Pop Quiz how do you say the names of these two pictures
say the names out loud did you pronounce them the same or differently
if you're not sure how to pronounce these phrases have no fear this video will make it easy [Music]
here's how you pronounce the names of these two pictures the picture on the left shows a hot dog
the picture on the right shows a hot dog hot dog hot dog same words but they use a different
stress pattern and the stress pattern is the only way to know which one a person is talking about
American English stress is crazy and these particular types of stress patterns are advanced
most of the time you won't run into any huge problems with either of these patterns and
your speaker will understand you but every once in a while these stress patterns will come up
in your speech so today you're going to learn all about them and most importantly learn how
to pronounce them with confidence first let's go back to the picture of the hot dog and the hot dog
what is different about these two phrases why is the stress pattern different
a hot dog is a descriptive phrase in English this type of phrase is also called a noun
phrase and they are extremely common in English a descriptive phrase is a group of nouns adjectives
or a verb that act together to describe a single noun we use them all of the time
a tall man a big house a small yellow bee these are all examples of descriptive phrases
a hot dog is also a descriptive phrase the word hot is an adjective and it is
describing the noun dog stress tends to fall on the second word of the descriptive phrase or it
may not have any special stress at all a hot dog a tall man a big house a small yellow bee
but a hot dog is a compound noun this is a noun that is made up of two or more existing words
stress tends to fall on the first word of a compound noun
compound nouns are extremely common in English and there are three types of them
you can have a compound noun that is a single word like baseball boyfriend and overtime
you can have a compound noun that is made up of separate words like house party
slam dunk and sweater vest and you can have a compound noun that is formed by hyphens
to connect two or more words together like mother-in-law Merry-Go-Round and ten-year-old
notice the second type of compound nouns the ones that are made up of separate words
don't these compound nouns also look like descriptive phrases
that's the category that a hot dog and a hot dog fall under a hot dog is a descriptive phrase but
it looks just like the compound noun hot dog and that's where the confusion lies you have to be
aware of how a phrase functions in a sentence to know the type of stress pattern to use
this is advanced stuff so if you need to review any of the information so far rewind
the video and review but if you're right here with me then let's continue to the practice
I'm going to read three phrases that can either be a compound noun or a descriptive phrase
then I'll read them in a sentence you'll hear me say each phrase
and sentence one time and then I'll pause imitate after me in the pauses
eat a hot dog
I want to eat a hot dog
a hot dog
that's a hot dog
feed a blackbird
let's feed a blackbird
a black bird
I see a black bird
the White House
I want to visit the White House
a White House
I live in a White House
Thanks so much for practicing the stress patterns of compound nouns and descriptive phrases with me
I hope this video was helpful but let's keep practicing
be sure to check out the additional practice videos of advanced stress patterns in English Pro
my comprehensive online accent training community details on how to enroll in
English Pro are in the description below thanks and have a great day [Music]