from that of English. There are four primary patterns. The continuation pattern is a rise in pitch occurring in the last syllable of a rhythm group (typically a phrase). The finality pattern is a sharp fall in pitch occurring in the last syllable of a declarative statement. The yes/no intonation is a sharp rise in pitch occurring in the last syllable of a yes/no question. The information question intonation is a rapid fall-off from high pitch on the first word of a non-yes/no question, often followed by a small rise in pitch on the last syllable of the question. Continuation pattern The most distinctive feature of French intonation is the continuation pattern. While many languages, such as English and Spanish, place stress on a particular syllable of each word, and while many speakers of languages such as English may accompany this stress with a rising intonation, French has neither stress nor distinctive intonation on a given syllable. Instead, on the final syllable of every "rhythm group" except the last one in a sentence, there is placed a rising pitch. For example (as before the pitch change arrows ↘ and ↗ apply to the syllable immediately following the arrow): Hier ↗soir, il m'a off↗ert une ciga↘rette. (The English equivalent would be "Last ↗evening, he ↗offered me a ciga↘rette (BrE) / ↘cigarette (AmE)). Le lendemain ma↗tin, après avoir changé le pansement du ma↗lade, l'infir↗mier est ren↗tré chez ↘lui. Adjectives are in the same rhythm group as their noun. Each item in a list forms its own rhythm group: Chez le frui↗tier on trouve des ↗pommes, des o↗ranges, des ba↗nanes, des ↗fraises et des abri↘cots. Side comments inserted into the middle of a sentence form their own rhythm group: La grande ↗guerre, si j'ai une bonne mé↗moire, a duré quatre ↘ans. Finality pattern As can be seen in the example sentences above, a sharp fall in pitch is placed on the last syllable of a declarative statement. The preceding syllables of the final rhythm group are at a relatively high pitch. Yes/no pattern Most commonly in informal speech, a yes/no question is indicated by a sharply rising pitch alone, without any change or rearrangement of words. For example Il est ↗riche? A form found in both spoken and written French is the Est-ce que ... ("Is it that ...") construction, in which the spoken question can end in either a rising or a