WORD AND SENTENCE STRESS

English Phoneticsproject

byAlejandra ValeroAldemar Trujillo

In this project we are going to try to teach how we apply the word and sentence stress through some diferent speaking exercises .

At first step we are going to give you an explanation and each explanation with an exercises.

Stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence in other words, is the accent or the strong tone that we give in a sentence.

Is the stress placed on syllables within words

EXERCISEListen and repeat after the recording

WORD STRESS PSYCHOLOGY

employEE

psyCHOLogy

repuTAtion

This are two simple rules about the word stress:

• One word has only one stress

• We can only stress vowels, not consonants.

One Syllable – Stressed: the only syllable have the stressEAT, WELL

Two Syllable - First Syllable Stressed: PICture, HEAting

Two Syllable - Second Syllable Stressed:toDAY, aLLOW

NOW HERE ARE THE EIGHT WORD STRESS PATTERNS IN ENGLISH.

Three Syllable - First Syllable Stressed:Operate, Energy

Three Syllable - Second Syllable Stressed:poTAto, comMITtee

Three Syllable - Third Syllable Stressed:japanESE, volunTEER

Four Syllable - Second Syllable Stressed:neuTRAlity, eVAporate

Four Syllable - Third Syllable Stressed:inforMAtion, poliTIcian

ACTIVITY: listen and underline the word stress:

tel e vi sionbe ginso ci etyex portgeo log icalre ve la tion

Is the stress placed on words within sentences.EXERCISEListen and repeat after the recording

• Will you SELL my CAR because I’ve GONE to FRANCE

• The PRESIDENT’S FAMILY lives in the WHITE HOUSE

SENTENCE STRESS

Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat".Most sentences have two types of word:

content words: give the meaning of the sentence

main verbs – sell, give, employnouns – car, music, mary

adjectives – red, big, interestingadverbs – quickly, loudly, never

negative auxiliaries – don’t, aren’t, can’t

structure words: complement the sentencepronouns – I, he, she, we, they

prepositions – on, at, intoarticles – a, an, the

conjunctions – and, but, becauseauxiliary verbs – do, be, have, can, must

“to be” as a main verb – is, are, was

EXAMPLES:Where did you go?We want to go to work.

Now practice the pronunciation through the intonation in the sentence stress and underline the stressed word, repeat after the recording:

My teachers really amuse me. How long are you going for?  John wants to be an actor, so he wants to live in Hollywood. After the movie, they went to a bar to have beer.

We hope you learned a little more

about word and sentence stress. THANKS FOR THE

ATTENTION.