• All word that have more than one syllable have word stress • One syllable is longer and louder than the other • English words has it’s own rhythm • Word stress plays an important role of correct pronunciations of English words.
CHI-na com-MIT-tee
SLEN-der re-ve-LA-tion HOW TO PRONOUNCE WORD STRESS?
When a syllable is stressed, it is
pronounced
longer in duration higher in pitch louder in volume THE IMPORTANCE OF WORD STRESS • Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can make the word very difficult to hear and understand. • stressing a word differently can change the meaning or type of the word. • Even if the speaker can be understood, mistakes with word stress can make the listener feel irritated, or perhaps even amused, and could prevent good communication from taking place.
DE-sert de-SERT THE IMPORTANCE OF WORD STRESS • Mistakes in word stress are a common cause of misunderstanding in English. • Stressing a word differently can change the meaning or type of the word
For example: we will desert the desert by tomorrow
DE-sert de-SERT
So as you can see the last part of the first desert is
STRESSED, while the last part of the second desert is UNSTRESSED dessert. • Even if the speaker can be understood, mistakes with word stress can make the listener feel irritated, or perhaps even amused, and could prevent good communication from taking place.
• Some other words:
preSENT PREsent
HOT dog hot DOG
PUpil puPIL • Word stress is not an optional extra that you can add to the English language if you want. It is part of the language.
• Word stress is very important to knowing how
to properly pronounce words in English.
• Most English words will have one syllable said
louder than the other syllables • Easy to understood for example in conference call when speaking with native speaker .
• Usually the stressed words are the content
words. RULES OF WORD STRESS THINGS TO REMEMBER! 1. A word can only have one stress. In a very long word you can have a secondary stress but it is always a much smaller stress.
2. Only vowels are stressed, not
consonants. The vowels in English are a, e, i, o, and u. The consonants are all the other letters. TWO SYLLABLE NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES • In most two syllable nouns and adjectives, the first syllable takes on the stress. Examples:
• SAMples • CARton • COlorful • RAIny TWO SYLLABLE VERBS AND PREPOSITIONS
• In most two syllable verbs and prepositions, the
stress is on the second syllable. Examples:
• reLAX • reCEIVE • diRECT • aMONG • aSIDE • beTWEEN • More about word stress on two-syllable words • About 80% or so of two-syllable words get their stress on the first syllable.
• There are of course, exceptions to this rule, but very
few nouns and adjectives get stress on their second syllable.
• Verbs and prepositions usually get stress placed on
the second syllable, but there are exceptions to this too. WORDS ENDING IN CONSONANTS AND IN -Y • If there is a word that ends in a consonant or in a -y, then the first syllable gets the stress. Examples:
• RARity • OPtimal • GRAdient • CONtainer WORDS ENDING IN -ER, -OR,-LY • For words ending with the suffixes -er, -or, or -ly, the stress is placed on the first syllable.
Examples:
• DIRect/DIRector • ORder/ORderly • MANage/MANager PREFIXES • Usually, prefixes do not take the stress of a word.
There are a few exceptions to this rule, however,
like: un, in, pre, ex and mis, which are all stressed in their prefix.
Examples:
• ex: EXample, EXplanation, EXamine
• in: INside, INefficient, INterest • mis: MISspoke, MIStake, MISspelled • pre: PREcede, PREarrange, PREliminary WORDS HAVING DUAL ROLE • In the case of words which can be used as either a noun or verb, the noun will tend to be stressed on the first syllable and the verb on the last syllable.
Examples:
• IMport(n) imPORT(v) • INcrease(n) inCREASE(v) WORD STRESS FOR COMPOUND WORDS A. Compound noun
• A compound noun is a noun made out of
two nouns in order to form one word. In a compound noun, the first word usually takes on the stress.
Examples:
• ICEland • TOOTHpaste • SEAfood B. Compound adjectives
• A compound adjective is an adjective composed of
at least two words. Often, hyphens are used in compound adjectives. In compound adjectives, the stress is placed within the second word. Examples:
• ten-MEter • rock-SOlid • fifteen-MInute C. Compound verbs
• A compound verb is when a subject has
two or more verbs. The stress is on the second or on the last part. Examples:
• Matilda loves bread but deTESTS butter.
• Sarah baked cookies and ATE them up. • Dogs love to eat bones and love DRINking water. D. Noun + compound nouns
• Noun + compound Nouns are two word
compound nouns. In noun + compound noun, the stress is on the first word.
Examples:
• AIRplane mechanic • PROject manager • BOARDroom member EXERCISES Determine which of the following is the correct stressed syllable 1. a) con-VICT b) CON-vict why b? because convict is a noun, thus the stress in the first syllable
2. a) sym-BOL b) SYM-bol why b? because symbol is a noun, thus the stress in the first syllable
3. a) be-GIN b) BE-gin why a? because begin is a verb, thus the stress in the last syllable 4. a) fun-NY b) FUN-ny
why b? because funny is an adjective, thus the stress in
the first syllable
5. a) black-BOARD b) BLACK-board
why b? because this is a compound noun where the stress
occurs on the first syllable
6. a) mis-SPELL-ed b) MIS-spell-ed b) mis-SPELLED d) MIS-spelled
why b? because mis in misspelled is a unique prefix that
take stress in it. 7. a) PRO-per-ly b) PROPER-ly c) pro-per-LY d) PRO-PER-LY
why a? because properly is ending with the suffix ly
