Hello Scholars,
Given below is a gist of what I got from different reliable sources. Read it carefully and let's have the discussion next week. I look forward to see your comments on each post. All the best for the rest of the week!
Esala
Sentence Stress in English
Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like
word stress,
sentence stress can help you to understand spoken English, especially when
spoken fast.
Sentence stress is what gives English its
rhythm or "beat".
You remember that word stress is accent on
one syllable within a
word.
Sentence stress is accent on
certain words within a
sentence.
Most sentences have two types of word:
- content words
- structure words
Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words
that carry the meaning or sense.
Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simple words
that make the sentence correct grammatically. They give the sentence its
correct form or "structure".
If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still
understand the sentence.
If you remove the content words from a sentence, you will
not
understand the sentence. The sentence has no sense or meaning.
Imagine that you receive this telegram message:
Will
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you
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SELL
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my
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CAR
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because
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I've
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GONE
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to
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FRANCE
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|
This sentence is not complete. It is not a "grammatically correct"
sentence. But you probably understand it. These 4 words communicate very well.
Somebody
wants you to sell their car for them because they have gone
to France.
We can add a few words:
Will
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you
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SELL
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my
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CAR
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because
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I've
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GONE
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to
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FRANCE
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|
The new words do not really add any more information. But they make the
message more correct grammatically. We can add even more words to make one
complete, grammatically correct sentence.
But the information is basically
the same:
Content Words
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Will
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you
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SELL
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my
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CAR
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because
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I've
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GONE
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to
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FRANCE.
|
Structure Words
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|
In our sentence, the 4
key words (sell, car, gone, France)
are accentuated or
stressed.
Why is this important for pronunciation? It is important because it adds
"music" to the language. It is the
rhythm of the English
language. It changes the speed at which we speak (and listen to) the language.
The
time between each stressed word is the same.
In our sentence, there is
1 syllable between SELL and CAR
and
3 syllables between CAR and GONE.
But the
time (
t) between SELL and CAR
and between CAR and GONE is the same. We
maintain a constant beat on the stressed words. To do this, we say
"my" more
slowly, and "because I've" more
quickly.
We change the speed of the small structure words so that the rhythm of the key
content words stays the same.
syllables
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2
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1
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3
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1
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Will
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you
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SELL
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my
|
CAR
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because
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I've
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GONE
|
to
|
FRANCE.
|
t1
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beat
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t1
|
beat
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t1
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beat
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t1
|
beat
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|
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|
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|
|
|
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Sentence
Stress Rules >
See also:
Word
Stress
I am a proFESsional phoTOgrapher whose MAIN
INterest is to TAKE SPEcial, BLACK and WHITE PHOtographs that exHIBit ABstract
MEANings in their photoGRAPHic STRUCture.
Sentence stress
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In spoken English, we use sentence stress to show
our listeners which parts of our sentences are the most important (the parts
that carry the most meaning).
We usually stress content words, for example, main verbs, nouns
and adjectives rather than articles or auxiliary verbs.
We stress words by saying them slightly louder and more slowly
than the other words in the sentence.
Listen
Helen: Have you seen the new film with Tom Cruise?
The bold words (a main verb, an adjective and two nouns) are the ones
Helen stresses.
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Sentence stress examples:
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Listen
What did he say to you in the garden?
Listen
He's had a heart attack.
Listen
How long are you going for?
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Shifting stress
If we want to contrast or show disagreement with what someone
else has said, we use shifting stress. We do this by changing the
usual patterns of sentence stress. So in this next example, John knows the
conversation is about films and Tom Cruise so he doesn't have to stress those
items. Instead he stresses the new or contrasting information:
Listen
Helen: Have you seen that new film with Tom Cruise?
John: No, but I saw the last one he was in. It was terrible!
Here are some more examples from The Flatmates:
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Shifting stress examples:
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Listen
Not your dad, my dad.
Listen
It's a one-way ticket I've booked.
Listen
I'm going back to Poland
for good.
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Vocabulary:
|
ommitment (n):
being ready to give a lot of your time, attention or love to something or
someone because you believe in the person or thing is right or important
a one-way ticket:
a ticket you use to go somewhere but which you can't use to come back
for good:
for ever |
Rules for Sentence Stress in English
The basic rules of sentence stress are:
- content words are stressed
- structure words are unstressed
- the time between stressed
words is always the same
The following tables can help you decide which words are
content words
and which words are
structure words:
Content words - stressed
Words carrying the meaning
|
Example
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main verbs
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SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY
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nouns
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CAR, MUSIC, MARY
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adjectives
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RED, BIG, INTERESTING
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adverbs
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QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER
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negative auxiliaries
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DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T
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Structure words - unstressed
Words for correct grammar
|
Example
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pronouns
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he, we, they
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prepositions
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on, at, into
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articles
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a, an, the
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conjunctions
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and, but, because
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auxiliary verbs
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do, be, have, can, must
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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).