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SPOKEN
ENGLISH
Flourish Your Language
Edited and Compiled by:
Robert Carmen

ABHISHEK
 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form, electronically or otherwise, in print, photoprint, micro film or
by any other means without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-81-8247-348-5

Copyright Publisher
Revised Edition 2010

Published by
ABHISHEK PUBLICATIONS,
S.C.O. 57-59, Sector 17-C,
CHANDIGARH-1600 17 (India)
Ph.-2707562,Fax-OI72-2704668
Email: [email protected]
English is a universal language and it is understood all over the
world. In fact, in today's world speaking English has become a
necessity. It is not only that but today's generation looks down
upon anyone who is unable to speak English. It has become more
like a status symbol. All the companies are recruiting only those
people who speak fluent and correct English. With the coming up
of the call centre and Multinational companies the need for En-
glish language has increased ten folds. With all this, happening
one cannot afford to live without speaking English.

In this book we have tried to do just that and that is to improve

your English speaking skills. This book will help you in speaking
better and correct English. Mter reading this book you will feel
much more confident and better-equipped at speaking English.
The book is divided into chapters and each chapter deals with
different aspects of spoken English. Each chapter is given in a
detailed manner so that you get the full knowledge about the given
topic.

The book also contains a chapter on tongue twisters. They will

help you in practicing how to speak English correctly and fluently.
The chapter on slangs is also very interesting because it familiarises
you with the usage of latest way of speaking in the modern world.
The book also has interesting chapters like common errors, which
will help you in avoiding all the mistakes we usually make while
speaking English. All and all, this book is your free ticket to the
world of speaking better and fluent English.
 CONTENTS

1. Contractions............................................................... 8

2. Pronunciation ........................................................... 24

3. Vowels ...................................................................... 42

4. Stress in English Language ....................................... 49

5. List of English Symbols ............................................ 63

6. Conversation ............................................................ 71

7. Common Errors ...................................................... 100

8. Tongue-Twisters ............. :......................................... 114

9. Phrasal Verbs .......................................................... 118

10. Prepositional Verbs .................................................. 192

11. Cliche ...................................................................... 194

12. Slangs ...................................................................... 208

"This page is Intentionally Left Blank"
 INTROduCTioN

If you're a person whose mother-tongue is not English, the chances

are, you've learnt English in the 'non-natural way'. That is, you've
learnt English in a way that is opposite to the way of natural lan-
guage acquisition.
You know, the natural way of acquiring a language is to learn to
speak it first and then to write it.
Those people who do not learn English the natural way, know
reasonable English - or even excellent English. And if you ask
them to write a report or something in English, they may do it
fairly well. But, if you ask them to speak to you about the same
thing, they find it hard to do. Or even impossible.
When they start speaking, most of the words remain on the tip of
their tongue and don't readily come out. And often, what words
do come out sound disconnected and random. And, they find
themselves speaking in a clumsy and unclear way, with long gaps
and intervals of indecision between every two words. And they
keep fumbling for something to say. Not only this, they fmd it
difficult to go on beyond one or two lines, without tripping up
and without stumbling over the sounds or sequences of sounds.
And then, they tend to fall back upon their mother-tongue - or
become tongue-tied. This book will help you to overcome all these
problems and will also help you in developing better speaking
skills.
(BHAPIER
1

CONTRACTioNS

Contraction means to shorten a word or phrase by omitting one

or more sounds or letters from it. The word so formed is also
called a contraction. Discussed below are the various contractions
used in spoken English.
The apostrophe has two uses:
1. To show that we have made words shorter. We have contracted
them.
2. To show that something belongs to someone, i.e. they possess
it. (possession)
Here are two examples.
• My dad's car is red.
Here we hive only one dad but we have put on the letter's' be-
cause we have put an apostrophe. It shows that the car belongs to
dad.
• "I'll tell you that later," he whispered.
I will has become I'll, we have joined two words and missed out
the letters WI and put in the apostrophe instead.
We use apostrophes because it can make our writing easier to
read.
In the list below we are going to look at apostrophes for contract-
II Contractions gil
ing words.
Contraction Letters missed out
Can not Can't no
Do not Don't 0

Should not Shouldn't 0

Could not Couldn't 0

Would not Wouldn't 0

Has not Hasn't 0

I will I'll WI

They will They'll WI

He will He'll WI

There is There's
Who is Who's
You are You're a
They are They're a
Would have Would've ha
They have They've ha
Let's start with Let)s. Except for some set phrases (example: 'Let
us pray') let us is almost always expressed as a contraction: Let)s.
Example:
• Let's go!
It is almost always used to express an imperative, thus:
• Let's do it!
However, sometimes it is used to express something like an ad-
monition, thus:
11
10 Spoken English II
• Let's do what we ought to do.
Sometimes it is used to make suggestion, thus:
• Let's keep this just between us.
The negative is 'let's not', but you will also come across 'don't
let's' .
That's = That is
• That's all = That is all
• That's all I want = That is all I want
• That's it = That is it
• That's my son = That is my son
• That's my child = That is my child
• That's my daughter = That is my daughter
• That's what I wanted to say = That is what I wanted to say
• That's a good idea = That is a good idea
What's = What is
• What's going on = What is going on?
• What's that? = What is that?
• ""'hat's happening? = What is happening?
• What's going to happen? = What is going to happen?
What's = What has
• What's been happening? = What has been happening?
• What's been going on? = What has been going on?
-ouldnYt've = -ould not have
Because ofvoicless [t], the sound that follows, '-ve' sounds like of,
which is where we get the erroneous spelling -ouldnYt of
II Contractions

it's = it is
• It's a man = It is a man
• It's a woman = It is a woman
• It's a boy = It is a boy
• It's a girl = It is a girl
• It's a good thing = It is a good thing
• It's not a good thing = It is not a good thing
• It's time to go = It is time to go
• It's a good day to die = It is a good day to die
• It's a good speech = It is a good speech
• It's hot = It is hot
• It's cold = It is cold
• It's winter = It is winter
• It's summer = It is summer
it's = it has
• It's been a good day = It has been a good day
• It's been one of those days = It has been one of those days
• It's been good = It has been good
• It's been fun = It has been fun
• It's been a wonderful life = It has been a wonderful life
• It's been a trying time = It has been a trying time
there~ = there is
• There's one = There is one
• There's another = There is another
 1112 Spoken English II
• There's a red balloon = There is a red balloon
• There's gold in those hills = There is gold in those hills
• Where there's water there's life = Where there is water there
is life
• There's a lot of water in the river = There is a lot of water in
the river

NEGATivE:

- • There's not a lot I can do about it.

• There isn't much I can do about it.

IRREGulAR CONTRACTioNS:

won~t = will not

Examples:
• I don't want to do it, so I won't do it.
• I won't do it unless you make me do it.
• I won't promise you anything.
• I won't do anything.
• Why won't you help me?
• It won't work.
• He won't work.
• She won't work.
• They won't work.
• We won't work.
From those last five sentences, we can plainly see that nobody
wants to work.
II Contractions

The nots:
hasn't = has not
isn't = is not
don't = do not
doesn't = does not
won't = will not
haven't = have not
can't = can not
wouldn't = would not
shouldn't = should not
couldn't = could not
mustn't = must not
Examples:
• He hasn't been here in a long time.
• He isn't here now.
• I don't know when he will be here.
• He doesn't know when he will get here.
• I won't know until he gets here.
• I haven't been told.
• I can't find out.
• I wouldn't tell you if I knew.
• I shouldn't tell you.
• I couldn't tell you if I wanted to.
• I mustn't tell anyone.
1114 Spoken English "
+ the BE 'shan't' for 'shall not'. More and more, 'shall' is restricted
to questions and formal language, where the contraction would
be less likely to occur.
he:1s = he is
she:1s= she is
it's = it is
what's = what is
who:1s = who is
there:1s= there is
where:1s = where is
Examples
• He's not here = He is not here
• He's somewhere else = He is somewhere else
• He's not in his room = He is not in his room
• He's not answering the phone = He is not answering the phone
• He's from France = He is from France
• He's not my brother = He is not my brother
• He's asleep = He is asleep
• He's not awake = He is not awake
• She's here = She is here
• She's well = She is well
• She's quick = She is quick
• She's from Canada = She is from Canada
• She's living in Japan = She is living in Japan
• She's my friend = She is my friend
II Contractions

• She's not my sister = She is not my sister

• She's sleeping on satin sheets = She is sleeping on satin sheets
• It's a good thing = It is a good thing
• It's morning = It is morning
• It's time to get up = It is time to get up
• It's dark outside = It is dark outside
• It's going to be a rainy day = It is going to be a rainy day
• What's that? = What is that?
• What's the matter? = What is the matter?
• What's the time? = What is the time?
• What's for breakfast? = What is for breakfast?
• Who's there? = Who is there?
• Who's that? = Who is that?
• Who's calling? = Who is calling?
• I don't know who's driving the bus = I don't know who is
driving the bus
• There's a freckle on your face = There is a freckle on your
face
• There's a woman in the race = There is a woman in the race
• There's a girl whose name is Grace = There is a girl whose
name is Grace
• Where's my hat? = Where is my hat?
• Where's my wallet? = Where is my wallet?
• Where's my head? = Where is my head?
• Where is the train? = Where is the train?
\\16 Spoken English \\

he's = he has
she's = she has
it's = it has
what's = what has
who's = who has
there's = there has
where's = where has
Examples
• He's been my friend = He has been my friend
• He's not struggled = He has not struggled
• He's never been helpful = He has never been helpful
• He's always been a nuisance = He has always been a nuisance
• He's never bled = He has never bled
• He's never been dead = He has never been dead
• He's been here since last Tuesday = He has been here since
last Tuesday
• She's been here before = She has been here before
• She's been to the store = She has been to the store
• She's been asleep for an hour = She has been asleep for an
hour
• She's had the power = She has had the power
• It's been fun = It has been fun
• It's been a good day = It has been a good day
• What's been going on? = What's been going on?
• What's been going on here? = What's been going on here?
II Contractions 1711
• Who's been sleeping in my bed? Who has been sleeping in my
bed?
• Who's taken my keys? = Who has taken my keys?
• There's been someone in my room = There has been some-
one III my room
• Where's he been? = Where has he been?
• Where's the time gone = Where has the time gone?
I'll = I will
we'll = we will
she'll = she will
he'll = he will
they'll they will
you'll = you will
Examples
• I'll be right back.
• We'll be there in a little while.
• She'll be riding a white horse.
• He'll see you now.
• You'll be sorry for that.
I'm =Iam
• I'm twenty years old = I am twenty years old
• I'm looking forward to it = I am looking forward to it
• I'm not looking forward to it = I am not looking forward to it
• I'm not going with you = I am not going with you
• I'm a man = I am a man
11
18 Spoken English II
• I'm your friend = I am your friend
• I'm nearly forty = I aJJl nearly forty
• I'm an American = I am an American
• I'm going to come back = I am going to come back
• I'm blessed with a wonderful family = I am blessed with a
wonderful family
• I'm behind him 100 percent = I am behind him 100 percent
you:lre = you are
we:lre = we are
they:lre = they are
Examples
• You're supposed to be there at eight = You are supposed to be
there at eight
• We're meeting them at nine = We are meeting them at nine
• They're supposed to meet us at the station = They are sup-
posed to meet us at the station
Pd = I would
I'd like to meet her = I would like to meet her
Pd = I had
I'd been doing well until I got hit by a car = I had been doing well
until I got hit by a car
you:ld = you would
If you lived here you'd be home by now = If you lived here you
would be home by now
you:ld = you had
You'd better watch out! = You had better watch out!
II Contractions

weYd = we had
We'd better be getting back = We had better be getting back
weYd = we would
We'd like to do it again some time = We would like to do it again
some time
sheYd = she had
heYd = he had
• She'd better listen if she knows what's good for her = She had
better listen if she knows what's good for her
• He'd better be more careful = He had better be more careful
sheYd = she would
heYd = he would
• She'd like to go to the concert = She would like to go to the
concert
• He'd like to meet her = He would like to meet her
• She'd like to go to college = She would like to go to college
• He'd be better otT not going = He would be better off not
gorng
howd = how did
How'd he do that? = How did he do that?
Pve = Pve
• I've been waiting for an hour = I have been waiting for an
hour
• I've got something to say = I have got something to say
• I've gotten a letter from my sister = I have gotten a letter
from my sister
11
20 Spoken English II
• I've been looking forward to hearing from her = I have been
looking forward to hearing from her
• I've been wanting to talk to you = I have been wanting to talk
to you

• That's what I've been thinking = That's what I have been think-
mg
we-'ve = we have
• We've been there before = We have been there before
• We've seen that movie already = We have that movie already
• We've go to see that one = We have got to see that one
• We've been waiting in line for an hour = We have waiting in
line for an hour
you-'ve = you have
• You've been told not to do that = You have been told not to do
that
• You've been there before, haven't you? = You have been there
before, haven't you?
• You've earned a reprimand = You have earned a reprimand
• You've been misbehaving = You have been misbehaving
• You've seen her before, haven't you? = You have seen her be-
fore, haven't you?
• You've been quite helpful = You have been quite helpful
could-'ve = could have
• I could've done it if I had wanted to do it = I could have done
it if I had wanted to do it
• I could've done it, but I didn't do it = I could have done it, but
I didn't do it
II Contractions

would've = would have

• I would've finished had I had the time = I would have fin-
ished had I had the time
• I would've got there sooner, but the train was late = I would
have got there sooner, but the train was late
• We would've had the picnic had it not rained = We would have
had the picnic had it not rained
should've = should have
• She should've introduced herself = She should have introduced
herself
• Perhaps I should've been politer = Perhaps I should have been
politer
• We should've done a better job of it = We should have done a
better job of it
should'nt've = should not have (primarily spoken)
She should'nt've introduced herself = She should not have intro-
duced herself
what'd = what did
What'd he say? = What did he say?
that'll = that will
That'll be all = That will be all
couldn't, didn't
I couldn't hear her, so I didn't respond = I could not hear her, so
I did not respond
couldn't've
I couldn't've done what you said I did = I could not have done
what you said I did
1122 Spoken English II
It'll = It will
It'll be a while = It will be a while.
That'll = That will
• That'll be the day = That will be the day.
• That'll never happen again = That will never happen again.
Which'll = Which will
The bus, which'll be along in a while, will take you to the station.
= The bus, which will be along in a while, will take you to the
station.

I ain't going and you can't make me.

There're = There are
There're some words that have no opposites = There are some
words that have no opposites
needn't = need 1Wt
• "John needn't leave for another hour."
• "You needn't have done that."

Who're you? = Who are you?

What're = What are
What're you doing? = What are you doing?
What'll = what will
What'll you be having? = What will you be having?
you're = you are
You're dizzy and I'm busy = You are dizzy and I am busy.
II Contractions

it'll = it will
I'm sorry. It'll never happen again = I am sorry. It will never
happen again.
that'll = that will
That'll be all = That will be all
that'd = that would
That'd be nice = That would be nice
what'd = what did
What'd you do on your vacation? = What did you do on your
vacation?
what'd = what would
What'd be the best thing to do? = What would be the best thing
to do?
it'd = it had
It'd better be good = It had better be good
it'd = it would
It'd be a nice thing to do = It would be a nice thing to do
(BHAPIER
2

PRONUNCiATioN

The first English lesson should deal with pronunciation. When

you don't do pronunciation first, you have to do something else
than pronunciation. And then whatever you do and if it involves
speaking, then bad pronunciation habits are formed.
If you don't know how to pronounce and yet you pronounce your
own way at the beginning of your learning, then you are building
your habits in the wrong way. Learning words without pronuncia-
tion on the first lesson is damaging.
There are two possibilities that are recommended: (1) learn pro-
nunciation from the beginning and speak from the beginning, (2)
learn without pronunciation, but do not speak (you will start speak-
ing at a later stage - after learning pronunciation).
The idea is not to have 'perfect' pronunciation from the beginning
but 'correct' - understood in the following sense: (1) use the right
sounds - perhaps your own versions of the English sounds, but
make sure that there is a clear correspondence between your own
sounds and the English sounds (2) always stress the right syl-
lable.
Additionally, it's a good idea to be able to phonetically transcribe
your own English output. This means that you will have conscious
control over your output. You will have a 'digital perception' of
your pronunciation - as opposed to an 'analog perception', which
is usually developed by learners.
1\ Pronunciation 25 11

If you have a digital perception of your pronunciation, you have

the following advantage:
If, through practice, you have mastered the ability to produce a
particular English sound, say [@], you will be able to incorporate
this new ability into each occurrence of this sound in your utter-
ances because in every word you utter you know whether it con-
tains this sound or not. (Learners who don't have a digital percep-
tion can learn to perfectly pronounce 'cat' and still be unable to
say 'man' properly.)

DEfiNiTioN of Good PRONUNCiATioN

Definition of good pronunciation is:
( 1) easy to understand by advanced users of English,
(2) pleasant to hear for advanced users of English,
(3) easy to pronounce for oneself.

DON'T WORRY AbOUT flUENCY'" SPEAkiNG slowly is OK.

English learners are often worried about their lack of fluency. They
need much time to build sentences and this worries them. They
would like to speak as fast as in their native language.
Please notice that building sentences in a foreign language is a
real challenge for the brain. There are chemical processes that
take place in the brain before a sentence can be built in a foreign
language. Those processes take more time than building sentences
in one's native language. At least in the beginning. Fluency comes
with time and practice and it should not to be expected in the
beginning of learning.
If you are an English learner who worries about lack of fluency,
please remember these words: When you speak too fast, your
brain does not have the time to build correct sentences. You have
to speak so slowly that your brain has the time to think about
building sentences in English.
11
26 Spoken English II
It's a general opinion that it is a good habit to speak slowly and
carefully in a foreign language.
Learners should accept the fact that speaking in a foreign lan-
guage is more difficult than speaking in one's native language.
There is no need to worry about this. There is little fluency in the
beginning and this is okay. Don't worry about lack of fluency.

HOMOplioNES

The following list of 70 groups of homophones contains only the

most common homophones, using relatively well-known words.
These are headwords only. They will help you in speaking indi-
vidual words with correct pronunciation. No inflections (such as
third person singular's' or noun plurals) are included. Most of
these are pairs. In a few cases, a third homophone is also possible
but has not been included for simplicity. Please note that different
varieties and accents of English may produce variations in some
of these pronunciations. The homophones listed here are based
on British English.
alr heir
aisle isle
ante- anti-
eye I
bare bear bear
be bee
brake break
buy by
cell sell
cent scent
cereal serial
II Pronunciation 2711
coarse course
complement compliment
dam damn
dear deer
die dye
fair fare
fir fur
flour flower
for four
hair hare
heal heel
hear here
him hymn
hole whole
hour our
idle idol
m mn

knight night
knot not
know no
made maid
mail male
meat meet
mormng mourmng
11
28 Spoken English II
none nun
oar or
one won
palr pear
peace plece
plain plane
poor pour
pray prey
principal principle
profit prophet
real reel
right write
root route
sail sale
sea see
seam seem
sight site
sew so sow
shore sure
sole soul
some sum
son sun
stair stare
stationary stationery
II Pronunciation 29 II
steal steel
suite sweet
tail tale
their there
to too/two
toe tow
waist waste
walt weight
way weigh
weak week
wear where

liNkiNG iN ENGlisJ.t
When we say a sentence in English, we join or 'link' words to each
other. Because of this linking, the words in a sentence do not al-
ways sound the same as when we say them individually. Linking is
very important in English. If you recognise and use linking, two
things will happen:
1. you will understand other people more easily
2. other people will understand you more easily

TJ.tERE ARE bASiCAlly TWO TypES of liNkiNG:

• consonant > vowel
• We link words ending with a consonant sound to words be-
ginning with a vowel sound
• vowel > vowel
• We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning
 Spoken English II
with a vowel sound

UNdERSTANdiNG vOWEls ANd CONSONANTS fOR liNkiNG

To understand linking, it is important to know the difference be-

tween vowel sounds and consonant sounds. Given below is a list
of English vowels and consonants:
Vowels: a, e, i, 0, U

Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, 1, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, V, w, x, y, z
The list shows the letters that are vowels and consonants. But the
important thing in linking is the sound, not the letter. Often the
letter and the sound are the same, but not always.
For example, the word 'pay' ends with:
• the consonant letter 'y'
the vowel sound {a' Here are some more examples:
though know
ends with the letter h w

ends with the sound 0 0

unifonn honest
begins with the letter U h
begins with the sound Y 0

liNkiNG CONSONANT TO vowEl

When a word ends in a consonant sound, we often move the con-

sonant sound to the beginning of the next word if it starts with a
vowel sound.
For example, in the phrase 'turn off':
We write it like this: turn off
II Pronunciation

We say it like this: tur noff

Remember that it's the sound that matters. In the next example,
'have' ends with:
• the letter 'e' (vowel)
• the sound 'v' (consonant)
So we link 'have' to the next word 'a', which begins with a vowel
sound:
We write it like this: Can I have a bit of egg?
We say it like this: Ca-nI-ha-va-bi-to-fegg?

liNkiNG vowEl TO vowEl

When one word ends with a vowel sound and the next word begins
with a vowel sound, we link the words with a sort of W or Y sound.
If our lips are round at the end of the first word, we insert a W
sound:
We write it too often who is so I do all
like this:
We say it tooWoften whoWis soW! doWall
like this:
If our lips are wide at the end of the first word, we insert a Y
sound:
We write it I am Kay is the end she asked
like this:
We say it IYam KayYis theYend she
like this: Yasked

How TO pRONOUNCE "'Ed iN ENGlisJ.t

The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in
-ed. For example:
 32 Spoken English II
11
base verb (vi) past simple (v2) past participle (v3)
Work worked worked
In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and
so end in -ed. For example:
• I like painted furniture.
The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?
The answer is: In 3 ways - II or II or II
If the base example example pronounce extra
ve1-b ends in base verb*: with -ed: the -ed: syllable?
one of these
sounds:
unvoiced ItI want wanted lJAL yes
Voiced Idl end ended
Ipl hope hoped
IfI laugh laughed
unvoiced lsi fax faxed hi.
lSI wash washed
ItSI watch watched no
Ikl like liked
Voiced all other play played
sounds, allow allowed Iell
for beg begged
example ...
* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spell-
ing. For example, 'fax' ends in the letter 'x' but the sound lsi, 'like'
ends in the letter 'e' but the sound Ik/.
II Pronunciation

EXCEPTioNS

The following adjectives ending in -ed are always pronounced with

IId/;
• aged
• blessed
• crooked
• dogged
• learned
• naked
• ragged
• wicked
• wretched

PRONOUNciNG 'ThE'

Normally, we pronounce 'the' with a shon sound (like 'thuh'). But

when 'the' comes before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long
'thee'.
vowel sound we write we say
A the apple thee apple
E the egg thee egg
I the ice-cream thee ice-cream
0 the orange thee orange
U the ugly fruit thee ugly fruit
It is important to understand that it is what we say that matters,
not what we write. It is the sound that matters, not the letter used
in writing a word. So we use a long 'thee' before a vowel sound, not
necessarily before a vowel. Look at these cases;
we write with we say with - w
.....
the house consonant (h) thuh house consonant sound
the hour consonant (h) thee our vowel sound
the university vowel (u) thuh youniversity consonant sound
the umbrella vowel (u) thee umbrella vowel sound
It is often found that some of the words are not spoken correctly. The table below gives you an idea how to
speak these words correctly.
Word: Often said: Should be: More info:
Applicable uh-PLIK-uh-bull AP-li-kuh-bull
Forte for-TAY FORT
Precedence PREH -sid-ence pri-SEED-ence
Calm, psalm, palm calm, salm, palm cahm, sahm, pahm The L is silent.
Available uh-VAIL-yable uh-VAIL-able Say it .wrong a few times and it
starts to sound right. ~
~
Mischievous mis-CHIEV-ee-ous MIS-chi-vus ~

Deluge DEH-looj DEL-yooj t

~
Duty doody or dootee DYOO-tee --

Err aIr ur ~
§
Era AIR-uh EER-uh ~.
E:1:
Ye (as in ye olde forte) ye the The Y is actually an old Anglo- §
Saxon character, which was pro
nounced TH.
Shoppe SHOP-ee shop This spelling is a throwback to
old English anyway and should
be avoided except for effect.
Heinous HIGH-nis, HEE-nis HAY-nis The first syllable rhymes with
(and a variety of other say, play and tray.
corruptions)
Height heighth height No TH on the end.
Human YOO-man HYOO-man
Nuclear NOO-kyuh-lur NYOO-klee-ur or
NOO-klee-ur
Kiln kiln kil The N is silent.
Often AHF-ten AHF-en The T is silent.
w
Pianist PEE-uh-nist pee-AN-ist PEE-uh-nist is the put-on, ~
--
 Spoken English II

snobby way to say it.

Usurp OO-surp yoo-ZURP

Vice-versa vlCe-versa V Y- s u h
VUR-suh Each word has two syllables.

ENqlisl-t PRONUNCiATioN Tips

• Tip 1
Do not confuse pronunciation of words with their spelling! For
example, 'threw' and 'through', although spelled differently, are
pronounced the same. Also, identical letters or letter clusters in
words do not always produce the same sound. For example, the
Cough' in 'though' and 'through' represents a different sound in
each word. Learn to practise what you hear, not what you see.
• Tip 2
Imagine a sound in your mind before you say it. Try to visualise the
positioning of your mouth and face. Think about how you are
going to make the sound.
• Tip 3
While listening for specific sounds, pay attention to pauses, the
intonation of the instructor's voice and patterns of emphasis. This
can be just as important as the pronunciation of sounds.
• Tip4
The English language has many different dialects and words can
be pronounced differently. It is important, however, that you pro-
nounce words clearly to ensure effective communication.
• Tip 5
You must practise what you are learning! Remember that you are
teaching your mouth a new way to move. You are building muscles
that you do not use in your own language. It is like going to the
II Pronundation 37 11

gym and exercising your body. Use the program to exercise your
mouth a little bit each day.

SilENT lETTERS

Silent letters are letters that you can't hear when you say the word,
but that are there when you write the word.
There are no rules, you just have to learn them.
Silent N Silent D Silent G Silent U
Autumn egge gnome ggest
damn hegge gnarl ggess
hymn Wegnesday SIgn ggitar
column hangsome reSIgn ggard
handkerchief design byilding
bagge foreigner gyilty
wegge rogge
vogge
biscyit
tongge
Silent H Silent T Silent [( Silent B
what witch knife lamb
when fasten knee thumb
why castle knot numb
which watch knitting crumb
whether butcher know clim!2ing
ghost scratch knob bom!2
 38 Spoken English II
11
honest listen knock comb
hour match knickers doubt
while Christmas knuckle plumQer
white mor!gage knight limb
where soften knack debt
rhythm often knew tomb
Silent L Silent W
almond wren
palm wrote
yolk wrestling
calm wriggle
salmon wrinkle
calf sword
half whole
chalk wreck
talk two
walk wrap
folk wrong
wrist
writing
• Mb at the end of a word (silent b), e.g. comb~ lamb) climb.
• Sc at the beginning of a word followed by 'e' or 'i', (silent c),
e.g. scene) scent) science) scissors (except for the word 'sceptic' and
its derivations!).
• Kn (silent k), e.g. knift) knock) know.
\\ Pronunciation 39\\
• Mn at the end of a word (silent n), e.g. damn, autumn, col-
umn
• Ps at the beginning of a word (silent p), e.g. psalm, psychiatry,
psychology
• Ght (silentgh), e.g. night, ought, taught
• Gn at the beginning of a word (silentg), e.g.gnome,gnaw,
gnu
• Bt (silent b), e.g. debt, doubtful, subtle (but not in some words,
e.g. 'obtain', 'unobtrusive'!)
The letter H is silent in the following situations:
• At the end of word preceded by a vowel, e.g. cheetah, Sarah, .
messiah
• Between two vowels, e.g. annihilate, vehement, vehicle
• Mter the letter 'r', e.g. rhyme, rhubarb, rhythm
• Mter the letters 'ex', e.g. exhausting, exhibition, exhort.
Many people are perhaps not aware of the astonishing fact that
nearly every letter of the English alphabet is silent in some word. (Si-
lent letters are also sometimes called mute letters.)
a is silent in head, bread, deaf, meant
b is silent in debt, lamb, bomb, tomb
c is silent in muscle, blackguard, yacht, indict
d is silent in wednesday, handkerchief, handbag
e is silent in pirate, more, have, give
f is silent in stijJ; cujJ; scoff
9 is silent in gnaw, gnome, phlegm, straight
h is silent in honour; heir; ghost, night
i is silent in business, fashion, cushion
11
40 Spoken English II
k is silent in k~ knee~ knock~ blackguard
1 is silent in talk~ folk~ salmon~ colonel
m is silent in mnemonic
n is silent in hymn
o is silent in leopard~ jeopardy
p is silent in psalm~ pneumatic~ cupboard~ receipt
q(u) is silent in lacquer
r is silent in myrrh~ catarrh
s is silent in isle~ aisle~ viscount~ mess
t is silent in often~ thistle~ fasten~ mortgage
u is silent in build~ guild~ plague
w is silent in whole~ write~ sword
y is silent in praye1j mayor
z is silent in rendezvous

MisPRONOUNCEd WORds

Some words in the English language are often mispronounced

when spoken. Here are a few commonly mispronounced words
with their correct pronunciations and most common mispronun-
ciations.
• across (a-CROSS) - Incorrect: (a-CROST)
• athlete (ATH-leet) - Incorrect: (ATH-a-leet)
• Arctic (ARC-tic) - Incorrect: (AR-tic)
• comfortable (COM-fort-a-ble~ COMF-ta-ble) - Incorrect:
(COMF-ter-ble)
• electoral (eh-LEK:-tor-al) - Incorrect: (eh-lek-TOR-al)
II Pronunciation 41 II
• espresso (ess-PRESS-oh) - Incorrect: (ex-PRESS-oh)
• February (FEB-roo-air-y) - Incorrect: (Feb-yoo-air-y)
• figure (FIG-yer) - Incorrect: (fig-er)
• forte (FORT) - Correct only as the music term: (for-TilT)
• insouciant (in-SOO-see-ant) - Incorrect: (in-SOO-shant)
• lambaste (lam-BASTE) - Incorrect: (lam-BAST)
• library (LIBE-rare-ee) - Incorrect: (LIBE-air-ee)
• menstruation (men-stroo-A-shun) - Incorrect: (men-STRAY-
shun)
• minuscule (MIN-uh-skyool) - Incorrect: (MIN-ih-skyool)
• nuclear (NUKE-lee-ar) - Incorrect: (NUKE-yoo-lar)
• nuptial (NUP-shul) - Incorrect: (NUP-shoo-al)
• often (OFF-en) - Incorrect: (OFT-en)
• percolate (PERC-o-late) - Incorrect: (PERC-u-late)
• plenitude (PLEN-i-tude) - Incorrect: (PLENT-i-tude)
• probably (PROB-ab-ly) - Incorrect: (PRAH-bal-ly, PROB-ly)
• pronunciation (pro-NUN-see-A-shun) - Incorrect: (pro-NO UN-
see-A-shun)
• supposedly (sup-POSE-ed-ly) - Incorrect: (sup-POSE-ab-ly)
• taut (TAUT) - Incorrect: (TAUNT)
• toward (TOW-ward) - Incorrect: (TOR-ward)
(BHAPIER
3

VOWEls
Vowels are formed by retraction of the back of the tongue, as in
'father' by advancing the front of the tongue, as in 'bit' or else they
are mixed, as in 'bird', in which the tongue is in a position half-way
between back and front. By height they are high, as in 'hit', mid, as
in 'hate' or low, as in 'hat'. The vowels of these three words are all
front, but the distinctions of height apply to back and mixed vow-
els as well. Thus the u of 'full' is high-back, just as that of 'hit' is
high front. All these vowels may be further modified by
labialisation or rounding. Thus, if the ee of 'feel' is pronounced
with narrowed lip-opening, we obtain the French u in clune' - the
high-front-round. There are besides other modifications caused
by the shape of the tongue itself.
Of the large number of possible vowels only a small proportion is
employed in each language.
Again, among the special vowels of anyone language we must
distinguish between those differences, which are distinctive, that
is, to which differences of meaning correspond and those which
are not. Thus the first elements of the diphthongs in 'by' and 'out'
vary considerably: some people sound them broad as in 'father',
some thin, as in 'man', with various ihtermediate sounds. And yet
the meaning of the words remains unchanged. The distinction
between the vowels of ,men' and 'man', on the other hand, though
really slighter than that of the different pronunciations of 'by' and
'out', is a distinctive one.
II Vowels

It often happens that two sounds, though formed in different ways,

have nearly the same effect on the ear. Thus the English vowel in
'turn' is formed in a totally different way from the French one in
'peur', the former being an unrounded, the latter a rounded vowel
and yet they are hardly distinguishable by an untrained ear. The
consequence is that two such vowels are never employed together
in the same language to distinguish the meanings of words and
for practical purposes they may be considered as variations of the
same vowel. Hence we have to distinguish not so much between
sounds as between groups of sounds. One of the most important
distinctions of these groups is that of 'close' and 'open', the open
vowels being generally formed by a 'low' position of the tongue
or by some other widening of the mouth passage.
Disregarding special exceptions in individual languages, we may
assume the following as the chief distinctive groups in language
generally:

(1) the dull-back, but.

(2) the clear-back, father.
(3) the mixeda, tum, father, gabe (German).
(4) the high-front, bit, beat.
(5) the close-front, etC (French).
(6) the open-front, men, mare, man.

ROUNdEd.
(7) high-back, full, fool.
(8) close-back, so (German).
(9) open-back, folly, fall.
(10) high-front, lune (French).
1144 Spoken English II

( 11) close-front, peu (French).

(12) open-front, peur (French).
Diphthongs are, of course, symbolised by the juxtaposition of their
elements. The following are the English diphthongs: -
al aszn aisle.
au " now.
01 " boil.
el " veil.
ou " soul.
Diphthongs in all languages vary greatly in their constituents and
the above combinations must be understood as simply denoting
general tendencies. Thus ai does not literally imply a combination
of the a in 'father' and the i in 'bit', but merely a movement in that
direction. We may start, not with a full-back vowel, but with a
mixed one, which may move towards i, but without reaching it: in
fact the commonest pronunciation of 'aisle' may be represented
by el. In the same way ei only implies a front vowel moving up-
wards and, as a matter of fact, the starting-point may be either a
close or open e or even the a of 'man'. Indeed ei often begins with
a mixed vowel, in which case 'veil' is confounded with 'vile'.
Note that ei and ou in English supply the place of close long ee and
which most English people are unable to pronounce.
00,

ii and uu are often diphthongised in a peculiar way in English, by

being made to end in the consonants y and w respectively, wiin
(ween) andfuul (fool) becoming wiyn andfowl.
Having thus laid a general foundation, we may proceed to discuss
some special modifications required in English.
As there is no short or close e or 0 in English, it is superfluous to
use & and to denote the quality of sounds whose openness is al-
ways implied by their shortness. We can, therefore, discard alto-
gether in English and employ & to denote the peculiar a in 'man',
II Vowels

for which it would otherwise be difficult to find an appropriate

letter.
The longs of £ and be expressed, as with the other vowels, by
doubling - ££) . But as this is inconvenient and as is not used in
English, it is better to denote the long of £ byae, the separation of
the letters implying length. Long may, on this analogy, be de-
noted byao.
The vowel in 'rum' is open-mixed, that in 'gabe' close-mixed.

R ANd iTS ModificATioNS.

The consonant r in English only occurs before a vowel, either in
the same or the next word, as in 'erring' (eriq), 'far off' (faar aof).
When not followed by a vowel, that is, either by a pause or a
consonant, it is weakened into - the er of 'father'. Mter aa and 00
'the' ois absorbed, as in 'bar' (baa), 'farther' (faadha), 'her' (hoe),
'heard' (hoed), the first two being indistinguishable from 'baa'
and 'father'. ois sometimes dropped after ao, especially before a
consonant, as in 'floor', 'floored', although the fulljlaoo,jlaoad are
most usual in careful speech, especially when the a is final. Mter
other vowels a is preserved throughout, also when the r is sounded
as a full consonant: compare 'air' (aea), 'aired' (aead) and 'airy'
(aeri) with 'far off' (faar aof), 'her own' (hoer oun) and 'flooring'
(flaoriq).
The following table will give a general idea of these changes: -
faar aof (far off) faa faadha (farther).
hoer oun (her own) hoe hoed (heard).
fliOriq (fearing) fiia fiiad (feared).
aeariq (airing) aea aead (aired).
muuariq (mooring) muua muuad (moored).
flaoriq (flooring) flaoa flaoad (floored).
faiariq (firing) faia faiad (fired).
\146 Spoken Engfish II
flauari (flowery, floury) flaua flauad (flowered).
leiariq (layering) leia leiad (layered).
louariq (lowering) loua louad (lowered).
Note that eia(r) and oua(r) in rapid, especially in vulgar speech,
often pass into aea(r) and aoa(r).
When r is preceded by a short vowel, as in 'hurry' (hari), 'merry'
(meri), no ais generated.

UNACCENTEd vowEls
The two chief unaccented vowels in English are aand i, together
with the rarer o. The former may be regarded as a shortened oe,
as in 'her', into which it always passes when emphasised or pro-
longed, but it is really nothing but a voice murmur without any
defInite confIguration. The i is an intermediate vowel between i
and e and might as well be written e as i. It may be regarded
either as a very open i or a very close e.
The following are examples of 0: -
8temt (attempt), Cpouz (oppose), apon (upon), tadei (to-day).
soufa (sofa), menshan (mention), peishans (patience), krer8t (car-
rot).
faadha (father), ona (honour), mezha (measure).
faowad (forward), shepod (shepherd).
feivarit (favourite), mezhariq (measuring).
a is often dropped before l~ n and m~ always when the Cis preceded
by t or d and followed by I or n:-
met! (metal), gaadn (garden), gaadniq (gardening), mom (mut-
ton).
iivl (evil), loukl (local), simbl (cymbal, symbol).
When two or more unaccented as or is follow one another, one of
II Vowels

them is often thrown out, as in -

hist(a)ri (history), feiv(a)rit (favourite), vedzh{aji}tabl (veg-
etable).
i is less common than a. It is most usual as a weakening of front
vowels, especially when i or y is written: -
piti (pity), mandi (Monday).
divaid (divide), ditekt (detect).
r:ebit (rabbit), fishiz (fishes), abiliti (ability).
It is the regular unaccented vowel before dzh, even when a is
written: -
vilidzh (village), k:eridzh (carriage), kolidzh (college).
In rapid speech i is apt to .pass into a, except when fmal.
Unaccented 0 in ordinary speech is simply Orounded. When dwelt
on it becomes ou. Examples are -
pteito (potato), folo (follow), felo (fellow).
In rapid speech this 0 passes into a.
These vowels occur also in unaccented monosyllables. Compare
'a man' (a m:en) with 'against' (agenst), 'to go' (to gou) with'to-
day' (to dei), 'for all' (fOr aol) with 'forgive' (fOgiv), 'of course' (av
kaoas) with 'offence' (Ofens).
the and to have two distinct unaccented forms. Before consonants
they both have a, while before vowels they assume the fuller forms
dhi and tu: -
dha m:en (the man), dhi ena mi (the enemy).
to gou (to go), tu enta (to enter).

CONSONANTS

As regards the use of the letters there can be no question about

 Spoken English II
the values of the following: - b, d, f, g, h, k, 1, m, n, p, r, s, t, V, w,
z.
This leaves c~ j~ q~ x undisposed of. We also have y, which is not
required as a vowel-symbol in English. If we allow y to retain its
present value, we can also retain j as a convenient abbreviation of
dzh. For tsh we have ch, which, by the omission of the superfluous
h, can be reduced simply to c. We thus have c andj perfectly paral-
lel. q may very well be taken to represent the back nasal ng. X
lastly, if employed at all, must in consistency be extended to all kss
in the language, not only in such words as six, but also in rex
(wrecks), cex (cheques) and c.
These contractions fully counterbalance the necessity of retaining
the digraphs th and sh, to which must of course be added dh and
zh. Wh is very generally made into w in Southern English, but it is
well to keep up the distinction on the chance of its being after-
wards revived. The breath yh sometimes occurs in such words as
'hue' (yhuu), more commonly, however, pronounced hyuu, with a
separate h before the y.
Consonants are often dropped in English. Thus the h of the per-
sonal pronouns is generally dropped when they come after a verb
and are unaccented, as in ai sao im (I saw him). Saw her and soar
are both pronounced sao. The d of and is generally dropped be-
fore a consonant, as in ct n em gen (cut and come again), where
the vowel is dropped also on account of the t and n.
Assimilations also occur in rapid speech. Thus, many people who
pronounce the q of 'going' and c. quite distinctly in most cases,
regularly change the back into the point nasal (n), when it is fol-
lowed by a point consonant (t, d, n), as ingouin t ... (going to ... ).
In I can~tgo the t is generally dropped and the point nasal is often
assimilated to the g by being made into the back nasal q - ai kaaq
gou.
(iHAPIER
4

STRESS iN ENGlislt LANGUAGE

TRY Tl-tis SI-tORT EXERcisE

Say this sentence aloud and count how many seconds it takes.
The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.
Time required? Probably about 5 seconds. Now, try speaking this
sentence aloud.
He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn)t have to do any home-
work in the evening.
Time required? Probably about 5 seconds.
Wait a minute the first sentence is much shorter than the second
sentence!
The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance
He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn)t have to do any home-
work in the evening
You are only partially right.
This simple exercise makes a very important point about how we
speak and use English. Namely, English is considered a stressed
language while many other languages are considered syllabic. What
does that mean? It means that, in English, we give stress to cer-
tain words while other words are quickly spoken (some students
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
and adored. She ruled her province with a rod of iron; yet she
showed herself to be in many ways wonderfully feminine. Nothing
could have been finer than the act of uniting Brittany with France by
giving up her crown to France and remaining only the Duchess
Anne. In almost every town in Brittany there is a Queen Anne
House, a house which the good Queen either built herself or stayed
in. Everywhere she went she constructed something—a church, a
chapel, an oratory, a calvaire, a house, a tomb—by which she was to
be remembered. There is, for example, the famous tower which she
built, in spite of all malcontents, not so much in order to add to the
defences of St. Malo as to rebuke the people for their turbulence and
rebellion. Her words concerning it ring through the ages, and will
never be forgotten:
'Quic en groigneir
Ainsy ser
C'est mon playsir.'

Ever since the tower has gone by the name of 'Quiquengroigne.'

There are three names, three figures, of which St. Malo is proud; the
birthplaces are pointed out to the stranger fondly. One is that of the
Duchess Anne; another that of Duguay-Trouin; last, but not least, we
have Chateaubriand. Of the three, perhaps the picturesque figure of
Duguay-Trouin charms one most. From my earliest days I have loved
stories of the gallant sailor, whose adventures and mishaps are as
fascinating as those of Sinbad. I have always pictured him as a
heroic figure on the bridge of a vessel, wearing a powdered wig, a
lace scarf, and the dress of the period, winning victory after victory,
and shattering fleets. It is disappointing to realize that this hero lived
in the Rue Jean de Chatillon, in a three-storied, time-worn house
with projecting windows, lozenge-paned. Of Chateaubriand I know
little; but his birthplace is in St. Malo, for all who come to see.
What a revelation it is, after winding up the narrow, steep streets of
St. Malo, suddenly to behold, framed in an archway of the old
mediæval walls, the sea! There is a greeny-blue haze so vast that it
is difficult to trace where the sea ends and the sky begins. The
beach is of a pale yellow-brown where the waves have left it, and
pink as it meets the water. At a little distance is an island of russet-
brown rocks, half-covered with seaweed; at the base is a circle of
tawny sand, and at the summit yellow-green grass is growing.

THE CRADLE
 CHAPTER XVIII
MONT ST. MICHEL

The road to Mont St. Michel is colourless and dreary. On either side
are flat gray marshes, with little patches of scrubby grass. Here and
there a few sheep are grazing. How the poor beasts can find
anything to eat at all on such barren land is a marvel. Gradually the
scenery becomes drearier, until at last you are driving on a narrow
causeway, with a river on one side and a wilderness of treacherous
sand on the other.
Suddenly, on turning a corner, you come within view of Mont St.
Michel. No matter how well prepared you may be for the apparition,
no matter what descriptions you may have read or heard
beforehand, when you see that three-cornered mass of stone rising
from out the vast wilderness of sand, you cannot but be astonished
and overwhelmed. You are tempted to attribute this bizarre
achievement to the hand of the magician. It is uncanny.
Just now it is low tide, and the Mount lies in the midst of an
immense moving plain, on which three rivers twist, like narrow
threads intersecting it—Le Conesnon, La Sée, and La Seline. Several
dark islands lie here and there uncovered, and groups of small boats
are left high and dry. It is fascinating to watch the sea coming up,
appearing like a circle on the horizon, and slipping gently over the
sands, the circle ever narrowing, until the islands are covered once
more, the boats float at anchor, and the waves precipitate
themselves with a loud booming sound, heard for miles round,
against the double walls that protect the sacred Mount.
Many are the praises that have been sung of Mont St. Michel by
poets and artists, by historians and architects. She has been called 'A
poem in stone,' 'Le palais des angles,' 'An inspiration of the Divine,'
'La cité des livres,' 'Le boulevard de la France,' 'The sacred mount,'
etc. Normandy and Brittany dispute her. She is in the possession of
either, as you will.

SOUPE MAIGRE

Mont St. Michel is not unlike Gibraltar. As you come suddenly upon
the place, rising from out the misty grayish-yellow, low-lying
marshes, it appears to be a dark three-cornered mass, surrounded
by stout brownish battlemented walls, flanked by rounded turrets,
against a background of blue sky. At the base of the Mount lies the
city, the houses built steeply one above the other, some with
brownish lichen-covered roofs, others of modern slate. Above the
city is the monastery—brown walls, angry and formidable, rising
steeply, with many windows and huge buttresses. Beyond, on the
topmost point, is the grand basilica consecrated to the archangel,
the greenish light of whose windows you can see clearly. Above all
rises a tall gray spire culminating in a golden figure.
There is only one entrance to Mont St. Michel—over a footbridge and
beneath a solid stone archway, from which the figure of the Virgin in
a niche looks down. You find yourself in a narrow, steep street, black
and dark with age, and crowded with shops and bazaars and cafés.
The town appears to be given up to the amusement and
entertainment of visitors; and, as St. Michael is the guardian saint of
all strangers and pilgrims, I suppose this is appropriate. Tourists fill
the streets and overflow the hotels and cafés; the town seems to
live, thrive, and have its being entirely for the tourists. Outside every
house hangs a sign advertising coffee or china or curios, as the case
may be, and so narrow is the street that the signs on either side
meet.
Your first thought on arriving is about getting something to eat. The
journey from St. Malo is long, and, although the sun is shining and
the sky is azure blue, the air is biting. Of course, everyone who
comes to the Mount has heard of Mme. Poulard. She is as distinctly
an institution as the very walls and fortresses. All know of her
famous coffee and delicious omelettes; all have heard of her charm.
It is quite an open question whether the people flock there in
hundreds on a Sunday morning for the sake of Mme. Poulard's
luncheon or for the attractions of Mont St. Michel itself. There she
stands in the doorway of her hotel, smiling, gracious, affable,
handsome. No one has ever seen Mme. Poulard ruffled or put out.
However many unexpected visitors may arrive, she greets them all
with a smile and words of welcome.
We were amid a very large stream of guests; yet she showed us into
her great roomy kitchen, and seated us before the huge fireplace,
where a brace of chickens, steaming on a spit, were being
continually basted with butter by stout, gray-haired M. Poulard. She
found time to inquire about our journey and our programme for the
day, and directed us to the various show-places of the Mount.
There is only one street of any importance in Mont St. Michel, dark
and dim, very narrow, no wider than a yard and a half; a drain runs
down the middle. Here you find yourself in an absolute wilderness of
Poulard. You are puzzled by the variety and the relations of the
Poulards. Poulard greets you everywhere, written in large black
letters on a white ground.
If you mount some steps and turn a corner suddenly, Poulard frère
greets you; if you go for a harmless walk on the ramparts, the
renowned coffee of Poulard veuve hits you in the face. Each one
strives to be the right and only Poulard. You struggle to detach
yourselves from these Poulards. You go through a fine mediæval
archway, past shops where valueless, foolish curios are for sale; you
scramble up picturesque steps, only to be told once more in glaring
letters that POULARD spells Poulard.
A very picturesque street is the main thoroughfare of Mont St.
Michel, mounting higher and higher, with tall gray-stone and wooden
houses on either side, the roofs of which often meet overhead. Each
window has its pots of geraniums and its show of curios and useless
baubles. Fish-baskets hang on either side of the doors. Some of the
houses have terrace gardens, small bits of level places cut into the
rock, where roses grow and trailing clematis. Ivy mainly runs riot
over every stone and rock and available wall. The houses are built
into the solid rock one above another, and many of them retain their
air of the fourteenth or the fifteenth century.
You pass a church of Jeanne d'Arc. A bronze statue of the saint
stands outside the door. One always goes upwards in Mont St.
Michel, seeing the dark purplish-pink mass of the grand old church
above you, with its many spires of sculptured stone. Stone steps
lead to the ramparts. Here you can lean over the balustrade and
look down upon the waste of sand surrounding Mont St. Michel. All
is absolutely calm and noiseless. Immediately below is the town, its
clusters of new gray-slate roofs mingling with those covered in
yellow lichen and green moss; also the church of the village, looking
like a child's plaything perched on the mountain-side. Beyond and all
around lies a sad, monotonous stretch of pearl-gray sand, with only
a darkish, narrow strip of land between it and the leaden sky—the
coast of Normandy. Sea-birds passing over the country give forth a
doleful wail. The only signs of humanity at all in the immensity of
this great plain are some little black specks—men and women
searching for shellfish, delving in the sand and trying to earn a
livelihood in the forbidding waste.

DÉJEUNER
The melancholy of the place is terrible. I have seen people of the
gayest-hearted natures lean over that parapet and gaze ahead for
hours. This great gray plain has a strange attraction. It draws out all
that is sad and serious from the very depths of you, forcing you to
think deeply, moodily. Joyous thoughts are impossible. At first you
imagine that the scenery is colourless; but as you stand and watch
for some time, you discover that it is full of colour. There are pearly
greens and yellows and mauves, and a kind of phosphorescent slime
left by the tide, glistening with all the hues of the rainbow.
Terribly dangerous are these shifting sands. In attempting to cross
them you need an experienced guide. The sea mounts very quickly,
and mists overtake you unexpectedly. Many assailants of the rock
have been swallowed in the treacherous sands.
Being on this great height reminded me of a legend I had heard of
the sculptor Gautier, a man of genius, who was shut up in the Abbey
of Mont St. Michel and carved stones to keep himself from going
mad—you can see these in the abbey to this day. For some slight
reason François I. threw the unfortunate sculptor into the black
cachot of the Mount, and there he was left in solitude, to die by
degrees. His hair became quite white, and hung long over his
shoulders; his cheeks were haggard; he grew to look like a ghost.
His youth could no longer fight against the despair overhanging him;
his miseries were too great for him to bear; he became almost
insane. One day, by a miracle, Mass was held, not in the little dark
chapel under the crypts, but in the church on high, on the topmost
pinnacle of the Mount. It was a Sunday, a fête-day. The sun shone,
not feebly, as I saw it that day, but radiantly, the windows of the
church glistening. It was blindingly beautiful. The joy of life
surrounded him; the sweetness and freshness of the spring was in
the air. The irony of men and things was too great for his poor
sorrow-laden brain. He cleared the parapet, and was dashed to
atoms below. Poor Gautier! It was his only chance of escape. One
realized that as one looked up at those immense prison walls, black
and frowning, sheer and unscaleable, every window grated and
barred. What chance would a prisoner have? If it were possible for
him to escape from the prison itself, there would be the town below
to pass through. Only one narrow causeway joins the island to the
mainland, and all round there is nothing but sea and sandy wastes.

A FARMHOUSE KITCHEN

I was disturbed in my reverie by a loud nasal voice shouting, 'Par ici,

messieurs et dames, s'il vous plaît.' It was the guide, and willy-nilly
we must go and make the rounds of the abbey among a crowd of
other sightseers. An old blind woman on the abbey steps, evidently
knowing that we were English by our tread, moistened her lips and
drew in her breath in preparation for a begging whine as we
approached. We passed through a huge red door of a glorious
colour, up a noble flight of wide steps, with hundreds of feet of wall
on either side, into a lofty chapel, falling to decay, and being
renovated in parts. It was of a ghostly greenish stone, with fluted
pillars of colossal height, ending in stained-glass windows and a
vaulted roof, about which black-winged bats were flying. Room after
room we passed through, the guide making endless and
monotonous explanations and observations in a parrot-like voice,
until we reached the cloister. This is the pearl of Mont St. Michel, the
wonder of wonders. It is a huge square court. In the middle of the
quadrangle it is open to the sky, and the sun shines through in a
golden blaze. All round are cool dim walks roofed overhead by gray
arches supported by small, graceful, rose-coloured pillars in pairs.
This is continued round the whole length of the court. Let into the
wall are long benches of stone, to which, in olden days, the monks
came to meditate and pray. The ancient atmosphere has been well
preserved; yet the building is so little touched by time, owing to the
careful renovations of a clever architect, that one almost expects at
any moment to see a brown-robed monk disturbed in his
meditations.
From the quiet courtyard we are taken down into the very heart of
the coliseum—into the mysterious cells where the damp of the rock
penetrates the solid stone. How gloomy it was down in these crypts!
Even the names of them made one tremble—'Galerie de l'Aquilon,'
'Petit Exil,' and 'Grand Exil.' You think of Du Bourg, tightly fettered
hand and foot, being eaten alive by rats; of the Comte Grilles,
condemned to die of starvation, being fed by a peasant, who bravely
climbed to his window; of a hundred gruesome tales. There is the
chapel where the last offices of the dead were performed—a cell in
which the light struggled painfully through the narrow windows,
feebly combating with the dark night of the chamber; and there is
the narrow stairway, in the thickness of the wall, by which the
bodies of the prisoners were taken.
We were shown the cachot and the oubliette where the living body
of the prisoner was attacked by rats. That, however, was a simple
torture compared with the strait-jacket and the iron cage. In the
oubliette the miserable men could clasp helpless hands, curse or
pray, as the case might be; but in the iron cage the death agony was
prolonged.
Even now, although the poor souls took wings long ago, the cachot
and the oubliette fill you with disgust. You feel stifled there. The
atmosphere is vitiated. Even though centuries have passed since
those terrible times, the walls seem to be still charged with iniquity,
with all the sighs exhaled, with all the smothered cries, with all the
tears, with all the curses of impatient sufferers, with all the prayers
of saints.
It seems impossible to believe, down in the heart of this world of
stone, in the impenetrable darkness, that the architect that designed
this thick and cruel masonry constructed those airy belfries, those
balustrades of lace, those graceful arches, those towers and
minarets. It is as if he had wished to shut up the sorrow and the
maniacal cries of the men who had lost their reason in a fair exterior,
attracting the eyes of the world to that which was beautiful, and
making it forget the misery beneath.
MARIE
A FARM LABOURER
 CHAPTER XIX
CHÂTEAU DES ROCHERS

The name of Mme. Sévigné rings through the ages. Vitré is full of it.
Inhabitants will point out, close to the ruined ramparts, the winter
palace where the spirituelle Marquise received the Breton nobility
and sometimes the Kings of Brittany. To the south they will show you
the Château des Rochers, the princely country residence maintained
by this famous woman. She was a Breton of the Bretons, building
and planting, often working in the fields with her farm hands. She
loved her Château des Rochers. It was a joy to leave the town and
the gaieties of Court for the freshness of the fields and the woods.
She especially liked to be there for the 'Triomphe du mois de Mai'—
to hear the nightingale and the cuckoo saluting spring with song.
With Lafontaine, she found inspiration in the fields; but, as she
preserved a solid fund of Gaelic humour, she laughed also, and the
country did not often make her melancholy. She felt the sadness of
autumn in her woods; but she never became morose. She never
wearied of her garden. She had always some new idea with regard
to it—some new plan to lure her from a letter begun or a book
opened. Before reading the memoirs of Mme. Sévigné it is almost
impossible to realize this side of her nature. Who would have
imagined that this woman of the salons, fêted in Paris, and known
everywhere, would be always longing for her country home? It is
only when you visit the famous Château des Rochers that you realize
to the full that she was a lover of nature and country habits.
Wandering through the old-world garden, you find individual touches
which bring back the dainty Marquise vividly to mind. There are the
venerable trees, under which you may wander and imagine yourself
back in the time of Louis XIV. There are the deep and shady avenues
planted by Mme. Sévigné, and beautiful to this day. The names
come back to you as you walk—'La Solitaire,' 'L'Infini,' 'L'honneur de
ma fille'—avenues in which madame sat to see the sun setting
behind the trees. Very quiet is this garden, with its broad shady
paths, its wide spaces of green, its huge cedars growing in the
grass, and its stiff flower-beds. There is Mme. Sévigné's sundial, on
which she inscribed with her own hand a Latin verse. There are the
stiff rows of poplars, like Noah's Ark trees, symmetrical, interlacing
one with the other, unnatural but dainty in design. There is her rose
garden, a rounded and terraced walk planted with roses. There, too,
are the sunny 'Place Madame,' the 'Place Coulanges,' and 'L'Écho,'
where two people, standing on stones placed a certain distance
apart, can hear the echo plainly. This garden, with its stiff little rows
of trees, its sunny open squares surrounded by low walls, and its
stone vases overgrown with flowers, brings back the past so vividly
that one asks one's self whether indeed Mme. Sévigné is there no
longer, and glances involuntarily down the avenues and the by-ways,
half expecting to distinguish the rapid passage of a majestic skirt.
What a splendid life this woman of the seventeenth century led! She
knew well how to regulate mind and body. The routine of the day at
Les Rochers was never varied, and was designed so perfectly that
there was rarely a jar or a hitch. She rose at eight, and enjoyed the
freshness of the woods until the hour for matins struck. After that
there were the 'Good-mornings' to be said to everyone on her
estate. She must pick flowers for the table, and read and work.
When her son was no longer with her she read aloud to broaden the
mind of his wife. At five o'clock her time became her own; and on
fine days, a lacquey following, she wandered down the pleasant
avenues, dreaming visions of the future, of God and of His
providence, sometimes reading a book of devotions, sometimes a
book of history. On days of storm, when the trees dripped and the
slates fell from the roof,—on days so wet and gray and wild that you
would not turn a dog out of doors—you would suppose the Marquise
to become morbid and miserable. Not at all. She realized that she
must kill time, and she did so by a hundred ingenious devices. She
deplored the weather which kept her indoors, but fixed her thoughts
on the morrow. Ladies and gentlemen often invaded her; all the
nobility came to present their compliments. They assailed her from
all sides. When she resisted them, and strove to shut herself away
from the world, the Duke would come and carry her away in his
carriage.

A LITTLE WATER-CARRIER

She always longed to return to her solitude—to her dear Rochers,

where her good priest waited, at once her administrator, her man of
affairs, her architect, and her friend. Her pride of property was
great, and she was constantly beautifying and embellishing her
country home. Each year saw some new change. On one occasion
six years passed without her visiting Les Rochers. All her trees had
become big and beautiful; some of them were forty or fifty feet high.
Her joy when she beheld them gives one an insight into her
youthfulness.
How young she was in some things! She often asked herself whence
came this exuberance. She drew caricatures of the affectations of
her neighbours, and the anxious inquiries of her friends as to her
happiness during her voluntary exile amused her immensely. In a
letter written to her daughter she said:
'I laugh sometimes at what they call "spending the winter in the
woods." Mme. de C—— said to me the other day, "Leave your damp
Rochers." I answered her, "Damp yourself—it is your country that is
damp; but we are on a height." It is as though I said, Your damp
Montmartre. These woods are at present penetrated by the sun
whenever it shines. On the Place Madame when the sun is at its
height, and at the end of the great avenue when the sun is setting,
it is marvellous. When it rains there is a good room with my people
here, who do not trouble me. I do what I want, and when there is
no one here we are still better off, for we read with a pleasure which
we prefer above everything.'
The prospect of spending a winter at Les Rochers did not frighten
her in the least. She wrote to her daughter, saying, 'My purpose to
spend the winter at Les Rochers frightens you. Alas! my daughter, it
is the sweetest thing in the world.'
Mme. Sévigné was always thinking of her daughter, and of Provence,
where she lived. Her heart went out to her daughter. Everything
about Les Rochers helped her to remember her beloved child. Even
the country itself seemed to bring back memories, for the nights of
July were so perfumed with orange-blossoms that one might
imagine one's self to be really in Provence. Mme. Sévigné wrote in a
letter to one of her friends:
'I have established a home in the most beautiful place in the world,
where no one keeps me company, because they would die of cold.
The abbé goes backwards and forwards over his affairs. I am there
thinking of Provence, for that thought never leaves me.'

WEARY

The château in which this wonderful woman lived, whence started

so many couriers to Provence, is an important building, gray, a little
heavy with towers, with high turrets of slate and great windows.
Resembling most houses built in the Louis XIV. style, it is rather sad
in design. At the side is a chapel surmounted by a cross, a rotund
hexagonal building constructed in 1671 by the Abbot of Coulanges.
Inside it is gorgeous with old rose and gold. One can imagine the
gentle Marquise kneeling here at her devotions.
Visitors are shown the bedroom of Mme. Sévigné, now transformed
into a historical little sanctuary. The furniture consists of a large four-
post bed, with a covering of gold and blue, embroidered, it is said,
by the Countess of Grignan. Under a glass case have been treasured
all the accessories of her toilet—an arsenal of feminine coquetry:
brushes, powder-boxes, patch-boxes, autograph letters, account-
books, her own ink-stand, books written in the clear, delicate, legible
handwriting of the Marquise herself.
The walls are hung with pictures of the family and intimate friends,
some of which are very remarkable. This room was called by Mme.
Sévigné the 'green room.' It still has a dainty atmosphere. Here
Mme. Sévigné passed a great part of her life. Under a large window
is a marble table where she is supposed to have written those letters
which one knows almost as well as the fables of Lafontaine. Mme.
Sévigné coloured the somewhat cold though pure language of the
seventeenth century, but not artificially. She animated it, conveyed
warmth into it, by putting into her writings much that was feminine,
never descending to the 'precious' or to be a blue-stocking. The
books that she loved, and her correspondence, did not take up so
much of her time that she had to overlook the details of her domain.
Sometimes she had a little fracas with her cook; often she would be
called away to listen to the complaints of Pilois, her gardener, a
philosopher. She knew how to feel strongly among people who could
feel only their own misfortunes and disgraces. She had a true and
thoughtful soul. This one can tell by her letters from Les Rochers,
which come to us in all their freshness, as if they had been written
yesterday.
THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE
IN THE INGLENOOK
 CHAPTER XX
CARNAC

The country round Carnac is solemn and mysterious, full of strange

Druidical monuments, menhirs and dolmens of fabulous antiquity,
ancient stone crosses, calvaires, and carvings. Everything is grand,
solemn, and gigantic. One finds intimate traces of the Middle Ages.
The land is still half-cultivated and divided into small holdings; the
fields are strewn with ancient stones.
The Lines of Carnac are impressive. You visit them in the first place
purely as a duty, as something which has to be seen; but you are
amply repaid. On a flat plain of heather or gorse they lie, small and
gray and ghost-like in the distance, but looming larger as you draw
near. You come across several in a farmyard; but on scaling a small
loosely-built stone wall you find yourself in the midst of them—lines
of colossal stones planted point-downwards, some as high as twenty
feet, and stretching away to the horizon, on a space of several miles,
like a gigantic army of phantoms. Originally the Lines of Carnac were
composed of six thousand stones; but to-day there remain only
several hundreds. They have been destroyed bit by bit, and used by
the peasants as fences along the fields and in the construction of
houses.
We sat on a rock and gazed at these strange things, longing to know
their origin. What enigmas they were, wrapped in mournful silence,
solemn and still, sphinx-like! I endeavoured to become an amateur
Sherlock Holmes. I examined the stones all over. I noticed that at
the extremity of one line they were placed in a semicircle. This did
not seem to lead me on the road to discovery. Of what avail is it to
attempt to read the mystery of these silent Celtic giants? Historians
and archæologists have sought in vain to find a solution to the
problem. Some say that the stones planted in the fields are temples
dedicated to the cult of the serpent; others maintain that this is a
sort of cemetery, where the dead of Carnac and of Erderen were
interred after a terrible battle. They are variously taken to be sacred
monuments, symbols of divinity, funeral piles, trophies of victory,
testimonies to the passing of a race, the remains of a Roman
encampment. Innumerable are the surmises.

A BLIND BEGGAR
The country people have their own versions of the origin of these
stones. The peasants round about Carnac firmly believe that these
menhirs are inhabited by a terrible race of little black men who, if
they can but catch you alone at midnight, will make you dance,
leaping round you in circles by the light of the moon with great
shouts of laughter and piercing cries, until you die of fatigue, making
the neighbouring villagers shiver in their beds. Some say that these
stones have been brought here by the Virgin Mary in her apron;
others that they are Roman soldiers, petrified as was the wife of Lot,
and changed into rocks by some good apostle; others, again, that
they were thrown from the moon by Beelzebub to kill some amiable
fairy.
A boy was sitting on a stone near us. He had followed us, and had
sat leaning his head on his hand and gazing backwards and forwards
from us to the stones. Out of curiosity to hear what his ideas might
be, I asked the child what he imagined the menhirs were. Without a
moment's hesitation he said, 'Soldats de St. Cornely!'
Afterwards I discovered that St. Cornely is in this country one of the
most honoured saints. It is he that protects the beasts of the field.
His pardon used to be much attended by peasants, who took with
them their flocks of sheep and cows. St. Cornely had occasion to fly
before a regiment of soldiers sent in pursuit by an idolatrous king. In
the moment of his fear—for even saints experience fear—he went
towards the sea, and soon saw that all retreat was cut off thereby.
The oxen fell on their knees, their eyes full of dread. The situation
was terrible. The saint appealed to Heaven, where lay his only hope,
and, stretching his arm towards the soldiers, changed them suddenly
into stone. Here, it is said, the soldiers of St. Cornely have remained
ever since, fixed and rigid.
LA PETITE MARIE
 CHAPTER XXI
A ROMANTIC LAND

Brittany is essentially a romantic country. It is full of mysteries and

legends and superstitions. Romance plays a great part in the life of
the meanest peasant. Every stock and stone and wayside shrine in
his beloved country is invested with poetical superstition and
romance. A nurse that we children once had, nineteen years of age,
possessed an enormous stock of legends, which she had been
brought up to look upon as absolute truth. Some of the songs which
she sang to the baby at bedtime in a low minor key were beautiful in
composition—'Marie ta fille,' 'Le Biniou,' amongst others. The village
schoolmaster, who was our tutor, during our long afternoon rambles
would often make the woods ring as he sang ballads in his rich, full
voice. The theme changed according to his humour. Now the song
was a canticle, relating the legend of some saint, or a pious
chronicle; at another time it was of love he sang, generally ending
sadly. Then, there was the historical song, recounting some sombre,
or touching, or stirring event, when the little man worked himself up
to a high pitch of excitement, carrying us children open-mouthed to
gory battlefields and the palaces of sumptuous Kings. One quite
forgot the insignificant schoolmaster in the rush and swing of the
music.
There are many Breton ballads. The lives of the people are reflected
truthfully in these compositions, which have as their themes human
weakness, or heartache, or happiness. The Breton bards are still a
large class. In almost every village there is someone who composes
and sings. Each one holds in his or her hand a small stick of white
wood, carved with notches and strange signs, which help towards
remembering the different verses. The Gauls called this stick, the
use of which is very ancient, the alphabet of the bards.

THE LITTLE HOUSEWIFE

Mendicity is protected in Brittany. One meets beggars at all the fairs,

and often on the high-roads. They earn their living by songs and
ballads. They attend family fêtes, and, above all, marriage
ceremonies, composing songs in celebration. No Breton will refuse a
bard the best of his hospitality. Bards are honoured guests. 'Dieu
vous bénisse, gens de cette maison,' says one, announcing himself.
He is installed in the ingle-nook, the cosiest corner of a Breton
kitchen; and after having refreshed the inner man he rewards his
host with song after song, often giving him the last ballad of his
composition. When he takes his leave, a large bundle of food is
slung over his shoulder. Unless you live for years in the same village,
as I have done, sharing in the joys and sorrows of the people, you
can gain very little knowledge of the tales and songs and legends.
The Breton is reticent on the advent of the stranger: he fears
ridicule.
Then, again, a child can always wriggle itself into the hearts and
homes of people. Setting aside all racial prejudices and difficulties of
language, a child will instal itself in a household, and become
familiar with the little foibles of each inmate in a single day, whereas
a grown-up person may strive in vain for years. I, as a child, had a
Breton bonne, and used to spend most of my days at her home, a
farm some distance from the village, playing on the cottage floor
with her little brothers and sisters, helping to milk the cows, and
poking the fat pigs. This, I think, Mother could scarcely have been
aware of; for she had forbidden Marie to allow me to associate with
dirty children, and these were certainly not too clean. One day I was
playing at dolls with a village girl under the balcony of Mother's
room. Suddenly, on looking up, I found her gazing at me
reproachfully.
'O Mother,' I hastened to explain, pulling the child forward by the
pinafore, 'she are clean.' We children were familiar with everyone in
the village, even bosom friends with all, from stout Batiste, the
butcher, to Lucia the little seamstress, and Leontine her sister, who
lived by the bridge. If a child died we attended the funeral, all
dressed in white, holding lighted tapers in our hands, and feeling
important and impressive. If one was born, we graciously
condescended to be present at the baptismal service and receive the
boxes of dragées always presented to guests on such occasions. At
all village processions we figured prominently.
When I returned to Brittany, at the age of ten, I found things very
little changed. My friends were a trifle older; but they remembered
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