Let's start off by understanding what we mean by thought groups and chunking. 

What are thought groups? A thought group is a group of one to seven words that expresses a thought or idea. In other words, a chunk. 

Chunking is how we break ideas into smaller, more manageable pieces. You'll hear people describe this process as thought groups, chunking, and phrasing, depending on where you look. 

As you've probably noticed, in natural speech, we don't always speak in complete sentences. We may speak in fragments, or go on and on and on with run-on sentences. 

In order to make it easier for our listener to follow what we're saying, we break our speech into shorter chunks, or thought groups. 

Thought groups are generally three to seven words long, though there are no specific rules for length. Learning how to chunk your ideas into thought groups will help you communicate more effectively. 

Thought groups help you emphasize key points, make your meaning clear, and breathe regularly when speaking. 

Thought groups help your listener stay engaged in what you're saying and process the most important ideas.

Using thought groups well can transform how you sound. 

So let's talk about how thought groups work. In natural speech, we form thought groups by combining words that go together logically. 

There are no strict rules for how to break ideas into thought groups, as you can use them for effect, emphasis, and clarity. Different people will chunk the same exact words differently depending on their speaking style. 

That said, thought groups work similarly to phrases and grammatical clauses, and you want to make sure you're not separating words that should stay together. 

This is why you may hear content words stressed slightly differently, as well as stress patterns and partnerships, which we've already looked at in this course. 

In addition, we often link the words within a thought group together, following the guidelines for connected speech. This is why short phrases can sound like just one word. 

Lastly, we signal the end of a thought group with a short pause or change in tone. 

The speaker may take a micro-breath or use rising or holding intonation mid-sentence. 

Remember, native speakers are listening for these quick pauses and focus words in order to understand the most important words and ideas in your speech. 

If you speak too quickly without pausing to give your listener time to process, they may get tired or frustrated because it's hard for them to digest what you've said.

Thought groups can change how people hear you. 

Now, let's talk a little bit more about focus words. What is a focus word? A focus word is the word in a thought group that receives the most stress. 

One word in every thought group will receive the most stress. The focus word is usually a content word, but you may stress different words for emphasis. 

The focus word of a thought group is usually the last content word in the chunk, but not always. The guidelines for stress patterns and partnerships still apply. 

For example: We just ate breakfast. We just ate breakfast. 

As you can hear, "breakfast" is the word that receives the most stress in this chunk: BREAKfast. We just ate BREAKfast. We just ate BREAKfast. 

You can see I'm also stressing the noun in this word partnership. We just ate breakfast. We just ate breakfast. 

Let's look at another one: a tall glass of water, a tall glass of water. In this case, we're stressing “water,” with stress on that first syllable: a tall glass of WAter, a tall glass of WAter. 

Another example: from the United States, from the United States. As you can hear, we're still stressing "states," just like we would according to the guidelines we've already practiced: from the United STATES, from the United STATES. 

Next, let's talk about chunking ideas logically. While thought groups are flexible, you can follow some guidelines to get comfortable with their rhythm. 

If you're reading a text out loud, remember to pause at these punctuation marks: 

Please note that we pause for longer after a period than other punctuation marks. It's more of a full stop, rather than a half stop as you hear in the other examples of punctuation marks. 

Similarly, certain grammatical structures help you identify thought groups and when to pause:

As you get used to listening for thought groups, you'll notice other phrases that aren't usually separated. You'll start to sense which pauses feel out of place, and this will also help you understand when people stress something in a way that sounds unusual, they're doing it for effect or clarity or emphasis. 

Now let's talk about pausing and intonation. As you've learned, we indicate the end of a thought group by stressing the focus word and pausing briefly. 

We may also change our tone between thought groups. You may pause more frequently for effect, or move quickly through several words without pausing to signal that this information is less important. 

Listen for a speaking style you like and try to imitate it. Changing your intonation after thought groups can help your speech sound more engaging or friendly. 

Rising intonation, or a continuation rise, after a thought group signals that you're not done speaking yet. 

Try experimenting with rising and holding intonation in addition to pausing briefly between ideas. This can help you sound more expressive and less monotone. 

Let's look at those last two sentences as examples. Take a moment and think about which words you would stress and where you would pause and change your tone:

Try experimenting with rising and holding intonation in addition to pausing briefly between ideas. This can help you sound more expressive and less monotone.

It may be helpful to copy this into another document or write it down so that you can mark where you would pause, which words you would stress, where you would change your tone.

You may want to hit pause on the video so that you get a chance to break this into smaller chunks. Ready to see how you did? 

TRY exPERimenting / with RIsing and HOLDing intoNAtion / in adDItion to PAUSing BRIEFly / between iDEas. / THIS can HELP you SOUND / MORE exPRESsive / and LESS MOnotone.

Notice how I use contrastive stress for emphasis. I'll read it one more time:

TRY exPERimenting / with RIsing and HOLDing intoNAtion / in adDItion to PAUSing BRIEFly / between iDEas. / THIS can HELP you SOUND / MORE exPRESsive / and LESS MOnotone.

As you can hear, this may be different than the way that you broke the sentences into chunks. It really depends on the speaker, it depends on the attitude, it depends on the way they choose to separate these ideas into thought groups. 

In fact, you may go back and listen to how I said it earlier in this workshop and notice that it's a little bit different. There's a lot of flexibility with thought groups, but it's important that you learn how to use them. 

Now, let's talk about pausing to change meaning. As with shifting the information focus, pausing in different places can change the meaning of a sentence. Since pauses often function like punctuation marks, they can help clarify your meaning.

For example, look at this phrase:

three hour long sessions

Depending on where we pause in this phrase, it can have a different meaning. For example:

 three, / hour-long sessions. 

In this case we're talking about three sessions that are 60 minutes long: three, hour-long sessions; three, hour-long sessions. 

If we pause in a different location, it'll change what we mean:

 three-hour-long / sessions

In this case, I'm stressing it a little bit differently. I'm rushing through those three words and I'm really emphasizing "sessions." I'm talking about sessions that are three hours long, which means they are 180 minutes long: three-hour-long sessions, three-hour-long sessions. 

As you can hear, where you pause can change the meaning. It's helping us understand which words go together, and what we're trying to say. 

As you probably realize by now, practice really makes it easier to break your ideas into thought groups in logical chunks. So let's practice.

We're going to practice thought groups and chunking with Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University. Which words would you stress and where would you pause? Take a look at this short excerpt and think about it. 

I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.

Which words would you stress? Which words are focus words? Which words receive the most stress? Where would you pause in order to break this into smaller chunks and make it easier to digest?

It'll be easier if you hit pause on the video and give yourself a chance to work on it, figure out which words to stress, and where you would break it into thought groups.

As you work on this independently, remember that there isn't really a right answer. Different people will pause more frequently, some people will pause less frequently. 

We would still stress words more or less the same, but the focus word may be different depending on what the person's trying to emphasize.

So take time with each excerpt and work through it on your own. Don't judge yourself if it's different than the example I give. This is just how I decided to break this into logical chunks. 

So if you need more time, hit pause, take a look at it, but I'm going to go ahead and read you how I would break this into groups:

I’m conVINced / that the ONly THING / that KEPT me GOing / was that I LOVED / what I DID. / You’ve GOT to FIND / what you LOVE. / And THAT is as TRUE for your WORK / as it is for your LOVers.

Watch the video where I'll read it to you one more time:

I’m conVINced / that the ONly THING / that KEPT me GOing / was that I LOVED / what I DID. / You’ve GOT to FIND / what you LOVE. / And THAT is as TRUE for your WORK / as it is for your LOVers.

As I keep mentioning, this may be stressed slightly differently or broken into thought groups differently depending on the context, who's listening, how clear I want to be, how much I want to emphasize certain words. 

If I were to read this out loud, not recording this video, it might even sound differently. So don't worry if your example isn't the same as mine. It really depends on the speaker. 

The idea is that you want to think about how it would make sense to break this into thought groups for clarity, for emphasis, for effect. Let's try another example:

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. 

Which words would you stress? Where would you pause? Take a moment, think about this sentence, think about where to stress, where to pause, where to break it into chunks. 

Remember to hit pause on the video if you need a little more time to work through it. Let's look at how I divided this into chunks:

Your WORK / is GOing to FILL / a LARGE PART of your LIFE, / and the ONly WAY / to be TRUly SAtisfied / is to DO what YOU beLIEVE / is GREAT WORK.

I'll try reading that one more time:

Your WORK / is GOing to FILL / a LARGE PART of your LIFE, / and the ONly WAY / to be TRUly SAtisfied / is to DO what YOU beLIEVE / is GREAT WORK.

Remember, different speakers will say the same words differently. So here's another way to chunk this same exact excerpt from the commencement speech. Take a look at it one more time. 

Your WORK is GOing to FILL / a LARGE PART of your LIFE, / and the ONly WAY to be TRUly SAtisfied / is to DO what you beLIEVE / is GREAT WORK.

I'll try reading it one more time:

Your WORK is GOing to FILL / a LARGE PART of your LIFE, / and the ONly WAY to be TRUly SAtisfied / is to DO what you beLIEVE / is GREAT WORK.

As you compare the way that I read both of these examples, you notice that there are different words that are stressed in order to really draw attention to them. 

When thought groups are longer, they draw attention away from other stressed words and really place emphasis on the one word in the chunk that receives the most stress, the focus word.

It depends on what you're trying to express, what you're trying to emphasize, what you want people to listen to, how you want to get their attention and make them think. So different people will read this exact same excerpt differently. 

Even if I were reading this outside of this video, I might say it differently, so just practice. Try breaking it into thought groups. Think about where you should emphasize certain words, what you really want the person to listen to. With time, with practice, this gets easier, even for native speakers. 

Let's take a look at another example. Which words would you stress? Where would you pause?

And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

Once again, you may want to hit pause on the video so that you get a chance to work through this on your own. Here's how I broke it into thought groups:

And the ONly WAY / to DO GREAT WORK / is to LOVE / what you DO. / If you HAVen’t FOUND it YET, / KEEP LOOKing. / DON’T SETTLE. / As with ALL MATters of the HEART, / you’ll KNOW / when you FIND it.

One more time:

And the ONly WAY / to DO GREAT WORK / is to LOVE / what you DO. / If you HAVen’t FOUND it YET, / KEEP LOOKing. / DON’T SETTLE. / As with ALL MATters of the HEART, / you’ll KNOW / when you FIND it.

As you can hear, the stress, the pausing, the change in intonation, the emphasis on focus words, all of these work together to help you understand the main ideas of this particular speech. 

One more example. Which words would you stress? Where would you pause? 

And the ONly WAY / to DO GREAT WORK / is to LOVE / what you DO. / If you HAVen’t FOUND it YET, / KEEP LOOKing. / DON’T SETTLE. / As with ALL MATters of the HEART, / you’ll KNOW / when you FIND it.

Once again, think about where you would pause logically, think about which words you want to keep together, which words you want to emphasize by making them focus words. Hit pause if you need a little more time to work on this. Here's how I broke it into chunks:

And, / like ANy GREAT reLAtionship, / it JUST GETS BETter and BETter / as the YEARS roll ON. / So KEEP LOOKing / until you FIND it. / DON’T SETtle.

One more time:

And, / like ANy GREAT reLAtionship, / it JUST GETS BETter and BETter / as the YEARS roll ON. / So KEEP LOOKing / until you FIND it. / DON’T SETtle.

How are you doing with these examples? 

Let's talk about practicing on your own. To improve your use of thought groups and chunking, you need to increase your awareness of how native speakers pause throughout their speech. 

As you get started, practice with commencement speeches, like the one we used in the examples, and TED talks.

These prepared speeches give you a clear sense of how to pause and change tone for effect, clarity, and emphasis.

Use the transcripts to analyze stress patterns in chunks. 

Remember, thought groups and chunking get easier with practice. So get out there and get started!