One of the chief means of securing emphasis is to employ a long falling inflection on the emphatic words—­that is, to let the voice fall to a lower pitch on an interior vowel sound in a word.  Try it on the words “every,” “eleemosynary,” and “destroy.”

Use long falling inflections on the italicized words in the following selection, noting their emphatic power.  Are there any other words here that long falling inflections would help to make expressive?

    ADDRESS IN THE DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE

This, sir, is my case.  It is the case not merely of that humble institution; it is the case of every college in our land.  It is more; it is the case of every eleemosynary institution throughout our country—­of all those great charities founded by the piety of our ancestors to alleviate human misery and scatter blessings along the pathway of life.  Sir, you may destroy this little institution—­it is weak, it is in your hands.  I know it is one of the lesser lights in the literary horizon of our country.  You may put it out.  But if you do you must carry through your work; you must extinguish, one after another, all those great lights of science which, for more than a century, have thrown their radiance over our land!

    It is, sir, as I have said, a small college, and yet—­there are
    those who love it!

Sir, I know not how others may feel, but as for myself when I see my alma mater surrounded, like Caesar in the senate house, by those who are reiterating stab after stab, I would not for this right hand have her turn to me and say, And thou, too, my son!

    —­DANIEL WEBSTER.

Be careful not to over-inflect.  Too much modulation produces an unpleasant effect of artificiality, like a mature matron trying to be kittenish.  It is a short step between true expression and unintentional burlesque.  Scrutinize your own tones.  Take a single expression like “Oh, no!” or “Oh, I see,” or “Indeed,” and by patient self-examination see how many shades of meaning may be expressed by inflection.  This sort of common-sense practise will do you more good than a book of rules. But don’t forget to listen to your own voice.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1.  In your own words define (a) cadence, (b) modulation, (c) inflection, (d) emphasis.

2.  Name five ways of destroying monotony and gaining effectiveness in speech.

3.  What states of mind does falling inflection signify?  Make as full a list as you can.

4.  Do the same for the rising inflection.

5.  How does the voice bend in expressing (a) surprise? (b) shame? (c) hate? (d) formality? (e) excitement?

6.  Reread some sentence several times and by using different inflections change the meaning with each reading.