Interjections

Interjection is a big name for a little word. Interjections are short exclamations like Oh!, Um or Ah! They have no real grammatical value but we use them quite often, usually more in speaking than in writing. When interjections are inserted into a sentence, they have no grammatical connection to the sentence. An interjection is sometimes followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written.

Interjections like er and um are also known as "hesitation devices". They are extremely common in English. People use them when they don't know what to say, or to indicate that they are thinking about what to say. You should learn to recognize them when you hear them and realize that they have no real meaning.

The table below shows some interjections with examples.

interjection	meaning	example
ah	expressing pleasure	"Ah, that feels good."
	expressing realization	"Ah, now I understand."
	expressing resignation	"Ah well, it can't be heped."
	expressing surprise	"Ah! I've won!"
alas	expressing grief or pity	"Alas, she's dead now."
dear	expressing pity	"Oh dear! Does it hurt?"
	expressing surprise	"Dear me! That's a surprise!"
eh	asking for repetition	"It's hot today." "Eh?" "I said it's hot today."
	expressing enquiry	"What do you think of that, eh?"
	expressing surprise	"Eh! Really?"
	inviting agreement	"Let's go, eh?"
er	expressing hesitation	"Lima is the capital of...er...Peru."
hello, hullo	expressing greeting	"Hello John. How are you today?"
	expressing surprise	"Hello! My car's gone!"
hey	calling attention	"Hey! look at that!"
	expressing surprise, joy etc	"Hey! What a good idea!"
hi	expressing greeting	"Hi! What's new?"
hmm	expressing hesitation, doubt or disagreement	"Hmm. I'm not so sure."
oh, o	expressing surprise	"Oh! You're here!"
	expressing pain	"Oh! I've got a toothache."
	expressing pleading	"Oh, please say 'yes'!"
ouch	expressing pain	"Ouch! That hurts!"
uh	expressing hesitation	"Uh...I don't know the answer to that."
uh-huh	expressing agreement	"Shall we go?" "Uh-huh."
um, umm	expressing hesitation	"85 divided by 5 is...um...17."
well	expressing surprise	"Well I never!"
	introducing a remark	"Well, what did he say?"

How to say 'I don't know' in many ways

English, and particularly, British English is full of many informal expressions for I don't know.
Here is some of the most common.

• I don't know
• I've (got) no idea
• I haven't (got) a clue
• I haven't (got) the faintest (idea)
• I haven't (got) the foggiest (idea)
• I've got no notion
• You've got me there.
• You've stumped me there.
• Sorry, my mind's gone blank.
• Search me.

Conversation Starters

Here are a few useful phrases for starting conversations (informal).

• How are you (doing) today? (how ya doin?)
  
• How's it going? (This means "How are you?" not "Where are you going?")
• How's everything?
• How's life?

• What's happening? (now)
  
• What you up to?

• What's new? (What interesting has happened since I last saw you?)
• What've you been up to? (whatcha been up to?)

A Pronunciation Poem (with audio)

English pronunciation can be difficult because English is definitely not a phonetic language. I have recorded the following poem for you (which was quite tricky)



I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through.
Well don't! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps.
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard but sounds like bird.
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead,
For goodness sake don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth as in mother
Nor both as in bother, nor broth as in brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear, for bear and pear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose--
Just look them up--and goose and choose
And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword
And do and go, then thwart and cart,
Come, come! I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful Language? Why man alive!
I learned to talk it when I was five.
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn't learned it at fifty-five.

Tongue Twisters

Tongue-Twisters

A tongue-twister is a sequence of words that is difficult to pronounce quickly and correctly. Even native English speakers find the tongue-twisters on this page difficult to say quickly. Try them yourself. Try to say them as fast as possible, but correctly!

A proper copper coffee pot.

Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran.

Long legged ladies last longer.

Mixed biscuits, mixed biscuits.

A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits and a biscuit mixer!

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled pepper?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,
Where's the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?

Pink lorry, yellow lorry.

Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather.

She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.

The sixth sick Sheik's sixth sheep is sick.
[Sometimes described as the hardest tongue-twister in the English language.]

Swan swam over the pond,
Swim swan swim!
Swan swam back again -
Well swum swan!

Three grey geese in green fields grazing.

We surely shall see the sun shine soon.

The Silent 'l'

The letter 'l' is quite often silent. This is true in lots of words where 'l' is followed by 'f', 'k' or 'm'. Here are some examples:

calf, half
talk, walk, chalk, folk, yolk, Polka
calm , psalm, salmon

Remember too that the 'l' is silent in the words

could, couldn't, should, shouldn't, would and wouldn't

The Silent 'w'

The letter 'w' is always silent at the beginning of a word before the letter 'r'

wreck wring wrote wrong.

The addition of a prefix makes no difference: unwritten

'w' is also silent in answer, sword and two.

In the combination 'wh' , the 'w' is silent in

whole who whom whose

The Silent 'b'

When the letter 'b' comes before 't', it is usually silent:

debt, doubt, subtle, doubting

When the letter 'b' comes after 'm' at the end of a word, it is always silent:

thumb, comb, climb, lamb, dumb, bomb

Tips for Speaking

Improving your English speaking skills will help you communicate more easily and effectively. But how do you become a more confident English speaker?

Practise where you can, when you can. Any practice is good - whether you speak to someone who is a native English speaker or not.

It's important to build your confidence. If possible, use simple English sentence structure that you know is correct, so that you can concentrate on getting your message across.

Try to experiment with the English you know. Use words and phrases you know in new situations. Native English speakers are more likely to correct you if you use the wrong word than if you use the wrong grammar. Experimenting with vocabulary is a really good way of getting feedback.

Try to respond to what people say to you. You can often get clues to what people think by looking at their body language. Respond to them in a natural way.

Try NOT to translate into and from your own language. This takes too much time and will make you more hesitant.

If you forget a word, do what native English speakers do all the time, and say things that 'fill' the conversation. This is better than keeping completely silent. Try using um, or er, if you forget the word.

Don't speak too fast! It's important to use a natural rhythm when speaking English, but if you speak too fast it will be difficult for people to understand you.

Try to relax when you speak - you'll find your mouth does most of the pronunciation work for you. When you speak English at normal speed, you'll discover that many of the pronunciation skills, such as linking between words, will happen automatically.

Pronunciation Tips: Informal Contractions

If you want to (wanna) understand English native speakers better, then it is useful to know these spoken contractions of words

ain't = am not/are not/is not
I ain't sure.
You ain't my boss.
ain't = has not/have not
I ain't done it.
She ain't finished yet.

gimme = give me
Gimme your money.
Don't gimme that rubbish.
Can you gimme a hand?

gonna = going to
Nothing's gonna change my love for you.
I'm not gonna tell you.
What are you gonna do?

gotta = (have) got a
I've gotta gun.
I gotta gun.
She hasn't gotta penny.
Have you gotta car?
gotta = (have) got to
I've gotta go now.
I gotta go now.
We haven't gotta do that.
Have they gotta work?

kinda = kind of
She's kinda cute.

lemme = let me
Lemme go!

wanna = want to
I wanna go home.

wanna = want a
I wanna coffee.

whatcha = what are you
Whatcha going to do? or
Whatcha gonna do?
whatcha = what have you
Whatcha got there?

ya = you
Who saw ya?