The PAUSE – A valuable tool
Actors and announcers use pauses to accomplish many things.
First and foremost a correctly placed pause makes meaning clear and helps the audience to grasp that meaning.
The skilled reader will use a pause to indicate a change of time or place.
A pause can also separate ideas.
A major use of the pause is to point to an idea in the text; to draw the audience’s attention to a particular idea pause before or after that idea.
To point to the subject of a sentence, pause after it.
To point to the action the subject takes, pause before the verb.
To point to the object, pause before it.
As well as PAUSING, REDUCE PACE when speaking the key idea to which you’re pointing.<\/p>\n
There are a number of ways of saying, “Peter, put the cat out”.
If the tone of voice has “please” built into it the request is readily heard.
The words can come with an imperative sound. Exasperation makes itself transparently clear.<\/p>\n
WHAT YOU SEE AS YOU READ IS THE WORD OF
GOD.
BUT WHEN YOU READ ALOUD, WHAT YOU SAY IS
NOT NECESSARILY THE WORD OF GOD.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
ILLUSTRATIONS FOR PAUSING TO POINT
A. I tell you the very truth, before the cock crows you will have denied me \/ three times!
B. And when he had exhausted every kind of temptation, the devil withdrew \/ until his next opportunity.
C. It is the shepherd of the flock \/ who goes in by the door.
D. I do assure you that \/ I myself \/ am the door for the sheep.
E. Now concerning \/ food offered to idols.
Theatre critics gave a French actor rave reviews for his roles in Moliere’s plays. They said “He brought fresh life to these classics of the French theatre, his pausing was brilliant.” That line made the actor glow with satisfaction. He said “Ah, the words are Moliere’s but the pauses are mine.”
What did he accomplish by pausing in the right place?
1. He made the meaning of the text clear and gave the audience the opportunity to register that meaning.
2. By his pausing he drew their attention to ideas and thoughts they might have missed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The PAUSE – A valuable toolActors and announcers use pauses to accomplish many things.First and foremost a correctly placed pause makes meaning clear and helps the audience to grasp that meaning.The skilled reader will use a pause to indicate a change of time or place.A pause can also separate ideas.A major use of the pause […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-129","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\r\n
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