Text 9 So you want to join the police?

When I contacted Police Constable Errol Mason, he was just finishing a nine-day night shift and was understandably trying to catch up on lost sleep. “It’s hard to sleep during the day but just have to try.” said Errol, “otherwise you end up exhausted.” I asked him when we could meet for a chat. “What about coming along to the ice on Tuesday evening – say, about eight?” he suggested. Errol told me that he spend most of his free time playing ice hockey. So the following Tuesday evening I sat and watched Errol skating across the ice. Later, over a cup of coffee, I asked him what his job in the police involved. “Many people have only one image of the police. They think we spend our time chasing criminals in fast cars with wailing sirens and flashing lights,” said Errol with a grin. “In fact, that’s the only one small part of the job. A lot of police work for a whole month at a time. Then the next month you may be driving around on patrol.” Thinking of some of the recent ugly scenes at football matches and demonstrations, I asked Errol if he was conscious of the dangers involved and if he was ever frightened. “Sometimes, yes,” he replied. “Anyone would be. It’s just one of the things you learn to accept.” When I asked if the irregular hours of police work affected his social life, Errol smiled. “My girlfriend gets a bit annoyed – she says I’m either on night shift or I’m playing ice hockey! But it’s not like being a doctor. When you’re off duty, that’s it. It has to be a real emergency like a major riot or something to be called out on your night off”.

It’s hard to sleep during the day, but just have to try. ( this utterance represents a combined tune consisting of 2 adjacent intonation groups which are in coordinative relations which means their equal semantic importance. The most typical tone sequence of coordination is reduplication of tones. In this case we’ve used 2 High Falling Tones as it’s a straight-forward statement and the speakers attitude is neutral )

She says I’m either on night shift or I’m playing ice hockey! ( this utterance represents a combined tune consisting of 2 adjacent intonation groupswhich are in relations of mutual dependence, which means that both the groups are independent. The most typical tone sequence is the opposite direction of tones. First part is usually mid wide rise, the second one – high fall, because such phrases usually express contrast. To sound more emotional we may also apply the high emphatic falling tone in the end. )