wahid
مشرف
 | موضوع: What is Word Stress?  الأربعاء أغسطس 05, 2009 2:14 pm | |
| بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم
What is Word Stress?
In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables very quietly.x
Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is different. x
PHO -TO -GRAPH
PHO -TO- GRAPH ER
PHO -TO- GRAPH -IC
This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera, etCETera
The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Native speakers of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension.x
Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - on the radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognize it. After that, you can USE it!x
There are two very important rules about word stress:x
One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)x
The stress is always on a vowel.x
| |
|
