Adverbial phrases at the beginning of a simple sentence normally form a separate intonation group and are pronounced with the Low Rise, eg:ˏYesterday | I →stayed ˎin all day. In sentence final position the adverbial phrases do not form an intonation group, eg: I →stayed ˎin all day yesterday. But if the adverbial phrase in the sentence final position qualifies the meaning of the sentence, rather in a manner of an afterthought, added comments, restrictions or clarifications, it is pronounced as a separate intonation group, eg:Any news of Mary? — She is →coming to ˎMoscow | toˎday. So as we see here in the reply to the first question the speaker wants primarily to say that Mary is coming to Moscow, the second part of the reply giving additional comments to the phrase.
