Word stress

Stress the right syllable, so a word is recognised at once. Lesson 18 of 58: Pronunciation, every level.

Every word has a beat

• In a word of two syllables or more, one syllable is stronger: longer, louder and higher. A wrong stress can make a word unrecognisable even when every sound is right: de-VE-lop, not DE-ve-lop; com-FOR-ta-ble is wrong, COM-for-ta-ble is right.
• deVELop, deVELopment
• COMfortable (Often said COMF-tuh-bul)
• hoTEL, aGO, toDAY (Stress at the end)

Patterns that help

• Most two-syllable nouns and adjectives stress the first: TAble, HAPpy, OFfice. Many two-syllable verbs stress the second: beGIN, deCIDE, reLAX.
• Some words change by stress alone: a REcord, to reCORD; a PREsent, to preSENT; an OBject, to obJECT.
• Suffixes move it: -tion, -sion and -ic put the stress just before them: informAtion, deCIsion, ecoNOmic. -ity likes it two before: elecTRIcity, aBIlity.
• a REcord, to reCORD
• PHOtograph, phoTOgraphy, photoGRAphic (It moves)
• ecoNOmic, eCOnomy
• Tip: When you learn a new word, learn its stress with it, the way you learn its spelling.

Lines to have ready

• I’d like to develop this idea. (deVELop)
• That’s an interesting photograph. (INteresting, PHOtograph)
• Let me present the results. (preSENT, the verb)
• Could you record the meeting? (reCORD, the verb)

Your turn to speak

• Pick five long words you use at work or in your studies. Look up or guess the stress of each, say each three times, then use all five in a short explanation of what you do.
• I knew the stressed syllable of each word
• I made the stressed syllable longer and higher
• I used all five in sentences

Related

• Lesson 17: R and l, endings and clusters
• Lesson 19: Sentence stress and rhythm
• The whole English course

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