PRONUNCIATION

RULES OF WORD STRESS IN ENGLISH

1.One word has only one stress
2.If you hear two stresses, you hear two words.

I. ACRONYMS

Stress is on the last letter.

•IBM’
•VOA’
•ACB’
•CIA’
•FBI’
•WHO’

II. COMPOUND NOUNS

stress the first part

•máil-man
•greén-house
•fíre-man
•the Whíte-House
•'dark-room
•'class-room
•roóm-mate

III: TWO-SYLLABLE NOUNS

1. All most nouns are stressed on the first syllable.

ánswer

cástle cháos

néighbor

chícken

Chrístmas

kítchen

clímate

ísland

hónor

knówledge

stómach

IV. TWO-SYLLABLE VERBS

1. stress the root

•to fásten
•to trável
•to hárden
•to stráighten
•to óffer
•to stúdy

•to atténd
•to colléct
•to eléct
•to prevént
•to begín
•to survíve

Pronunciation

RULES OF WORD STRESS IN ENGLISH

There are two very simple rules about word stress:

1. 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.)

2. 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

- Most 2-syllable nouns: PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble
- Most 2-syllable adjectives: PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy



B. Stress on last syllable



- Most 2-syllable verbs: to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN

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



- Words ending in -ic: GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic
- Words ending in -sion and -tion: teleVIsion, reveLAtion

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

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

RULES FOR SENTENCE STRESS IN ENGLISH

The basic rules of sentence stress are:


The following tables can help you decide which words are content words and which words are structure words:

1. Content words - stressed

Words carrying the meaning
- main verbs: SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY
- nouns: CAR, MUSIC, MARY
- adjectives: RED, BIG, INTERESTING
- adverbs: QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER
- negative auxiliaries: DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

2. Structure words – unstressed

Words for correct grammar

- pronouns: he, we, they
- prepositions: on, at, into
- articles: a, an, the
conjunctions: and, but, because
- auxiliary verbs: do, be, have, can, must

Exceptions
The above rules are for for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be only a structure word, for example to correct information.

Look at the following dialogue:

"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?""No, THEY haven't, but WE have.

Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though in this case it is a content word).

(Be continued)

Tongue Twister

1.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

2.

Something in a thirty-acre thermal thicket of thorns and thistles thumped and thundered threatening the three-D thoughts of Matthew the thug - although, theatrically, it was only the thirteen-thousand thistles and thorns through the underneath of his thigh that the thirty year old thug thought of that morning.

Tongue Twister

BETTY BETTER BUTTER BRAD'S BREAD.

Betty Botter bought some butter,

"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.

If I bake this bitter butter,

It will make my batter bitter.

But a bit of better butter

That would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,

Better than her bitter butter,

And she baked it in her batter,

And the batter was not bitter.

So 'twas better Betty BotterBought a bit of better butter.

Pronunciation

Losing Sounds: Elision

In rapid speech, some sounds can be left out, or elided, without damaging the shape of the words. The technical term for this is elision. It often occurs with clusters of consonants.

postman pos(t)man
mashed potatoes mash(ed) potatoes
next week nex(t) week

Some English words are quite hard to pronounce without any elision, such as asthma, facts, twelfths. In some words, the weak vowels can also be elided.

library lib(ra)ry laibri
history hist(o)ry histri
policeman p(o)liceman plism n
government gov(ern)ment g vm nt

English spelling provides evidence of historical elision - sounds that were once pronounced but are no longer.

listen, answer, thistle, walk, climb.

Pronunciation

SILENT LETTERS IN ENGLISH

The list of some silent letters:

- Mb at the end of a word (silent b), e.g. comb, lamb, climb.
- Sc at the beginning of a word followed by 'e' or 'i', (silent c), e.g. scene, scent, science, scissors (except for the word 'sceptic' and its derivations!).
- Kn (silent k), e.g. knife, knock, know.
- Mn at the end of a word (silent n), e.g. damn, autumn, column
- Ps at the beginning of a word (silent p), e.g. psalm, psychiatry, psychology
- Ght (silent gh), e.g. night, ought, taught
- Gn at the beginning of a word (silent g), e.g. gnome, gnaw, gnu
- Bt (silent b), e.g. debt, doubtful, subtle (but not in some words, e.g. 'obtain', 'unobtrusive'!)

The letter H is silent in the following situations:

- At the end of word preceded by a vowel, e.g. cheetah, Sarah, messiah;
- Between two vowels, e.g. annihilate, vehement, vehicle
- After the letter 'r', e.g. rhyme, rhubarb, rhythm
- After the letters 'ex', e.g. exhausting, exhibition, exhort.