If you're like most English learners, pronouncing long, complicated words
probably stresses you out - literally.
Many non-native speakers get really concerned about pronunciation
of four-, five-, and six-syllable words.
Where does the word stress go?
How do I say each one correctly?
It can get a little challenging. But there's something that you haven't considered that's
actually affecting the way you sound when speaking English.
We need to talk about one syllable words.
So many non-native speakers pronounce one-syllable words really quickly and that makes their
English sound really choppy and robotic.
In previous videos I've talked about how native English speakers tend to prefer clear, simple
vocabulary over these complicated four-, five- and six- syllable words.
We even have trouble pronouncing them ourselves.
So what I really want to focus on today is how you should
really use word stress on one-syllable words.
Not every one-syllable word needs to be said quickly and reduced.
Only the function words need to be reduced, but most sentences contain
many one-syllable content words.
So let's talk a little bit about that.
So just as a quick review, if you haven't already studied word stress with me, please
sign up for my free email course, Sound More Natural in Just Five Days at soundmorenatural.com.
When you stress a syllable, you make it longer, louder and higher in pitch.
And this is why when you're stressing one-syllable words, the entire word needs to be longer,
louder and higher in pitch.
If you don't stress these one syllable content words, your speech is going to sound choppy,
monotone, and even robotic.
When you don't stress one-syllable words or you stress them exactly the same as unstressed
one-syllable words, it can make your language sound unnatural and it also makes it harder
for a native English speaker to understand you.
Remember, native English speakers are listening for that natural rhythm of English that comes
from different stress in the sentences.
In normal sentences, the content words are stressed and the function words
are unstressed or even reduced.
So if you're not stressing your content words, it's hard for native English speakers to hear
which words are most important in your sentence.
Stressing words signals that these words are important and require extra attention
to your listener.
So let's talk about a couple of example sentences that have short one-syllable words
that need to be stressed.
So let's start with the sentence, "Let's wait for the bus."
Many non-native speakers say each of these syllables about the same.
Let's wait for the bus. Right?
That's a little exaggerated, but that robotic sound tends to happen:
Let's wait for the bus.
That's where you get that monotone, when it's hard to distinguish which words are stressed
and which words are not as important.
So let's look at how we should stress this particular sentence.
Let's wait for the bus.
So as you notice, "let's," "wait," and "bus" are stressed in this sentence, and "for" and
"the" are reduced because they are function words - they're not as important.
Let's wait for the bus.
So if you pronounce all of those syllables exactly the same, it's not going to be clear
which words are important.
By stressing "let's," "wait," and "bus," I am very clear that these are the words
that are most important.
Let's try another example.
When I'm tired, I drink some tea.
If you pronounce each of these syllables exactly the same, you're not going to distinguish
the important words, but the important words are "when," "tired," "drink," "tea."
When I'm tired, I drink some tea.
That creates the rhythm of English.
Let's try another example.
When I left the house, it was cold.
As you notice, stressing "when," "left," "house," and "cold" helps give you
the main meaning of the sentence.
Here's another one.
After we eat, we'll watch the show.
As you notice, by stressing "after," "eat," "watch," and "show," I've signaled to you
the most important words of the sentence and created that natural rhythm in English.
Now let's try a couple of longer examples where the majority of the words
are one syllable long.
The man you told me about came by the office.
As you notice, I'm stressing the word "by" and not "came" in that sentence because that's
a phrasal verb and we usually stress the particle, or the word that looks like a preposition
on a verb version of a phrasal verb.
The man who told me about came by the office.
As you notice even on these longer sentences, being sure to stress these one-syllable words
is really helping increase the clarity of my speech.
Let's try one more very long example.
When I'm tired, I drink some tea so that I can try and wake up.
As you notice, once again, I'm stressing the particle on the phrasal verb, but you notice
that even in a long sentence like this, being sure to distinguish the words that are stressed
from the words that are reduced or unstressed really helps increase the impact of my sentence.
It makes it very clear to the listener which words are important, so let's listen to that
one one more time.
When I'm tired, I drink some tea so that I can try and wake up.
As you can see, syllable stress is really important on one-syllable words, if you're
not stressing your one-syllable words, you're reducing the impact of your speech
and you're increasing your accent.
You really want to make sure you use word stress on these one-syllable words.
I hope this tip has been helpful for you and helps you feel more confident speaking more
clearly when paying attention to your word stress in your sentences.
Once again, I'm Kim from englishwithkim.com.
I am your guide to the essential conversation skills you need to sound more natural in English.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below the video, and if you like
this video, please be sure to give it a thumbs up and share it with a friend.
Have a good one.
Goodbye.