Word stress rule in english - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

word stress

In our previous post, we shared 12 great tips to help you improve your English pronunciation. For tip number nine, Understanding Word Stress & Sentence Stress, we explained the importance of word stress rules for communicating effectively in English. In this post, we delve a little deeper into the subject.

What is Word Stress?

The stress placed on syllables within words is called word stress. In one word, we place emphasis on one syllable, while the other syllables are given less emphasis.

English words only have one stressed syllable. Whilst longer words can have a secondary stress, it is always a much lighter stress. It is also worth noting that we stress vowel sounds and not consonants.

In English we have variable stress where the position of the stress is unpredictable. This contrasts with some other languages – like Polish or Finnish – that have fixed stress where the stress on virtually any multi-syllable word falls on a particular syllable. Learn more here.

Where you place stress or emphasis within a word can affect the way in which it is pronounced and therefore its meaning. As a result, knowing which syllable within a word should be emphasised or stressed is very important for correct pronunciation. The reason for this is that placing stress on the wrong syllable within a word can completely change the meaning of a word.

Understanding The Importance of Word Stress

So, understanding the importance of word stress is vital if you want to improve your English pronunciation and speak English like a native English.

But if word stress is so important, exactly what are the rules that we need to follow?

As with so many aspects of the English language, there are many rules to learn. Then, to make things even more tricky, there are also many contradictions or exceptions to those rules. This can make learning English more challenging for some students.

To help you out, we have compiled some simple guidelines for learning the rules of word stress. We don’t cover all aspects of English word stress rules but the points we have mentioned will certainly get you started.

English Word Stress Rules

1. Word Stress For Two-Syllable Words

Two-Syllable Nouns

If the word is a two-syllable noun, we usually place the stress on the FIRST syllable.

Example: MONkey, TEAcher, DIStance, INsect, TAble,

Two-Syllable Adjectives

If the word is a two-syllable adjective, as with two-syllable nouns, we usually place the stress on the FIRST syllable.

Examples: SIlent, BORing, LIttle, PURple, STUpid, CLEver, FRIEndly

Two Syllable Verbs

Conversely, if the word is a two-syllable verb we generally stress the SECOND syllable.

Examples: beGIN, surVIVE, aTTEND, coLLECT, preVENT

See more examples of verbs where the second syllable is stressed.

Two Syllable Prepositions

The SECOND syllable is also stressed if the word is a preposition.

Examples: aROUND, beFORE, beLOW, inSIDE, toWARDS (See more examples of prepositions with stress on second syllable)

2. Word Stress For Words That Are Both Nouns & Verbs

When a word can be both a noun and a verb, we stress the FIRST syllable for the noun and the SECOND syllable for the verb.

Examples:

1) The violent CONflict between the couple conFLICTS with their pacifistic beliefs.

2) The PREsents he preSENTS his wife never fail to disappoint her.

3) They will no doubt disCOUNT my suggestion for DIScounts on Chinese courses for the elderly.

Click here for some good examples with audio included:

As mentioned, there are always exceptions to the rules. That said, it’s fairly accurate to say that only around 20% of two-syllable words have their stress on the second syllable.

3. Word Stress For Words Ending in ‘er’ & ‘ly’.

If a word ends in either ‘er’ or ‘ly’, whether it’s a noun, an adjective or an adverb, the general rules is that the stress is placed on the first syllable.

Example:

ANgrily, PERfectly, SUddenly, HAppily,

FOReigner, GARdener, BARtender, MANager

BIgger, BEtter, FAtter

4. Words That Use The Suffix ade, ee, ese, ique, ette & oon

Stress the actual suffix of words (including the first consonant before the suffix) ending in -ade, -ee, -ese, -ique and -ette and -oon

Examples:

deCADE, inVADE,

ampuTEE, guaranTEE, aGREE,

ChiNESE, oBESE, legaLESE,

vinaigRETTE, kitcheNETTE, laundeRETTE,

anTIQUE, obLIQUE,

carTOON, baBOON

5. Simple Word Stress Rules For Suffixes

The rule changes for words with a number of other suffixes such as -ery, -ian, -ible, -able, i-al, -cian, -ic, -ish, -ics, -ion, -ious, -ia, and -ient. Instead of placing the emphasis on the actual suffix as illustrated in the examples above, we stress the syllable just before the suffix.

Examples:

-ery: CELery, SURgery, reCOVery
-ian: boHEMian, coMEdian, ciVILian, beauTICian
-ible: AUDible, adMISSible, SENSible
-able: aDAPTable, SUITable, CHANGEable
-ial: fiNANcial, artiFICial, oFFICial
-cian: maGIcian, opTIcian, beauTIcian
-ic: BAsic, draMAtic, characteRIStic
-ish: GARish, ENglish, unSELfish
-ics: dyNAMics, aeRObics, hypNOtics
-ion: VERsion, classifiCAtion, CAUtion
-ious: harMONious, PREvious, VARious, FURious
-ia: TRIVia, maLARia, multiMEdia
-ient: ANcient, NUtrient, suFICient
-osis: thromBOsis, psyCHOsis, osMOsis

A good way to remember some of the suffixes above is to use the rule for nearly all suffixes that start with an ‘i’ or a ‘u’. For example, the suffixes -ion, -ual, -uous, -ial, -ient, -ious, -iuor, ior, -ic, -ity.

Notice again how we stress the syllable immediately before the suffix in the following examples:

diVERsion,

unUSual,

conTINuous,

amBIGuous,

FATuous,

SPAtial,

TRANSient,

LUSCious,

suPERior,

behaviour,

JUNior,

STOic,

linGUIStic,

photoGRAPHic

Note, some exceptions to this rule include words ending in -ism, -ist and -ize.

English Word Stress Videos

How Dictionaries Help With Word Stress

If you are unsure about where to place the stress in a word, you can always refer to an English dictionary. All good dictionaries give the phonetic spelling of a word.

You can learn which syllable of a word is stressed by looking at the phonetic spelling. The stressed syllable is commonly shown with an apostrophe (‘) just before or just after the stressed syllable.

Unfortunately, dictionary creators never agreed on one system so you should refer to your dictionary’s (how to use this dictionary) notes to see which system they use.

Here’s an example from my dictionary that shows which syllable to stress by placing the apostrophe immediately BEFORE the stressed syllable:

photograph | ‘fəʊtəɡrɑːf

photographic | ˌfəʊtə’ɡrafɪk

Using the system of capitalising the stressed syllable as in all of my examples above, these two dictionary examples look like this:

PHOtograph

photGRAPHic

Learn Word Stress With Practise & Experience

As previously mentioned, the list of rules above is by no means complete. However, it does explain where to place the primary emphasis on numerous English words.

If the thoughts of learning all these rules is overwhelming, do not be too discouraged. Many English learners naturally assimilate to word stress rules simply by listening and practicing the language.

Probably the best way to learn is from experience. Try to get a feel for the music of the language by listening carefully to spoken English.

Of course, if you would like some extra assistance with your English speaking skills, contact us to find out more about our English courses in Hong Kong.

Here’s a brief overview of our English courses. Click the image for more details.

Источник

There are two very simple rules about word stress:

One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a «secondary» stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.)
We can only stress vowels, not consonants.

Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to «feel» the music of the language and to add the stress naturally.

A. Stress on first syllable

rule	examples
Most 2-syllable nouns	PRESent EXport CHIna TAble
Most 2-syllable adjectives	PRESent SLENder CLEVer HAPpy

B. Stress on last syllable

rule	examples
Most 2-syllable verbs	preSENT exPORT deCIDE beGIN

There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contract and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.

C. Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)

rule	examples
Words ending in -ic	GRAPHic geoGRAPHic geoLOGic
Words ending in -sion and -tion	teleVIsion reveLAtion

For a few words, native English speakers don’t always «agree» on where to put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy.

D. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)

rule	examples
Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy	deMOcracy dependaBIlity phoTOgraphy geOLogy
Words ending in -al	CRItical geoLOGical

E. Compound words (words with two parts)

rule	examples
For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part	BLACKbird GREENhouse
For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part	bad-TEMpered old-FASHioned
For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part	underSTAND overFLOW

Contributor: Josef Essberger

Updated: August 2020

Источник

By
Last updated:

April 13, 2022

8 English Word Stress Rules to Promote Clear Communication

There should be a rhythm to English sentences—it shouldn’t sound flat, monotone (all in the same tone) and boring!

I know it sounds like an additional challenge, especially when speaking English is already difficult.

However, when you pronounce every bit of a word and sentence with the same pitch, volume and length, it might make it difficult for native speakers to understand you.

Why Word Stress Matters
What Is Word Stress?
- Identifying syllables to understand word stress
- Features of a stressed syllable
8 Word Stress Rules to Improve Your English Pronunciation
- 1. Nouns and adjectives with two syllables
- 2. Verbs and prepositions with two syllables
- 3. Words that are both a noun and a verb
- 4. Three syllable words ending in “er” and “ly”
- 5. Words ending in “ic,” “sion” and “tion”
- 6. Words ending in “cy,” “ty,” “phy,” “gy” and “al”
- 7. Compound nouns
- 8. Compound adjectives and verbs
Resources to Perfect Your Word Stress Skills

Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Why Word Stress Matters

In her head, this sentence was understandable to Saskia:

“Dessert is my favorite thing!”

But when she said this to a friend, a native English speaker, he looked confused and asked her:

“Why? It’s just sand and has no life. It could also be dangerous!”

Then it was Saskia’s turn to be puzzled.

Can you guess the source of the problem?

Well, the problem here is word stress. Saskia got the word (“dessert”—the sweet heavenly thing) right, but she said it with the emphasis in the wrong place and the word sounded like “desert”—a dry perilous place.

This is just one example of how important word stress is to improving your pronunciation and speaking English like a native speaker. Perhaps you don’t know much (or anything at all) about the stress in English words yet, but trust me, it’s the key to improving your communication skills, both with speaking to a native English speaker and listening to English.

Also, I’m not just telling you how important word stress is. This guide will take you through the basics of this pronunciation challenge and provide you with eight rules to start doing it right.

Learning word stress is a crucial part of becoming an advanced English learner.

In addition to word stress, it is important to learn the pronunciation of the English dialect you want to speak.

What Is Word Stress?

In English, the individual sounds of a word (i.e. syllables—which we’ll discuss in just a moment) aren’t pronounced with the same weight. One syllable receives more emphasis than the others.

For example, there are three syllables in the word “beautiful” /BEAU-ti-ful/ and the word stress falls on the first one /BEAU/. (Please note that in this guide, I’ll demonstrate the stress in a word by capitalizing all the letters that make up the syllable.)

Now that you have the definition of word stress, let’s dive deeper into syllables to comprehend word stress.

Identifying syllables to understand word stress

A syllable is a unit of pronunciation that has one vowel sound. A word might have one syllable (like “an” or “can”) or more, such as “po-lice” (two syllables), “com-pa-ny” (three syllables), “ne-ce-ssa-ry” (four syllables), etc.

Just for fun, do you know the English word with the most syllables?

The answer is “antidisestablishmentarianism.” (The opposition of the belief that there shouldn’t be an official church in a country.)

The word has 12 syllables!

Remember that syllables aren’t similar to letters. For example, “scratch” has seven letters but one syllable, while “umami” has five letters but three syllables. Whatever the word, pay attention to the vowels because one of them will be where you find the stress of a word.

Features of a stressed syllable

Now you know that you need to emphasize a particular vowel in a specific syllable of a word. However, you might still wonder exactly how to do so. Let’s take a look at a native speaker’s speech pattern.

When a native speaker stresses a syllable in a word, this is what they do:

Produce a longer vowel

Raise the pitch of the syllable to a higher level

Say the syllable louder

Pronounce it with clarity

Create a more distinctive facial movement

Don’t forget these five features next time you pronounce a word!

8 Word Stress Rules to Improve Your English Pronunciation

1. Nouns and adjectives with two syllables

The rule: When a noun (a word referring to a person, thing, place or abstract quality) or an adjective (a word that gives information about a noun) has two syllables, the stress is usually on the first syllable.

Examples:

table /TA-ble/

scissors /SCI-ssors/

pretty /PRE-tty/,

clever /CLE-ver/

Exceptions: Unfortunately, there are exceptions to this rule. It could be that a word was borrowed from another language or it could be totally random. You just have to learn these “outsiders” by heart. Here are three words you can start with:

hotel /ho-TEL/

extreme /ex-TREME/

concise /con-CISE/

2. Verbs and prepositions with two syllables

The rule: When a verb (a word referring to an action, event or state of being) or a preposition (a word that comes before a noun, pronoun or the “-ing” form of a verb, and shows its relation to another word or part of the sentence) has two syllables, the stress is usually on the second syllable.

Examples:

present /pre-SENT/

export /ex-PORT/

aside /a-SIDE/

between /be-TWEEN/

3. Words that are both a noun and a verb

The rule: Some words in English can be both a noun and a verb. In those cases, the noun has its word stress on the first syllable, and with the verb, the stress falls on the second syllable.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll see that this rule is a derivation from the prior two sections and notice some of the same words. However, this is a separate section since those pairs of words are relatively common in English and they’re likely to cause misunderstanding due to the same spelling.

Examples:

present /PRE-sent/ (a gift) vs. present /pre-SENT/ (give something formally)

export /EX-port/ (the practice or business of selling goods to another country or an article that is exported) vs. export /ex-PORT/ (to sell goods to another country)

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

There are, however, exceptions to this rule. For example, the word “respect” has a stress on the second syllable both when it’s a verb and a noun.

4. Three syllable words ending in “er” and “ly”

The rule: Words that have three syllables and end in “-er” or “-ly” often have a stress on the first syllable.

Examples:

orderly /OR-der-ly/

quietly /QUI-et-ly/

manager /MA-na-ger/

5. Words ending in “ic,” “sion” and “tion”

The rule: When a word ends in “ic,” “sion” or “tion,” the stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable. You count syllables backwards and put a stress on the second one from the end.

Examples:

creation /cre-A-tion/

commission /com-MI-ssion/

photographic /pho-to-GRA-phic/

6. Words ending in “cy,” “ty,” “phy,” “gy” and “al”

The rule: When a word ends in “cy,” “ty,” “phy,” “gy” and “al,” the stress is often on the third to last syllable. Similarly, you count syllables backwards and put a stress on the third one from the end.

Examples:

democracy /de-MO-cra-cy/

photography /pho-TO-gra-phy/

logical /LO-gi-cal/

commodity /com-MO-di-ty/

psychology /psy-CHO-lo-gy/

7. Compound nouns

The rule: In most compound nouns (a noun made up of two or more existing words), the word stress is on the first noun.

Examples:

football /FOOT-ball/

keyboard /KEY-board/

8. Compound adjectives and verbs

The rule: In most compound adjectives (a single adjective made of more than one word and often linked with a hyphen) and compound verbs (a multi-word verb that functions as a single verb), the stress is on the second word.

Examples:

old-fashioned /old-FA-shioned/

understand /un-der–STAND/

Resources to Perfect Your Word Stress Skills

Here are some resources to learn about this important factor of English pronunciation:

Forvo — Forvo is definitely one of the more popular audio dictionaries on the market. Translations are provided if you type in a word in English, and a map is shown to give you audio clips of how people say the particular word in varying dialects. For your convenience, we’ve linked the words in the guide to this resource so you’ll be able to hear the pronunciation immediately.

Merriam-Webster — Merriam-Webster is a well-known dictionary and has high-quality definitions—all available offline. It lets you save favorites, has a word of the day and keeps track of recent searches you did. It’s also available as an app on both iOS and Android devices. Other dictionaries with pronunciation citations you can check out are MacMillan and Cambridge.

FluentU — FluentU is a language learning website and app that teaches with videos made by, and for, native English speakers. This means you can learn and get used to the sounds of the language in context. Each clip comes with interactive subtitles where you can click on a word to get its definition as well as information on pronunciation. You can also practice writing and speaking vocabulary with personalized quizzes.

English Club — English Club is a popular site for both English learners and teachers. It provides grammar lessons in small, easy-to-understand parts. There are also fun quizzes and games so you can practice the knowledge you learn. It’s entirely free. You can also find more word stress quizzes and exercises from Word Stress Rules and esl-lounge.

Constant practice will improve your stress pronunciation quickly and effectively! Soon, you can confidently apply what you learned to real conversations and sound like a true native speaker.

Mastering the subject of word stress isn’t easy, as there are many rules and exceptions. While native speakers do it naturally, English learners have to get there through a lot of practice and repetition.

These eight English speaking and word stress rules in this guide might seem a bit overwhelming but they work as references. Next time you hear a word or look something up in a dictionary, come back to these rules.

Make it a habit to be more aware of what you learn and soon you’ll perfect your pronunciation.

Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Источник

RULES OF WORD STRESS: Essential Guide for Improving
English Pronunciation

Learning the rules of word stress in English can be both fun and challenging. The English language, unlike any other language, has complicated rules especially when it comes to pronunciation particularly word stress.

For some people, learning the different rules of word stress is not quite a necessity but it is otherwise. Technically, not being able to correctly stress a particular word can result in a very unnatural and reprehensible rhythm of the English language.

For example, when you hear your friend saying BAnana or banaNA as opposed to saying banana sounds laughable and very unpleasant, right?

Generally, learning the rules of word stress in English can be a little stressful especially to those who are still new learners of the English language but learning the basic yet completely useful tips can surely hasten your progress in English.

How are syllables and word stress connected?

Where you put the stress on the word banana? Is it on the first, second, or third syllable?

Well, you got it right, neither banana nor banana is right. Because this fruit name which I think we all love is pronounced banana. /bəˈnæn.ə/

As you noticed, the stress of the word is in the second syllable, it’s in the middle.

By simply, considering the example word we have there, we can conclude that syllable and stress are related to each other in a sense that we out the stress of the word on the syllable. This sounds like a piece of very first-grader information but surprisingly, several people don’t know the true relationship between these two.

To segue, always remember that a syllable in English has only one vowel sound and one or more consonant sounds.

For example:

How many syllables are there in the word pen? There’s only 1.

The word pen has only 1 syllable

The word teacher has 2 syllables: tea-cher;

Afternoon has 3: Af-ter-noon;

Presentation has 4: Pre-sen-ta-tion

But how are syllables and stress connected?

Think about the word banana. Do you pronounce all the syllables the same? Do you say BA-NA-NA? Definitely NOT! We can hear that one syllable is stronger and more emphasized, right? ba-NA-na. That’s what we call WORD STRESS in English!

❌ BA- NA – NA

✔ ba – NA – na

Benefits of learning the rules of word stress

In linguistics, STRESS is referred to as the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or certain words in a phrase or sentence. Stress is typically signaled by such properties as increased loudness and vowel length, full articulation of the vowel, and changes in pitch.

Pronouncing words with the correct stress can make a big difference to your English. Your English will immediately sound clearer and more natural.

The great news is that there are simple rules that will help you pronounce these words correctly when you use them in spoken English. Simple English rules!

Learning the rules word stress in English can greatly help you to sound more like a native English speaker. When you learn to properly stress the word will help you:

(1) To emphasize the words that need emphasis

(2) To be understood easily and quickly

(3) And also; it gives English its rhythm.

So, when we speak, we speak those words more clearly. They’re the important words, they must be heard for the sentence to be understood.

Moreover, if you use the wrong word stress in English, you could pronounce a completely different word than the one you mean to, and that can be pretty confusing to someone you are listening to.

And when you’re listening to a native English speaker, recognizing what words are stressed will help you understand the meaning more easily too.

Stress on the Content Words

Interestingly, we stressed syllables differently in English. In most times, those words which we stress when speaking have one thing in common: They are important for you will not get the complete thought of the sentence if you don’t hear them clearly. We call these types of words Content Words. They are nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and negatives.

Now that you already know what a syllable and word stress are and how are they related, let’s get down to the business and learn the SIMPLE YET ESSENTIAL RULES of WORD STRESS in English!