Le Mot Juste Linguistics Blog

A dangling modifier is a phrase or an elliptical clause that does not sensibly modify any other words in the sentence.

We learned in childhood that the vowels are a, e, i, о, u, and sometimes w and y. But this is but a slight clue as to what a vowel really is. The symbols that we have just enumerated are letters—vowel letters, to be more exact. If you say the first one, a slowly you will discover that it is made up of two sounds: the a in ale and almost the e in eve. It is not therefore a pure vowel. You can try this out on the other vowel letters and see how many of them represent pure vowels.

Clear, precise articulation comes only with practice. The following factors should be kept in mind throughout.

No speaker ever says the same thing twice in exactly the same way. Many experiments have proved that when a speaker repeats a sound, his second effort does not go through exactly the same sound pattern of his first try. Each of us is constantly changing his muscular pattern for making the sounds of speech, but at the same time sounds by the same speaker are similar enough to prevent any misunderstanding on the part of the listener.

Before we leave the topic of the clear voice a word must be said about pitch. Perhaps you wonder what pitch is good and what is bad. It all depends on you. Every individual has a pitch which is best suited to his speaking voice so that no rule can be laid down for all speakers. Only this should guide you in all speaking: Don’t stay on one pitch level in your speaking or develop a sing-song pattern; let your pattern be natural, up and down as needed; use a general pitch level which serves you with the least strain.