so that voice rises on the word ‘warm ’, our statement becomes 
a question, e.g. ‘It’s warm in here?’.
Intonation (sometimes described as the music o f speech) encompasses the m oments at 
which we change the 
pitch 
of our voices in order to give certain messages. Pitch describes 
the level (high or low) at which we speak. Changing our pitch in an utterance is absolutely 
crucial for getting our meaning across. The word ‘Yes’, for example, can be said with a 
falling voice, a rising voice or a combination of the two. By changing the direction of the 
voice we can make ‘Yes’ mean ‘I agree’ or ‘Perhaps it’s true’ or ‘You can’t be serious’ or ‘Wow, 
you are so right’, or any num ber of other things.
61

---

Chapter 5
Teachers often use arrows or wavy lines to show intonation tunes (pitch change), like 
this:
■