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What do you think of Nick?

Well, I don't know.
> Well, | I don't know.
,Well, | I don't know.
Well, | I don't know.
He is a nice chap, I ,think.
Parentheses express the speaker's attitude towards the utterance.

Parentheses at the Beginning of the Sentence

When the speaker doesn't attach any importance to the
parenthetical words at all they do not form a separate intonation-
group and are often unstressed and are pronounced very quickly.
e.g. Well, I do. Well, I do.
If the speaker attaches more importance to parentheses, they form
an intonation-group. In this case they are stressed and are
pronounced with any nuclear tone: Low Fall, Low Rise, Mid-
Levell or Fall-Rise.
e.g. Well, | I do.
To tell you the ,truth, | I don't 'want to go there.
>Well, | I do.
For my own , part, | I should love it.
In the middle or at the end of the sentence parenthetical words and
phrases are generally pronounced as the unstressed of half stressed
tail or the preceding intonation-group.
I’m not good at skiing , you know.

The Author's Words Following Direct Speech

The author's words which follow the direct speech are usually
pronounced as an unstressed or half-stressed tail of the preceding
intonation-group.

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