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Rules For Sentence Stress in English

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15 views

Rules For Sentence Stress in English

Uploaded by

ClaudioCaccioliJr.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Rules for Sentence Stress in English

The basic rules of sentence stress are:

1. content words are stressed

2. structure words are unstressed

3. 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

main verbs SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY

nouns CAR, MUSIC, MARY

adjectives RED, BIG, INTERESTING

adverbs QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER

negative auxiliaries DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure words - unstressed

Words for correct grammar Example

pronouns he, we, they

prepositions on, at, into

articles a, an, the

conjunctions and, but, because

auxiliary verbs do, be, have, can, must

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).

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 onone 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:

Wil you SELL my CAR because I've GONE to FRANCE


l

Click here to hear

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:

Wil you SELL my CAR because I've GONE to FRANCE


l

Click here to hear

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

Wil you SELL my CAR because I've GONE to FRANCE.


l

Structure Words

Click here to hear

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 therhythm 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

2 1 3 1

Will yo SELL my CAR because I've GONE t FRANCE.


u o

beat beat beat beat

t1 t1 t1 t1

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.

http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/sentence-stress.htm

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