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    The document discusses the importance of word stress in English pronunciation. It explains that English words always have one syllable that is stressed more strongly than others, called the primary stress, and getting this correct helps listeners understand speech even if other sounds are mispronounced. It provides examples of how changing the primary stress can alter a word's meaning, and recommends checking a dictionary for stress markings or looking for patterns like nouns typically stressing the first syllable and verbs often stressing the second.

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    Why is word stress important

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    Why is word stress important

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    The document discusses the importance of word stress in English pronunciation. It explains that English words always have one syllable that is stressed more strongly than others, called the primary stress, and getting this correct helps listeners understand speech even if other sounds are mispronounced. It provides examples of how changing the primary stress can alter a word's meaning, and recommends checking a dictionary for stress markings or looking for patterns like nouns typically stressing the first syllable and verbs often stressing the second.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    19 views2 pages

    Why Is Word Stress Important

    Uploaded by

    regianesobrinho
    The document discusses the importance of word stress in English pronunciation. It explains that English words always have one syllable that is stressed more strongly than others, called the primary stress, and getting this correct helps listeners understand speech even if other sounds are mispronounced. It provides examples of how changing the primary stress can alter a word's meaning, and recommends checking a dictionary for stress markings or looking for patterns like nouns typically stressing the first syllable and verbs often stressing the second.

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    Why is word stress important?

    JANUARY 18, 2020 PRONUNCIATION, SPEAKING

    Having trouble pronouncing the sounds of words?

    While pronunciation is important, sometimes it’s just as important to get the word stress correct .
    English words always have one part (syllable) that is stressed more strongly than others, this is called
    the primary stress. Correct primary stress helps the listener to understand your speech.

    If you slightly mispronounce a word, but the primary stress is correct, you can often communicate it’s
    meaning. So, stress is important, especially for words you use often.

    The primary stress can change the meaning of words with the same spelling. For
    example, ADDress means a place, but aDDRESS means to speak formally to a group. PROduce means
    food gown to be sold, but proDUCE means to make something.

    But don’t worry, it’s easy to check a word’s primary stress in a dictionary. You will see a /ˈ/ symbol
    before it in the phonemes. For example, if you look up the word pronunciation, its phonemes /prəˌ nʌnsi
    eɪʃn/ tell us the primary stress in on /eɪ/. So, we pronounce the whole word as pronunciAtion with the
    ˈ
    stress on the ‘a.’

    Luckily, there are patterns that can help us guess word stress without having to check a dictionary.
    Here are a few below.

    Is it a noun?

    Almost all two-syllable nouns have stress on the first syllable. For example, REcord, INcrease, REfund.
    Also, compound (two word) nouns have stress on the first word. For example, CELLphone, CAR park,
    LAPtop.

    Is it a verb?

    Most two-syllable verbs have stress on the second syllable. For example, preSENT, rePEAT, deCREASE.
    Two-word verbs have stress on the second word. For example, clean UP, print OUT, look UP.
    Does it have a suffix?

    Some suffixes also affect the stress. Here are a few:

    Words ending with the -ese and –ee have stress on that syllable. For
    example, JapanESE, employEE.
    Words ending with -tion, -ic or -logy have stress on the syllable before. For
    example, accommoDAtion, athLEtic, techNOology.
    Words ending with -ate, -ity or -ous have stress two syllables before. For
    example, GRAduate, elecTRIcity, SErious.

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