In written English, a tone group would be a complete sentence. At the end of a sentence, there is a "period", and the voice comes to a stop. In spoken English there are tone groups or intonation groups, where there is a cluster of words that are said together so the person can pause, or take a breath. Usually a comma "," helps divide a tone group from another group of words. Often there is a change in meaning if you don't pause at the correct place. A cluster of words followed by a pause, can give the speaker a chance to stop and think, and formulate his thoughts so he can continue his sentence or "train of thought". Some speakers fill these pauses with "er....", "ummm.." etc. A trained speaker will learn to stop this habit and speak fluently without all these "umms" and "er's". One speakers' organization that helps in public speaking is called "Toastmasters International".

In English, the intonation patterns are on groups of words. These groups can be called tone groups. Some books call them tone units, intonation groups, or sense groups. Tone groups can contain only one word or as many as seven or eight. /no / I really can't put up with it / good-bye/ Because tone groups are said on a single breath, they are limited in length and average about two seconds, or about five words. An understanding of tone groups is crucial to understanding the difference between written and spoken language. In written language, the basic unit is the sentence; in spoken language, it is the tone group. We break up spoken language into tone groups because we need to breathe, and so there is a physical reason for this structure. But there is also the need to think; that is, tone groups also have a cognitive basis. While we are speaking one tone group, we are planning the next one, and so the tone group carries only one idea at a time. Thus the pace of the tone groups, and the information they convey, matches the speaker's thoughts. From time to time, it is necessary to pause and draw breath, and also to plan what to say next.