Stress

Stress relates to syllables in words. A syllable is a unit of pronunciation. Some words contain only one syllable, known as monosyllabic words.

Examples:

• Monosyllabic words: give, height, go, him
• Two-syllable words: ignore, Object, dental, above
• Three-syllable words: candidates, accountants, compulsory, majority

Stress refers to the greater emphasis or force applied when pronouncing a specific syllable in a word. A stressed syllable is pronounced with more force than other syllables in the word.

Words That Are Not Stressed

• Articles, demonstratives, and possessives: a, an, the, this, those, that, these, some, any, your, my, his, ours, etc.
• Helping verbs: am, is, are, have, can, shall, will.
• Personal pronouns: you, he, she, it, we.
• Conjunctions: and, but, for.

Some of these words may be stressed for emphasis. However, nouns, main (lexical) verbs, and adjectives are generally stressed.

How Stress is Marked

Stress is indicated in two ways:

• By capitalizing the stressed syllable.
• By placing an apostrophe before the stressed syllable.

Examples:

• The MAN is a TAIlor.
• The ‘man is a ‘tailor.

Stress and Word Function

Stress can alter a word’s grammatical category:

Guidelines for Stress Placement

1. Words ending in ‘ism’ and 'ly' are stressed on the first syllable.
   Examples: TErrorism, RAdicalism, LOvingly, SIlently
2. Two-syllable verbs ending in ‘ate’ have the stress on the second syllable.
   Examples: dicTATE, preDATE, lacTATE
3. Words ending in ‘ate’, ‘cal’, ‘ty’, ‘al’, ‘fy’, 'cy', 'phy' and 'gy' are stressed on the third-to-last syllable.
   Examples: FORtify, deMOCracy, MAGnify, inTENsify, coMMUnicate, sabBAtical, coMMUnity
4. Words ending in ‘ion’, ‘ic’, ‘ial’, 'able', 'ery', 'ible', 'ia', 'ient', 'ious', 'ish', 'osis', and ‘ian’ are stressed on the second-to-last syllable.
   Examples: introDUCtion, fanTAStic, fiNANcial , BAkery, imPOSsible, bacTERia, inGREdient, reLIgious, SELfish, diagNOsis, techNIcian
5. Words that use the suffix ade, ese, eer, ee, ette, que, or oon have the primary stress actually placed on the suffix/last syllable.
   Examples: lemoNADE, JapanESE, puppeTEER, guaranTEE, cassETTE, physIQUE, baLOON
6. Most compound words (usually made up of two simple words) are stressed on the first syllable. Examples: BOARDroom, BEDroom, BACKground, BAREfoot, WATCHdog, etc.

Emphatic Stress

Emphatic stress occurs when the speaker places special emphasis on a particular word or element within a sentence. This emphasis is often used to introduce new information, correct a misunderstanding, or clarify a point. The speaker stresses a specific word to highlight its importance and ensure clear communication.