Discourse Markers Interjections

Callum Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary with me Callum.

Catherine And me Catherine. In this programme we’re talking about interjections. Interjections are words that we use to express an emotion or feeling.

Callum For example Oh! expresses surprise and Hooray! expresses pleasure when something good happens. We ‘ll give you plenty of other examples.

Catherine We’ll have a quiz; and we’ll finish with a top tip for learning vocabulary.

Callum Here are Peter and Kylie. They’re at home in their kitchen.

Catherine And while you listen, think about this question: What emotion does Peter express by the word Phew! at the end of this conversation?

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Peter and Kylie

Peter: Ow! Kylie: What’s wrong? Peter: I’ve just cut my finger. Kylie: Oh! Quick, where ‘s the First Aid kit? Peter: It’s in that drawer. Kylie: Got it. Ugh ! There ‘s blood everywhere. Oh no! It ‘s on my T-shirt now. Let me see your finger. Peter: There you go. Kylie: There, got the plaster on it, hooray !
Peter: Phew ! Thanks.

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Callum So that was Peter and Kylie. And we asked: What emotion does Peter express by the word Phew ! at the end of the conversation?

Catherine And the answer is that he expresses relief. Peter feels relieved that Kylie has got the plaster on his finger.

Callum He does. People use interjections a lot in everyday speech. It’s interesting that one little word like Phew! can express so much, isn ‘t it?

Catherine It is. And that’s why it’s important to learn to use interjections when your speaking, to make your English sound more natural and fluent.

Callum Now, interjections usually come at the beginning of what we are saying, but they can sometimes come at the end.

Catherine So Peter says Phew! Thanks , but he could have said Thanks. Phew!

Callum But, whichever way he says it, the interjection stands alone. There are no words to connect it to what comes after or before it.

Catherine That’s right, and if you’re writing a conversation with interjections, they’re usually followed by an exclamation mark.

Callum Because the exclamation mark emphasises the strength of the emotion and increases the interest for the reader. Phew! with an exclamation mark looks more dramatic than Phew. with a full stop.

Catherine It does. That’s interesting, isn’t it? Let’s have our first clip.

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Peter: Ow! Kylie: What’s wrong? Peter: I’ve just cut my finger. Kylie: Oh! Quick, where ‘s the First Aid kit? Peter: It’s in that drawer. Kylie: Got it.

Catherine Right. So what does Peter express with Ow!

Callum Ow! expresses sudden pain. We can say Ouch! too. They mean the same.

Catherine And the second interjection was Oh! Kylie uses it to show surprise and alarm that Peter has cut his finger.

Callum Yes. Now if you wanted to describe the scene in writing you would have to say: Peter shouted in sudden pain , instead of using Ow! Or Peter ‘s voice expressed relief , instead of using Phew!

Catherine That’s right. Interjections are very useful when speaking, but they’re not often used in written English, except for writing dialogues like the one between Peter and Kylie.

Callum OK. Let’s have our second clip.

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Kylie: Ugh ! There ‘s blood everywhere. Oh no! It ‘s on my T-shirt now. Let me see your finger. Peter: There you go. Kylie: There, got the plaster on it, hooray !
Peter: Phew ! Thanks.

Catherine OK. Kylie uses three interjections there! No we don’t usually use so many together but the situation is quite dramatic, so it’s natural to use them together there.

Callum There was Ugh! , which expresses disgust at the blood everywhere.

Catherine And there was Oh no! which expresses shock. Kylie was a bit shocked that the blood was on her T-shirt.

Callum And finally Hooray! That expresses pleasure or delight that something good has happened. Kylie was very pleased that she’d managed to get the plaster on Peter’s finger.

Catherine Other common interjections are Wow! for admiration, Oops! for when you make a mistake and Yippee! for excitement.

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6 Minute Vocabulary from BBC Learning English.

Callum It’s time now for our quiz! Listen to each sentence, then choose the correct interjection to go before each one. Number one: There’s a dead snake in the road. Is it a) Ouch! Or b) Ugh!

Catherine It’s b) Ugh! for disgust

Callum It is! Number two: What a beautiful building. Is it a) Wow! Or b) Hooray!

Catherine It’s a) Wow! for admiration.

Callum. Correct! Number three: Amy’s passed her driving test. Is it a) Oops! Or b) Phew!

Catherine It’s b) Phew! for relief

Callum Excellent! That’s the end of the quiz and congratulations if you got them all right.

Catherine Before we go, here’s today’s top tip. When you’re speaking everyday English, you don’t always need to use high-level vocabulary to express your meaning. It’s more important to be clear and sometimes simple words like interjections express your meaning much more clearly than a sentence with advanced vocabulary in it.

Callum There’s more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Both Bye!