Brazil's system of discourse intonation (DI) is critically appraised, and some shortcomings are described. Modifications to DI are suggested, the most important being to recognize that tones have meanings derived from two functions: firstly to indicate the distribution of knowledge between speaker and listener--the analysis of tone in yes/no questions is crucial here; secondly to indicate the respective viewpoints of speaker and listener. With these modifications, a simple system of four basic tones can be constructed. This enables meaningful readings of simple narrative. Narrative is proposed as a register that can be used effectively to teach the basics of English intonation, with a suggested method.