0398 – The Importance Of Pauses In Lists

2022.02.02 – 0398 – The Importance Of Pauses In Lists Sometimes you have a list of two or three items in a sentence: So, on an airline when the cabin crew offer you a meal (we used a similar example previously): “Would you like chicken or fish with vegetables or pasta?” Are you being offered:·        “Would you like chicken / or fish with vegetables / or pasta?”o  Chicken, fish with vegetables, or pasta?·        “Would you like chicken or fish with vegetables / or pasta?”o  Chicken and fish (both of which come with vegetables), or pasta?·        “Would you like chicken or fish / with vegetables or pasta?”o  Chicken, and fish both of which come either with vegetables or pasta? The information only becomes clear when the speaker puts the pause in the correct place OK in these examples the listener may be able to work out the context for themselves – if you are talking with a friend, you may know how many people they report to, or on an airline you may see what other people up the aisle have been given for their meal. But of course, similar sentences may come up in, for example, e-book narration. And like all of this advice from diction to intonation, yes, someone may be able to work out what your message is, but why should they? Isn’t it your job to aid their understanding and signpost the sense? And, while they are trying to solve your conversational conundrum, they’ve missed the next thing you’ve said and so fall behind further.  Effective communication starts with making the message easy to understand. Here’s one more: “It clouded over before today” – depending on where that pause is, will tell mum back home that you’re on the phone to, whether it was overcast earlier this day, or this week.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.