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Pausing is the act of stopping your speech and letting silence be part of
your sentence. Pausing is one aspect of the rhythm of English.
Pausing is a key part of the rhythm of English. Think of English as having a
heartbeat or pulse. Pausing helps keep this pulse slow and steady. Speech
that has a slow and steady pulse is clear and sounds confident.
Also, we use pauses to process new information. If someone speaks without
pausing, it is difficult to listen to and think carefully about what is being said.
Pausing within sentences gives the listener a chance to think carefully about
what the speaker is saying.
When we are speaking, pausing also allows us to highlight things we want
our listeners to remember. Think of a pause as an _underline_ around key
words.