The Voice and Diction of Conversation : Page 72

This injunction really embodies one of the most important demands of good conversation and good public speaking. It is that the significant word in a phrase and sentence must be pronounced emphatically, with force and time and pitch change, and all the others should be pronounced as if grouped around that word. In a good talker, one not only hears the meaning of the sentence, but also feels its significance. If every word is pronounced with almost the same care and tempo, the hearer loses the significance in the procession of monotonous words. If one furthermore pronounces every syllable with as much care and force as the next, then one becomes insufferable. It is the technique to use if you want to be rid of an unwelcome suitor or the bill collector, for no hearer can suffer this precision monotony very long.