Is word because stressed or not

What is sentence stress?

Sentence stress (also called prosodic stress) refers to the emphasis placed on certain words within a sentence. This varying emphasis gives English a cadence, resulting in a natural songlike quality when spoken fluently.

Sentence stress is generally determined by whether a word is considered a “content word” or a “function word,” and the vocal space between stressed words creates the rhythm of a sentence.

Content Words vs. Function Words

In the most basic pattern, content words will always be stressed, while function words will often be unstressed. Let’s briefly discuss the difference between the two.

Content words

A content word (also known as a lexical word) is a word that communicates a distinct lexical meaning within a particular context—that is, it expresses the specific content of what we’re talking about at a given time. Nouns (e.g., dog, Betty, happiness, luggage), most* verbs (e.g., run, talk, decide, entice), adjectives (e.g., sad, outrageous, good, easy), and adverbs (e.g., slowly, beautifully, never) all have meaning that is considered lexically important.

Content words will always have at least one syllable that is emphasized in a sentence, so if a content word only has a single syllable, it will always be stressed.

(*Auxiliary verbs are specific types of verbs that are used in the grammatical construction of tense and aspect or to express modality—that is, asserting or denying possibility, likelihood, ability, permission, obligation, or future intention. These types of verbs are fixed in their structure and are used to convey a relationship between other “main” verbs, so they are considered function words, which we’ll look at next.)

Function words

A function word (also known as a structure word) is a word that primarily serves to complete the syntax and grammatical nuance of a sentence. These include pronouns (e.g., he, she, it, they), prepositions (e.g., to, in, on, under), conjunctions (e.g., and, but, if, or), articles (e.g., a, an, the), other determiners (e.g., this, each, those), and interjections (e.g., ah, grr, hello).

In addition to these parts of speech, function words also include a specific subset of verbs known as auxiliary verbs, which add structural and grammatical meaning to other main verbs. These include the three primary auxiliary verbs be, do, and have, as well as a number of others known as modal auxiliary verbs, such as can, may, must, will, and others.

Finally, function words, especially those with only one syllable, are commonly (but not always) unstressed in a sentence—since they are not providing lexical meaning integral to the sentence, we often “skip over” them vocally. For example, in the sentence, “Bobby wants to walk to the playground,” the particle to, the preposition to, and the definite article the are all said without (or without much) stress. The content words (Bobby, wants, walk, and playground), on the other hand, each receive more emphasis to help them stand out and underline their importance to the meaning of the sentence.

Sentence Stress vs. Word Stress

While function words are often unstressed in a sentence, those that have more than one syllable still have internal word stress on one of their syllables. For example, the word because has two syllables (be·cause), with stress placed on the second syllable (/bɪˈkɔz/). However, in a sentence with a normal stress pattern, because will have less overall emphasis than the content words around it, which helps maintain the cadence and flow of the sentence in everyday speech.

Likewise, multi-syllable content words will have even more emphasis placed on the syllable that receives the primary stress. It is this syllable that is most articulated within a sentence, with the rest of the word being unstressed like the function words.

Examples of normal sentence stress

Let’s look at some examples, with function words in italics and the primary stress of content words in bold:

• “I have a favor to ask.”
• “Jonathan will be* late because his car broke down.”
• “I’m going to the store later.”
• “We do not agree with the outcome.”
• “Please don’t tell me how the movie ends.”

(*Note that be is technically a content word here—it is the main verb in the phrase will be late—but it remains unstressed like a function word. Because they are often used as auxiliary verbs to form verb tense, conjugations of be are almost always unstressed in sentences irrespective of their technical grammatical function.)

Rhythm

English is what’s known as a stress-timed language, which means that we leave approximately the same amount of time between stressed syllables in a sentence to create a natural cadence. These are sometimes referred to as the “beats” of a sentence.

This rhythm is easier to hear in sentences in which content words and function words alternate regularly, as in:

• “I have a favor to ask.”

Things become more complicated when a sentence has multiple content or function words in a row.

Generally speaking, when multiple function words appear together, we vocally condense them into a single beat, meaning that they are spoken slightly faster than content words on either side.

When multiple single-syllable content words appear together, the reverse effect occurs: a greater pause is given between each word to create natural beats while still maintaining the proper amount of emphasis. (Content words with more than one syllable are usually not affected, since at least one part of the word is unstressed.)

Let’s look at one of our previous examples to see this more clearly:

• “Jonathan will be late because his car broke down.”

After the first syllable of the content word Jonathan is stressed, the words will be and the last two syllables of Jonathan are all unstressed and spoken together quickly to form a beat before the next content word, late. The next two words, because his, are also unstressed and spoken quickly to form the next beat. The next three words, car broke down, are all content words, and they are each stressed separately. Because of this, we add a slight pause between them to help the rhythm of the sentence sound natural.

This rhythmic pattern between stressed and unstressed words occurs when a sentence is spoken “neutrally”—that is, without any additional emphasis added by the speaker. However, we can add extra stress to any word in a sentence in order to achieve a particular meaning. This is known as emphatic stress.

Emphatic Stress

The convention regarding the stress and rhythm of content words and function words is consistent in normal (sometimes called “neutral”) sentence stress. However, English speakers often place additional emphasis on a specific word or words to provide clarity, emphasis, or contrast; doing so lets the listener know more information than the words can provide on their own. Consider the following “neutral” sentence, with no stress highlighted at all:

• “Peter told John that a deal like this wasn’t allowed.”

Now let’s look at the same sentence with emphatic stress applied to different words, and we’ll see how its implied meaning changes accordingly:

• “Peter told John that a deal like this wasn’t allowed.” (Clarifies that Peter, as opposed to someone else, told John not to make the deal.)
• “Peter told John that a deal like this wasn’t allowed.” (Emphasizes the fact that John had been told not to make the deal but did so anyway.)
• “Peter told John that a deal like this wasn’t allowed.” (Clarifies that John was told not to make the deal, not someone else.)
• “Peter told John that a deal like this wasn’t allowed.” (Emphasizes that Peter said the deal was not allowed, indicating that John thought or said the opposite.)

Representing emphatic stress in writing

In writing, we normally use the italic, underline, or bold typesets to represent this emphasis visually. Italics is more common in printed text, while underlining is more common in handwritten text.

Another quick way to indicate emphatic stress in writing is to put the emphasized word or words in capital letters, as in:

• “Peter TOLD John that a deal like this wasn’t allowed.”

This is much less formal, however, and is only appropriate in conversational writing.

It is also important to
note that syllables are different from letters. For example, “come” has four
letters but one syllable. On the other hand, «Sunday» has six letters
but two syllables.

There are different types
of stress. Before you proceed, make sure you read it up using the links below.
It will aid your understanding of this article.

The meaning and types of stress. Episode 1

The meaning and types of stress. Episode 2

Features of a stressed
syllable

Stressed syllables
possess similar feature which enables us to identify them. According to Roach
(2004), «…all stressed syllables have one characteristic in common, and
this is prominence.» Four main factors make a stressed
syllable prominent:

1. Loudness

Loudness is an important
factor in determining the stressed syllable of a word. When pronouncing a word,
the syllable that is louder than the others is heard as stressed. In other
words, for hearers and listeners, stressed syllables are perceived as louder
than unstressed syllables.

2. Length

A stressed syllable is
usually longer than the other syllables in a word. Roach (2004) asserted that
«If one of the syllables in a word is made longer than the others, there
is quite a strong tendency for that syllable to be heard as stressed»(p.
94).

As regards this,
Umera-Okeke (2015, p. 125) asserted that «Syllables containing long vowels
are viewed as more prominent than those with short vowels.»

3. Pitch

Pitch is the extent of
vibration of the vocal cords when producing the syllables of a word. In a word,
a syllable is heard as stressed if it is said with a high pitch unlike the
other syllables. Umera-Okeke (2015) opined that «when there is a pitch
change on a syllable, that syllable is seen as being more prominent» (pp.
125 — 126). For example, in the word «Pandemonium», the primary
stress is on the third syllable, «mo», since there is a pitch change
on that syllable.

4. Quality

The quality of a sound in
a syllable determines whether or not that syllable is stressed. That is to say
that «a syllable of a sound will tend to be prominent if it contains a
vowel that is different in quality from the neighbouring vowels» (Roach,
2004, p. 94). Vowels are very important in determining the stressed syllable of
a word. Therefore, one needs to pay attention to the type of vowel a syllable
contains. Within vowels, open vowels are more prominent; thus, a syllable
containing an open vowel is most likely to be stressed.

When next you pronounce a
word, take note of these aforementioned features. It is also important to state
that, of all these factors, loudness and length are
more important in determining the stressed syllable of an English word.

Let’s
look at some rules that will enable you identify the stressed syllable of word.

RULES THAT WILL ENABLE
YOU IDENTIFY THE STRESSED SYLLABLE OF A WORD

1. Monosyllabic words,
such as come, go, sit etc., are
usually stressed since they can’t be divided into different syllables.

2. Numbers that end in
«ty» are stressed on the first syllable while numbers that end in
«teen» have their stress on the second syllable. For example,
«sixty» has its stress on first syllable (SIXty) while
«sixteen» has its stress on the second syllable (sixTEEN).

3. Most bisyllabic nouns
and adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable.

Examples: BAS-tard, PRE-tty,
CLE-ver, DOC-tor, STU-dent etc.

However, there is an
exception to this rule, and you have to learn these words by heart:
ho-TEL,  ex-TREME, con-CISE etc.

4. Bisyllabic verbs and
prepositions are usually stressed on the second syllable. Examples:
be-LOW, a-BOUT, a-BOVE, be-TWEEN, a-SIDE, pre-SENT, re-PLY, ex-PORT etc.

5. Some words in English
language function as both nouns and verbs. When such words function as noun,
the stress is usually on the first syllable, and as verbs, the stress is usually on
the second syllable.

Examples:

i. PRE-sent (a gift)
vs. pre-SENT (to give something formally to someone).

ii. RE-fuse (garbage) vs.
re-FUSE (to decline).

iii. SU-spect (someone
who the police believe may have committed a crime) vs. su-SPECT (to believe
that something is true, especially something bad).

However, this is not
always the case. For example, the word «respect» has its primary
stress on the second syllable both when it’s a verb and a noun.

6. Six syllable words
ending in «tion» are usually stressed on their fifth syllable. Examples:
per-so-ni-fi-CA-tion, ca-pi-ta-li-SA-tion, i-ni-tia-li-SA-tion etc.

7. Three syllable words
ending in «ly» often have their stress on the first syllable. Examples:
OR-der-ly, QUI-et-ly etc.

8. Words ending in
«ic», «sion» and «tion» are usually stressed on
the second-to-last syllable. In this case, you are to count the syllables backward
in order to get the second-to-last syllable. Examples: cre-A-tion, com-MI-ssion, au-THEN-tic etc. However, there are times when you need to count the syllable forward in order to get the second-to-last syllable. Examples: pho-to-GRA-phic, a-ccom-mo-DA-tion, ex-CUR-sion etc.

9. Words ending in
«cy», «phy», «al», «ty» and
«gy» are usually on the third-to-last syllable. You should also the
count the syllables backward to get the third syllable. Examples: de-MO-cra-cy,
pho-TO-gra-phy, CLI-ni-cal, a-TRO-si-ty, psy-CHO-lo-gy etc.

10. Most
compound nouns (a word made up of two or more nouns) have their stress on the
first noun. Examples: PLAYground, BLACKboard, FOOTball, KEYboard
etc.

BONUS
Compound
verbs (a verb made up of two or more words) and compound adjectives (an
adjective that is made up of two or more adjectives, which are linked together
by a hyphen) usually have their stress on the second word or syllable.

Examples:

outRIDE (compound verb).

outSHINE (compound verb).

old-FA-shioned (compound
adjective).

In sum, the
identification of the stressed syllables of English words is not an easy task; it is a process that requires a lot of practice and repetition as there are many
rules and exceptions. For native speakers, this wouldn’t be a problem, but for
non-native speakers of the language, the reverse is always the case. 
Therefore, the latter should immerse themselves in the enlightening dew of word
stress through constant practice in order to be fortified. Should there be any
problem while going through this process, don’t hesitate to make reference to
this page.

What is Word Stress in English?

1.7.1  Word stress is the system of stress within an individual word. Word stress is important because English is a stress-timed language, which means that we speak with rhythm, pronouncing the stress in each content word. Each content word is broken into parts called syllables. One of the syllables in a word will have a stronger stress than the others. We pronounce the stressed syllable more loudly and with more power, while the other syllables are pronounced more quietly and with less power. Every content word in English has one strong stress. For example:

teacher             has two syllables: tea cher         Tee ch (Clear Alphabet)

The first syllable has strong stress, while the second syllable does not. It is weak.

1.7.2  Word stress is not regular in English. The positioning of word stress varies, although it is very often on the first syllable of a word, so if you need to have a guess you should choose the first syllable! This is mainly because suffixes – word endings – in English are not usually stressed. For example, a two syllable word ending with the suffix  ing  must be stressed on the first, because  ing  is never stressed:

Click here for 100 of the most common suffixes in English: most-common-suffixes-in-english

1.7.3  Suffixes can also help us to find word stress because there are many suffixes which follow a rule that the stress must be on the syllable before, for example:

These suffixes are very common, so it’s reassuring to know that the stress will always be before each one. Read and learn the full list here: suffixes-and-word-stress

There are also a number of common suffixes which are stressed. (Click here: most-common-suffixes-in-english.) They are the exception to the rule that suffixes are unstressed. For example:

1.7.4  Other rules of word stress include:

a) Compound nouns are usually stressed on the first syllable. These are words which combine two words, such as:

airport    air + port
football    foot + ball
popcorn    pop + corn
strawberry    straw + berry

There is a list of 300 common compound nouns here: common-compound-nouns.

b) Both parts of phrasal verbs are stressed, for example:

wake up
go out

c) Acronyms are usually stressed on the final syllable, for example:

BBC
DVD

d) There is a small group of words called homographs which are pairs of words with the same spelling, but different stress depending on the type of word, (whether it is a noun or a verb), for example:

Click here for a longer list of noun-verb homographs: noun-verb-homographs.

e) As we can see in the table above, it is very common for two-syllable verbs to be stressed on the second syllable.

This advice can help us to find word stress because modern English often consists mainly of:

• words of one syllable – where the word stress is obvious
• words with suffixes, which guide us because they are not stressed or follow a word stress rule
• words which are compound nouns

Click here for an analysis of a newspaper article that proves this point: working-out-word-stress.

1.7.5  Apart from the helpful guidance above, the best place to start if you want to find the stressed syllable in a word is the final syllable. In general, a word is stressed on the nearest strong syllable to the end. We must work from right to left, beginning with the final syllable, and assess whether each syllable is strong or weak. It depends on the vowel sound: a strong syllable is one with a long vowel sound (e.g. ar, ee), a diphthong (e.g. ai, ei), or a short vowel sound (e.g. a, o, but not a schwa sound). If it is strong, we have found the stressed syllable. If it is weak, we must move along until we find a strong syllable. Click here to read examples of this process: english-stress-rules.

Exercises

Ex. 1.7.1 Reading  Put the words into groups depending on how many syllables there are:

Ex. 1.7.2 Writing  Write more words on the topic of Learning English in each group:

Ex. 1.7.3 Reading  Underline the stressed syllable in each word:

1. adverb
2. article
3. beginner
4. course
5. dictionary
6. elementary
7. English
8. grammar
9. homework
10. intermediate
11. level
12. listening
13. mobile
14. noun
15. paper
16. partner
17. pen
18. pronunciation
19. qualification
20. reading

Ex. 1.7.4 Reading  Underline the suffix in each word and put the words into groups:

1. dictionary
2. reading
3. grammar
4. syllable
5. consonant
6. determiner
7. answer
8. elementary
9. listening
10. spelling
11. speaking
12. advanced
13. writing
14. tablet
15. mobile
16. example
17. beginner
18. qualification
19. student
20. level
21. computer
22. article
23. teacher
24. paragraph
25. certificate
26. intermediate
27. conjunction
28. partner
29. preposition
30. pronunciation

Ex. 1.7.5 Reading  Match the words to make 20 compound nouns:

Ex. 1.7.6 Reading  Add a word to each word to make a compound noun:

1. basket _______________
2. green _______________
3. under _______________
4. super _______________
5. land _______________
6. dust _______________
7. sales _______________
8. news _______________
9. tooth _______________
10. wind _______________
11. work _______________
12. play _______________
13. life _______________
14. ward _______________
15. paper _______________
16. milk _______________
17. every _______________
18. hair _______________
19. day _______________
20. wall       _______________

Ex. 1.7.7 Reading  Use a dictionary to help you complete the table and underline the stressed syllable(s) in each item:

When a little stress is a good thing…

How do students of English learn to speak like native speakers? Everyone knows that pronunciation is important, but some people forget about sentence stress and intonation. The cadence and rhythm of a language are important for fluency and clarity. Languages of the world vary greatly in word and sentence stress—many languages stress content words (e.g., most European languages) while others are tonal (e.g., Thai) or have little to no word stress (e.g., Japanese). Practicing sentence stress in English helps students speak more quickly and naturally. Fortunately for teachers, students usually enjoy activities like the one in the worksheet below! After one of our subscribers asked us for resources on sentence stress this week, I thought I’d share some tips and a worksheet that you can use in class.

Sentence stress occurs when we say certain words more loudly and with more emphasis than others. In English, we stress content words because they are essential to the meaning of the sentence. In general, shorter words or words that are clear from the context don’t get stressed.

Content words include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Negative words such as not or never also get stressed because they affect the meaning of the sentence. Modals, too, can change the meaning of a sentence. Here is a list of words to stress in an English sentence:

• nouns (people, places, things)
• verbs (actions, states)
• adjectives (words that modify nouns)
• adverbs (words that modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire sentences)
• negative words (not, never, neither, etc.)
• modals (should, could, might, etc., but not will or can)
• yes, no, and auxiliary verbs in short answers (e.g., Yes, she does.)
• quantifiers (some, many, no, all, one, two, three, etc.)
• Wh-Question words (what, where, when, why, how, etc.—note that what is often unstressed when speaking quickly because it’s so common)

Not to Stress

Some words don’t carry a lot of importance in an English sentence. Short words such as articles, prepositions, and conjunctions don’t take stress. Pronouns don’t usually get stressed either because the context often makes it clear who we’re talking about. The Be verb and all auxiliary verbs don’t carry much meaning—only the main verb does. Here is a list of words that shouldn’t be stressed in an English sentence:

• articles (a, an, the)
• prepositions (to, in, at, on, for, from, etc.)
• conjunctions (and, or, so, but, etc.)
• personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, etc.)
• possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, etc.)
• Be verb (am, is, are, was, were, etc.)
• auxiliary verbs (be, have, do in two-part verbs or questions)
• the modals will and be going to (because they’re common, and the future tense is often clear from context)
• the modal can (because it’s so common)

Examples

Model the following examples for your students and have them repeat after you. The words (or syllables when the word has more than one) that should be stressed are in bold.

• The kids are at the park.
• Do you have any brothers or sisters?
• Why aren’t you doing your homework?
• He bought a red car for his daughter.
• I am Brazilian.
• We are not familiar with this new computer program.
• The athlete ran quickly and won the competition.
• She does not know the answer.
• I don’t know the answer, either.
• We aren’t sure.
• I’ve never heard of that before, but it makes sense.
• They’ll ask the teacher for help.
• Some people prefer Macs, but many others prefer PCs.
• She is going to study tonight.
• I can speak French.
• I can’t speak Japanese.
• Yes, I can. / No, I can’t.

Practice

When practicing sentence stress, whether in the examples above, the worksheet below, or your own activity, encourage reductions such as wanna, gonna, whaddaya, etc. These reductions will make it easier for your students to speak more quickly and will help them recognize when native speakers use these reduced forms. Plus, they’re fun to say!

Sentence Stress – Grammar & Usage Resources

Worksheet Answers

1. boys, playing, video game
2. computer, broken
3. Where, going, after, class
4. doesn’t,like, cake
5. writing, test, long, time
6. prefer, coffee, tea
7. doing, tonight (optional: What /encourage reduced pronunciation of Whaddaya)
8. brother, wants, buy, red, car (demonstrate wanna for the subjects I, you, we, they, and plural count nouns)
9. come, party (encourage reduced pronunciation of gonna)
10. said, has, dog, not, cat

Here’s hoping your students don’t get too stressed!

Tanya

Instrumental
investigations show that a polysyllabic word has as many degrees of
prominence as there are syllables in it. D. Jones indicated the
degrees of prominence in the word “Opportunity”. But not all
these degrees of prom are linguistically relevant. The problem is to
determine which of these degrees are linguistically relevant. There
are 2 views of the matter. Some (e.g. D. Jones, R. Kingdon, V.
Vassilyev consider that there are 3 degrees or W-s in English:
primary, secondary (partial stress) and weak (unstressed). Secondary
stress is chiefly needed to define the stress pattern of words. E.g.
“e,xami’nation”,
“,qualifi’cation”,
“’hair-,dresser”.

All these
degrees stress are linguistically relevant as there are words in
English the meanings of which depend on the occurrence of either of
the 3 degrees in their stress patterns. E.g. ‘import — im’port,
,certifi’cation
— cer,tifi’cation
=certificate.

Some
American linguists (G. Trager, A. Hill) distinguish 4 degrees of W-s:

• Primary
  (as in “cupboard”) / 
  /

• Secondary
  (as in “discrimination) / ^ /

• Tertiary
  (as in “analyze”)

Weak
stress (as in “cupboard”), but very often the weakly stressed
syllable is left unmarked. /v/

American
phoneticians consider that secondary stress generally occurs before
the primary stress (as in examination), while tertiary stress occurs
the primary stress (as in handbook, specialize).

Linguistically,
tertiary word-stress can be taken for a variant of secondary w-s, as
there are no words in English the meanings of which depend on whether
their stress patterns is characterized by either secondary of
tertiary stress.

The stress Patterns of English words

There
are languages in which stress is always falls on the first syllable
(as in Czech and Finish), or on the last syllable (as in French and
Turkish). Word stress is in such languages is said to be fixed.
English words is said to be free because stress is not fixed to any
particular syllable, in all the words of the language.

G.
Torsuyev, who has made a special analyses of English stress patterns,
distinguishes more than 100 stress patterns, which he groups into 11
main types. The most common among them are:


(Words w/I primary stress as in “’after”)



(Words w/2 primary stresses, as in “’week’end”)

_&_

(words w/one primary and one secondary stress, as in ‘hair-,
dresser,
maga’zine).

Though
w-s in English is called free, there are certain tendencies in
English which regulate the accentuation of words. There are 2 main
accentuation tendencies: the recessive and the rhythmic tendency.

According
to the recessive tendency, stress falls on the 1^st
syllable (e.g. “’mother”, “’father”, “’sister”,
“’brother”) or on the 2^nd
syllable (e.g. be’come, in’deed, for’give etc.) According to the
rhythmic tendency stress is on the 3^rd
syllable from the end (in’tensity, possi’bility).

It has
also been noticed that the stress of the parent word is often
retained in the derivatives. ‘Personal-,perso’nality,
‘nation-,natio’nality.

This
regularity is sometimes called the retentive tendency in English.

There
is one more tendency in English: the tendency to stress the most
important elements in words. Such negative prefixes as “-un, -in,
-mis, -ex, -vice, -sub, -under, semantically important elements in
compound words: well-‘known, red-‘hot, bad-‘tempered.

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English students often learn syllable and word stress rules before venturing into sentence stress. This is because sentence stress rules are far more variable and complex, while the rules for correct intonation in English generally stay the same. To demonstrate the differences, let’s look at a few different examples of stress in English.

Syllable Stress vs. Sentence Stress

When you learn how to pronounce different vowel and consonant sounds, you must also learn how to stress different parts of a word correctly. Stress is just another way to say “emphasize.” This means that some parts of a word are stronger (and slightly louder) than others. Here are a few examples:

• Away (pronounced: a-WAY)
• Delicious (pronounced: de-LI-cious)
• Anticipate (pronounced: an-TI-ci-PATE)
• Communication (pronounced: comm-un-i-CA-tion)
• Autobiography (pronounced: au-to-bi-O-gra-phy)

Some longer words have a primary stressed syllable and one or more secondary stressed syllables. The primary stressed syllable is always stronger than the secondary stressed syllable, while both are stronger than unstressed syllables. Be sure to check out our guide on stressed and unstressed syllables to learn more about using proper English intonation.

Sentence stress refers to the words in a sentence that get the most emphasis. While common sayings and phrases usually have unchanging sentence stress rules, you can emphasize different words in a sentence to create new meanings. For example, let’s look at the common saying: I told you so!

The most common way to say this phrase is to put the primary stress on “told” and the secondary stress on “so,” like this:

I TOLD you SO!

However, you could also change the implicit meaning of the phrase by emphasizing “I.” By doing this, you will stress the fact that you (the speaker) were the one who told them (the listener) about something. 

Which words should you stress in a sentence?

So, how can you know which words to stress in a sentence? Again, there are no hard-and-fast sentence stress rules, but there are some general principles that will help you use stress properly when speaking in English. You can often tell which words should be stressed based on the parts of speech and where the words fall in a sentence.

• Content words (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and main verbs) are usually stressed.
• Function words (determiners, prepositions, and conjunctions) are usually unstressed unless you want to emphasize their role(s) in a sentence.
• Question words (who, what, when, where, why, and how) are usually unstressed unless you want to emphasize their role(s) in a sentence.
• Subject pronouns (I, You, He, She, We, They) are usually unstressed, while object pronouns (me, you, him, her, us, them) are usually stressed.

Sentence Stress in a Statement

Pronoun	Main Verb	Adverb	Preposition	Determiner	Noun
I	ran	quickly	to	the	desk.
unstressed	unstressed	STRESSED (primary)	unstressed	unstressed	STRESSED (secondary)

This example denotes the natural rise and fall of the sentence. However, as previously stated, you could stress different words to alter the meaning:

• I ran quickly to the desk. (emphasizes who is doing the running)
• I ran quickly to the desk. (emphasizes what action is being done)
• I ran quickly to the desk. (emphasizes the way in which you ran, but does not fundamentally change the meaning of the sentence)
• I ran quickly to the desk. (inappropriate sense stress, but emphasizes the direction in which you ran)
• I ran quickly to the desk. (inappropriate sense stress, but emphasizes that it was a specific desk)
• I ran quickly to the desk. (emphasizes the object or location to which you ran)

Sentence Stress in a Question

Pronoun	Modal Verb	Main Verb	Preposition	Determiner	Noun
Who	will	come	to	the	party?
unstressed	unstressed	STRESSED (primary)	unstressed	unstressed	STRESSED (secondary)

Like the previous example, the sentence stress here also denotes the natural rise and fall of the word combination. However, you could still ask this question six different ways to convey six slightly different meanings:

• Who will come to the party? (you want to know who the party attendees are)
• Who will come to the party? (you want to know who will definitely be attending the party)
• Who will come to the party? (you want to know who will attend the party, but this form does not change the standard meaning of the question)
• Who will come to the party? (inappropriate sense stress, but emphasizes the location of the party) 
• Who will come to the party? (inappropriate sense stress, but emphasizes which party you’re talking about)
• Who will come to the party? (you want to emphasize the party, possibly in contrast to a separate event)

Sentence Stress and Intonation in English

If you couldn’t already tell, sentence stress is often linked to the way our voices rise and fall (intonation) while speaking. The natural rise and fall in pitch usually determines which words are stressed and unstressed. This is why the two example sentences above have similar structures. They are both examples of falling intonation.

In American English, there are two basic types of intonation: rising intonation and falling intonation. Falling intonation is far more common. When you speak with falling intonation, the pitch of your voice starts high and gets lower by the end of the sentence. More often than not, sentences with falling intonation use stressed verbs and objects. For example:

• I saw a crab at the beach.
• They never return my calls.
• Frank is a responsible person.
• My dad doesn’t like to wash the dishes.

Alternatively, rising intonation occurs when the pitch of your voice starts lower and gets higher at the end of the sentence. This type of intonation is less common, but you can use it when you want to ask a Yes/No question or when you want to express a negative emotion, like anger. Similarly, the stress often falls on verbs and objects, though this can vary depending on the meaning you want to convey. Here are some examples:

• Are you sure?
• Do you want to go to the park?
• You’re so mean!
• I don’t want to talk to you!

What is sense stress?

You might have heard of sense stress, which is very similar to the concept of sentence stress. Sense stress simply refers to the use of stress on different words to convey different meanings. Thus, sense stress is a form of sentence stress. Usually, people refer to appropriate or inappropriate sense stress. Appropriate sense stress sounds natural and correctly conveys the meaning of a sentence. Here are some examples of appropriate sense stress:

• How many HAMBURGERS should we get?
• What TIME is it?
• He ANSWERED the phone.
• They did NOT want to go swimming.

Alternatively, inappropriate sense stress sounds unnatural and conveys strange or incorrect meanings. Here are a few examples:

• Where do you want to eat?
• Did you go to the doctor?
• I never go to the supermarket by myself.
• She was watching a movie when the guests arrived.

Conclusion

Sentence stress is an element of English that can be difficult to grasp, especially for beginner or even intermediate learners. However, with practice, you can use stress to accurately express yourself. With time, you’ll find that sense and sentence stress are some of the best ways to get your point across to other English speakers!

If you’d like to hear native English speakers using sentence stress, be sure to subscribe to the Magoosh Youtube channel!

English words have certain patterns of stress which you should observe strictly if you want to be understood. The best way to learn English stress is to listen to audio materials and to repeat them after the speaker. The links on the entrance pages of the sections Phonetics, Phrases, and Vocabulary lead to the sites that offer useful listening materials, including sounds, syllables, words, sentences, and conversations. An overview of typical English patterns of word stress in this material will help you to recognize and understand word stress when you work with listening materials. It will also be helpful to listen to examples of word stress in Listening for Word Stress (AmE) in the section Phonetics.

Note: Main stressed syllable in the word is indicated by capital letters in this material, for example, LEMon. In words with two stresses, capital letters with a stress mark before them show the syllable with primary stress, and small letters with a stress mark before them show the syllable with secondary stress, for example, ‘eco’NOMics.

General guidelines on word stress

Generally, common English nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are more often stressed on the first syllable than on any other syllable. Verbs with prefixes are usually stressed on the second syllable, i.e., on the first syllable of the root after the prefix. English words can’t have two unstressed syllables at the beginning of the word; one of these syllables will be stressed. If a word has four or more syllables, there are usually two stresses in it: primary stress (strong stress) and secondary stress (weak stress). Also, secondary stress may be present (in addition to primary stress) in shorter words in the syllable in which the vowel sound remains long and strong.

Prefixes are often stressed in nouns and less often in verbs. Suffixes at the end of the word are rarely stressed, except for a few noun, adjective, and verb suffixes that are usually stressed: rooMETTE, ‘ciga’RETTE / ‘CIGa’rette, Chi’NESE, ‘SIGni’fy, ‘ORga’nize, ‘DECo’rate. In longer derivative words, stress may fall on a suffix or prefix according to typical patterns of word stress. Endings are not stressed.

Stress in derivatives

Stress in a derivative may remain the same as in the word from which it was derived, or it may change in a certain way. When nouns are formed from verbs, or verbs are formed from nouns, the following patterns of stress often occur.

The same stress:

deNY (verb) – deNIal (noun)

ofFEND (verb) – ofFENCE (noun)

reVIEW (noun) – reVIEW (verb)

PREview (noun) – PREview (verb)

HOSpital (noun) – HOSpitalize (verb)

Shift of stress:

preSENT (verb) – PRESent (noun)

reFER (verb) – REFerence (noun)

exTRACT (verb) – EXtract (noun)

inCREASE (verb) – INcrease (noun)

OBject (noun) – obJECT (verb)

Other parts of speech derived from nouns and verbs have the following typical patterns of stress.

Adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable or repeat the stress of the nouns from which they were derived: fate (noun) – FATal (adj.); COLor (noun) – COLorful (adj.). But stress may change in longer derivative adjectives: METal (noun) – meTALlic (adj.); ATHlete (noun) – athLETic (adj.); geOLogy (noun) – ‘geo’LOGical (adj.); ARgument (noun) – ‘argu’MENtative (adj.).

Adverbs are usually stressed on the first syllable or repeat the stress of the adjectives from which they were derived: ANgry – ANgrily; WONderful – WONderfully; FOOLish – FOOLishly; athLETic – athLETically.

Gerunds and participles repeat the stress of the verbs from which they were formed: forGET – forGETting – forGOTten; CANcel – CANceling – CANceled; ‘ORga’nize – ‘ORga’nizing – ORganized.

Typical patterns of stress

Let’s look at typical examples of stress in English words. Main factors that influence stress are the number of syllables in the word, and whether the word is a noun, an adjective, or a verb.

ONE-SYLLABLE WORDS

One-syllable nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are stressed on the vowel sound in the word. Note that a diphthong is one complex vowel sound that forms only one syllable. A diphthong is stressed on its first main component.

book, cat, rain, boat, crow, chair

read, burn, touch, choose, laugh, hear

new, bright, large, short, clear, loud

late, fast, soon, now

TWO-SYLLABLE WORDS

Two-syllable nouns

Two-syllable nouns are usually stressed on the first syllable.

TEACHer, STUDent, CARpet, LESson

REgion, ILLness, STATEment, CITy

CONvict, INcrease, INstinct, OBject

PERmit, PRESent, PROject, SYMbol

Nouns may be stressed on the last syllable if there is a long vowel sound or a diphthong in it. Words of foreign origin (especially words of French origin) may be stressed on the last syllable.

trainEE, caREER, deLAY, conCERN

poLICE, hoTEL, beRET, rooMETTE

Two-syllable adjectives

Two-syllable adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable.

FUNny, LOCal, USEful

FOOLish, NATive, CAREless

Some adjectives are stressed on the last syllable if there is a long vowel sound or a diphthong in it.

abSURD, comPLETE, exTREME, moROSE

If there is a prefix in an adjective, stress often falls on the first syllable of the root after the prefix.

inSANE, imMUNE, enGAged

unWELL, unKNOWN

Two-syllable verbs

Two-syllable verbs are usually stressed on the second syllable, especially if the first syllable is a prefix.

adMIT, apPLY, beGIN, beLIEVE

comBINE, conFIRM, deNY, deSERVE

disLIKE, misPLACE, exPLAIN

forBID, forGET, igNORE, inVITE

oBEY, ocCUR, perMIT, prePARE

proPOSE, purSUE, reCEIVE, rePLY

supPLY, surPRISE, unDO, unLOCK

But there are many verbs that are stressed on the first syllable.

HAPpen, CANcel, PRACtice

ANswer, OFfer, MENtion

FOLlow, BORrow, PUNish

THREE-SYLLABLE WORDS

Three-syllable nouns

Three-syllable nouns are usually stressed on the first syllable.

POLitics, GOVernment, GENeral

INterest, GRADuate, CONfidence

But many nouns, especially those derived from verbs with prefixes, have stress on the second syllable.

apPROVal, conFUSion, conSUMer

corRECTness, eLECtion, diRECtor

Some nouns have primary stress on the last syllable if there is a long vowel sound or a diphthong in it.

‘engi’NEER, ‘refu’GEE

Three-syllable adjectives

Three-syllable adjectives are usually stressed on the first syllable.

GENeral, DELicate, EXcellent

WONderful, FAVorite, CURious

Some adjectives have one more stress on the last syllable if there is a long vowel or a diphthong in it.

‘OBso’lete / ‘obso’LETE

‘Vietna’MESE, ‘Portu’GUESE

Some adjectives do not repeat the stress of the noun from which they were derived and are stressed on the second syllable.

geNERic, symBOLic, inSTINCtive

Three-syllable verbs

Three-syllable verbs often have primary stress on the first syllable (even if it is a prefix) and secondary stress on the last syllable (which is often a verb suffix).

‘ORga’nize, ‘MODer’nize

‘SIGni’fy, ‘SPECi’fy

‘COMpen’sate, ‘DECo’rate

‘COMpli’ment, ‘CONsti’tute

But many verbs, especially those with prefixes, have stress on the second syllable.

conTINue, conSIDer, reMEMber

If the prefix consists of two syllables, its first syllable usually gets secondary stress.

‘under’STAND, ‘decom’POSE

‘contra’DICT, ‘corre’SPOND

FOUR OR MORE SYLLABLES

Long nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs usually have two stresses: primary stress and secondary stress. But there are some long words with only one stress. There are four patterns of stress in long words.

Only one stress: on the first syllable

Nouns:

ACcuracy, DELicacy

Adjectives:

INteresting

Only one stress: on the second syllable

Nouns:

inTOLerance, geOMetry, aMERica

simPLICity, moBILity, teLEpathy

acCOMpaniment

Adjectives:

sigNIFicant, mysTErious, traDItional

inTOLerable, unREAsonable, noTOrious

Verbs:

acCOMpany

Two stresses: on the first and third syllable

This is a very common stress pattern in long words in English.

Nouns:

‘eco’NOMics, ‘infor’MAtion

‘consti’TUtion, ‘repe’TItion

‘coloni’ZAtion, ‘multipli’CAtion

Adjectives:

‘aca’DEMic, ‘geo’METrical

‘inter’NAtional, ‘cosmo’POLitan

‘capita’LIStic, ‘conver’SAtional

‘PAtro’nizing

Two stresses: on the second and fourth syllable

Nouns:

con’side’RAtion

in’vesti’GAtion

con’tinu’Ation

Adjectives:

ex’peri’MENtal

in’compre’HENsible

Verbs:

i’DENti’fy, in’TENsi’fy

in’TOXi’cate, ac’CUmu’late

com’MERcia’lize, a’POLo’gize.

Ударение в слове

Английские слова имеют определённые модели ударения, которые нужно строго соблюдать, если вы хотите, чтобы вас понимали. Лучший способ изучить английское ударение – слушать аудиоматериалы и повторять их за диктором. Ссылки на входных страницах разделов Phonetics, Phrases и Vocabulary ведут на сайты, которые предлагают полезные материалы для прослушивания, включая звуки, слоги, слова, предложения и разговоры. Краткий обзор типичных английских моделей ударения в данном материале поможет вам узнавать и понимать ударение в словах, когда вы работаете с материалами для прослушивания. Также будет полезно прослушать примеры ударения в материале для прослушивания Listening for Word Stress (AmE) в разделе Phonetics.

Примечание: Главный ударный слог в слове указан заглавными буквами в данном материале, например, LEMon. В словах с двумя ударениями, заглавные буквы со значком ударения перед ними показывают слог с главным ударением, а маленькие буквы со значком ударения перед ними показывают слог с второстепенным ударением, например, ‘eco’NOMics.

Общие рекомендации по ударению в словах

В целом, употребительные английские существительные, прилагательные и наречия чаще ударяются на первом слоге, чем на любом другом слоге. Глаголы с приставками обычно имеют ударение на втором слоге, т.е. на первом слоге корня после приставки. Английские слова не могут иметь два неударных слога в начале слова; один из этих слогов будет ударным. Если в слове четыре или более слогов, то в нём обычно два ударения: главное ударение (сильное ударение) и второстепенное ударение (слабое ударение). Также, второстепенное ударение может присутствовать (в дополнение к главному ударению) в более коротких словах в слоге, в котором гласный звук остается долгим и сильным.

Приставки часто ударные в существительных и реже в глаголах. Суффиксы в конце слова редко ударные, за исключением нескольких суффиксов существительных, прилагательных и глаголов, которые обычно ударные: rooMETTE, ‘ciga’RETTE / ‘CIGa’rette, Chi’NESE, ‘SIGni’fy, ‘ORga’nize, ‘DECo’rate. В более длинных производных словах ударение может падать на приставку или суффикс согласно типичным моделям ударения в слове. Окончания не ударные.

Ударение в производных словах

Ударение в производном слове может остаться таким же, как в слове, от которого оно образовано, или оно может измениться определённым образом. Когда существительные образуются от глаголов, или глаголы образуются от существительных, часто возникают следующие модели ударения.

Одинаковое ударение:

deNY (глагол) – deNIal (существительное)

ofFEND (глагол) – ofFENCE (существительное)

reVIEW (сущ.) – reVIEW (глагол)

PREview (сущ.) – PREview (глагол)

HOSpital (сущ.) – HOSpitalize (глагол)

Смещение ударения:

preSENT (глагол) – PRESent (существительное)

reFER (глагол) – REFerence (сущ.)

exTRACT (глагол) – EXtract (сущ.)

inCREASE (глагол) – INcrease (сущ.)

OBject (сущ.) – obJECT (глагол)

Другие части речи, образованные от существительных и глаголов, имеют следующие типичные модели ударения.

Прилагательные обычно ударные на первом слоге или повторяют ударение существительных, от которых они были образованы: fate (сущ.) – FATal (прилаг.); COLor (сущ.) – COLorful (прилаг.). Но ударение может меняться в более длинных производных прилагательных: METal (сущ.) – meTALlic (прилаг.); ATHlete (сущ.) – athLETic (прилаг.); geOLogy (сущ.) – ‘geo’LOGical (прилаг.); ARgument (сущ.) – ‘argu’MENtative (прилаг.).

Наречия обычно ударные на первом слоге или повторяют ударение прилагательных, от которых они были образованы: ANgry – ANgrily; WONderful – WONderfully; FOOLish – FOOLishly; athLETic – athLETically.

Герундий и причастия повторяют ударение глаголов, от которых они были образованы: forGET (забывать) – forGETting – forGOTten; CANcel (отменять) – CANceling – CANceled; ‘ORga’nize (организовать) – ‘ORga’nizing – ORganized.

Типичные модели ударения

Давайте посмотрим на типичные примеры ударения в английских словах. Главные факторы, которые влияют на ударение – количество слогов в слове и является ли это слово существительным, прилагательным или глаголом.

ОДНОСЛОЖНЫЕ СЛОВА

Односложные существительные, глаголы, прилагательные и наречия имеют ударение на гласном звуке в слове. Обратите внимание, что дифтонг – это один сложный гласный звук, который образует только один слог. Дифтонг имеет ударение на своём первом главном компоненте.

книга, кот, дождь, лодка, ворона, стул

читать, гореть, трогать, выбрать, смеяться, слышать

новый, яркий, большой, короткий, ясный, громкий

поздний / поздно, быстрый / быстро, скоро, сейчас

ДВУСЛОЖНЫЕ СЛОВА

Двусложные существительные

Существительные из двух слогов обычно ударные на первом слоге.

учитель, студент, ковер, урок

район, болезнь, утверждение, город

осужденный, увеличение, инстинкт, предмет

пропуск, подарок, проект, символ

Существительные могут иметь ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг. Слова иностранного происхождения (особенно слова французского происхождения) могут иметь ударение на последнем слоге.

стажер, карьера, задержка, забота

полиция, гостиница, берет, одноместное купе

Двусложные прилагательные

Прилагательные из двух слогов обычно ударные на первом слоге.

смешной, местный, полезный

глупый, родной, беззаботный

Некоторые двусложные прилагательные могут иметь ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг.

абсурдный, полный, крайний, угрюмый

Если в прилагательном есть приставка, то ударение часто падает на первый слог корня после приставки.

безумный, имеющий иммунитет, занятый

нездоровый, неизвестный

Двусложные глаголы

Глаголы из двух слогов обычно ударные на втором слоге, особенно если первый слог – приставка.

допускать, применять, начинать, верить

соединять, подтвердить, отрицать, заслуживать

не любить, положить не на место, объяснять

запрещать, забывать, игнорировать, приглашать

подчиняться, возникать, разрешать, подготовить

предлагать, преследовать, получать, ответить

снабжать, удивлять, аннулировать, отпереть

Но есть много глаголов, которые имеют ударение на первом слоге.

случаться, отменить, практиковать

отвечать, предлагать, упоминать

следовать, заимствовать, наказывать

ТРЕХСЛОЖНЫЕ СЛОВА

Трехсложные существительные

Существительные из трёх слогов обычно имеют ударение на первом слоге.

политика, правительство, генерал

интерес, выпускник, уверенность

Но многие существительные, особенно образованные от глаголов с приставками, имеют ударение на втором слоге.

одобрение, замешательство, потребитель

правильность, избрание, директор

Некоторые существительные могут иметь главное ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг.

инженер, беженец

Трехсложные прилагательные

Прилагательные из трёх слогов обычно имеют ударение на первом слоге.

общий, деликатный, превосходный

чудесный, любимый, любопытный

Некоторые трёхсложные прилагательные имеют ещё одно ударение на последнем слоге, если в нём долгий гласный звук или дифтонг.

вышедший из употребления

вьетнамский, португальский

Некоторые прилагательные не повторяют ударение существительного, от которого они были образованы, и ударяются на втором слоге.

видовой, символический, инстинктивный

Трехсложные глаголы

Глаголы из трёх слогов часто имеют главное ударение на первом слоге (даже если это приставка) и второстепенное ударение на последнем слоге (который часто глагольный суффикс).

организовать, модернизировать

означать, уточнять

компенсировать, украшать

делать комплимент, составлять

Но многие глаголы, особенно те, которые с приставками, имеют ударение на втором слоге.

продолжать, рассмотреть, помнить

Если приставка состоит из двух слогов, её первый слог обычно получает второстепенное ударение.

понимать, разлагаться

противоречить, соответствовать

ЧЕТЫРЕ ИЛИ БОЛЕЕ СЛОГОВ

Длинные существительные, прилагательные, глаголы и наречия обычно имеют два ударения: главное и второстепенное ударение. Но есть некоторые длинные слова только с одним ударением. В длинных словах четыре модели ударения.

Только одно ударение: на первом слоге

Существительные:

точность, утончённость

Прилагательные:

интересный

Только одно ударение: на втором слоге

Существительные:

нетерпимость, геометрия, Америка

простота, мобильность, телепатия

аккомпанемент

Прилагательные:

значительный, таинственный, традиционный

невыносимый, неразумный, печально известный

Глаголы:

сопровождать

Два ударения: на первом и третьем слоге

Это очень распространённая модель ударения в длинных словах в английском языке.

Существительные:

экономика, информация

конституция, повторение

колонизация, умножение

Прилагательные:

академический, геометрический

международный, космополитический

капиталистический, разговорный

покровительственный

Два ударения: на втором и четвертом слоге

Существительные:

рассмотрение

расследование

продолжение

Прилагательные:

экспериментальный

непонятный / непостижимый

Глаголы:

идентифицировать, усиливать

опьянять, накапливать

превращать в источник прибыли, извиняться.