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Word Stress (1) - English lesson

English pronunciation has always seemed to be a difficult exercise for pupils as well as students.

Here, our purpose won't be to transmit an 'English accent' as is often meant, contrary to a French

or Spanish accent when speaking English. Yet, we'll learn how to stress the words correctly, following

a stress pattern imposed by the different dialects which are spoken. Here, our reference will be:

British English, Received Pronunciation (R. P. Pronunciation).

In language, intonation, the music of the sentence, which is very important. There are also

the sounds, difficult to learn: several of them are unknown in other languages. What is more

striking, and certainly the easiest point to learn, is the stress pattern of the words. I remember

a Professor of English at 'la Sorbonne Nouvelle' when I was a student for my third Degree of

English... He looked 'a little old' to me at the time... He spoke English with an accent that

many teachers and students called 'Frenchy', but his stress pattern in English was faultless...

During lessons, he kept saying that the word stress pattern was extremely important, and in

his opinion, it made a real difference as far as pronunciation and communication were

concerned. It was true!

That's why we'll try to concentrate on these patterns that can easily be learnt, and that must be

remembered.

Reminder: a syllable: (the slightest portion or amount of speech or writing)

Be careful! For the sake of clarity, you should end your listening at 5 minutes and 16 seconds.

After that limit, things might get a little too confused...

- In written exercises, the word stress can be indicated in 2 ways:

- with an apostrophe: " ' " It should be put above and before the stressed syllable: 'campus

(this apostrophe is indicated in all the dictionaries).

- underlining the syllable: indicates the stressed syllable: 'campus

- When you speak, word stress must be marked clearly.

The stressed syllable must be indicated clearly and firmly. Other syllables can hardly be heard.

In Anglo-Saxon countries young children are taught to clap their hands to count syllables and

indicate the stressed one.

1) ONE-SYLLABLE WORDS (MONOSYLLABLES):

A vowel is necessary to have a syllable. Look for the vowels and you'll find the number of

syllables! There are many monosyllabic words (words of one syllable only). Obviously, these

words are stressed.

2) THE TWO-SYLLABLE WORDS:

There are three different kinds of patterns depending on the nature of words.

a) TWO SYLLABLE-NOUNS are stressed on the first syllable.

'Parent	'Prison
'uncle	'distance
'image	'focus
'window	'garden
'building	'water

b) TWO-SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES are stressed on the first syllable too..

'Simple	'pleasant
'busy	'tangled
'empty	'active
'pretty	'absent
'local	'mobile

c) VERBS of two syllables are stressed on the second syllable:

Re'peat	pre'fer
co'llect	for'give
a'llow	im'pose

PAY ATTENTION to: be'gin, be'ginning.

d) Some words can both be NOUNS and VERBS: only the context can

help you determine the nature of the word, and therefore, its pronunciation...

The two general cases described above can be applied (2 a)

NOUNS words stressed on the first syllable	VERBS words stressed on the second syllable
a 'present	To pre'sent
a 'contract	to con'tract
'refuse	to re'fuse
an 'increase	to in'crease
a 'desert	to de'sert

Exceptions : res'pect/ to res'pect - a 'question/ to 'question.

That's it! In this lesson, we already have 'guidelines' - if not real rules - to help us stress

monosyllables and hundreds of words (nouns, adjectives and verbs) of two syllables.

It will be necessary to pay a little attention at the beginning, and than, very quickly, habits

will come and you'll stress the right syllable... Do not hesitate to exaggerate the stress a

little at the beginning.

Come on! I know you can do it! Go for it!

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We're going to focus our attention on isolated words, making sure we stress the words correctly, using the different 'solutions' provided, as usual.

A) 'To be a rebel'

B) 'A suspect'

C) 'To object'

D) ' A person'

E) 'Busy'

F) 'a detail'

G) 'To question'

H) 'Tired'

I) 'To allow'

J) 'A protest':

K) ''Happy':

L) 'A conduct':

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