stresd

StressingtheRightWords

Pronouncingeverywordcorrectlyleadstopoor

pronunciation!Goodpronunciationcomesfrom

stressingtherightwords-thisisbecauEnglishisa

time-stresdlanguage.

Here'sHow:

Learnthefollowingrulesconcerningpronunciation.

Englishisconsideredastresdlanguagewhilemany

otherlanguagesareconsideredsyllabic.

Englishpronunciationfocusonspecificstresd

wordswhilequicklyglidingovertheother,

non-stresd,words.

Stresdwordsareconsideredcontentwords:Nouns

n,Peter-(most),

ful,interesting-

,carefully

1.

Non-stresdwordsareconsideredfunctionwords:

,,were-

,,and

-,she

Readthefollowingntencealoud:Thebeautiful

Mountainappearedtransfixedinthedistance.

Readthefollowingntencealoud:Hecancomeon

Sundaysaslongashedoesn'thavetodoany

homeworkintheevening.

Noticethatthefirstntenceactuallytakesaboutthe

sametimetospeakwell!

Eventhoughthecondntenceisapproximately

30%longerthanthefirst,thentencestakethesame

becauthereare5stresd

wordsineachntence.

Writedownafewntences,ortakeafewexample

ntencesfromabookorexerci.

2.

Firstunderlinethestresdwords,thenreadaloud

focusingonstressingtheunderlinedwordsandgliding

overthenon-stresdwords.

Youwillbesurpridathowquicklyyourpronunciation

improves!Byfocusingonstresdwords,non-stresd

wordsandsyllablestakeontheirmoremutednature.

Whenlisteningtonativespeakers,focusonhowtho

speakersstresscertainwordsandbegintocopythis.

Tips:

Rememberthatnon-stresdwordsandsyllablesare

often'swallowed'inEnglish.

Alwaysfocusonpronouncingstresdwordswell,

non-stresdwordscanbeglidedover.

Don'nthe

heout.

Ican’tdoit!Icandoit!Iwilldoit!

3.