Are you putting the stress on the right syllable in these 20 common words?
They're quite tricky words.
So, let's make sure you get them right every time.
Hello and welcome everyone> This is Minoo at Anglo-Link.
Before we start the lesson,
a quick reminder to download my free guide on how to become fluent in English through specific listening activities.
The download link for this free guide is in the description box below.
Okay! Let's get started on these 20 tricky words.
Starting with Pair 1.
So, here is Pair 1.
Two words that look very similar but sound different because of their word stress.
How do you say these two words?
Right, the first one is:
even.
The stress is on the first syllable.
The second one is:
event.
The stress is on the...
second syllable.
So, listen to them again:
even
event
Let's go on to the second pair.
Two words...
How do you say these two words?
Okay! The first one is:
also
The stress is on the...
first syllable,
whereas the second one is:
although
The stress is on the...
second syllable.
Listen again:
also
although
Okay! Next one...
Say these two words to yourself.
How do you say them?
Okay! The first one is:
analyse
The stress is on the...
first syllable,
whereas the noun is:
analysis
So, now the stress has shifted to the...
second syllable.
Listen:
analyse
analysis
Okay! Pair #4.
Two very similar looking words...
How do you say them?
The first one is:
competent
The stress is on the...
first syllable.
The second one is:
component
The stress is on the...
second syllable.
Let's go to the next pair.
The first one is:
economy;
second syllable:
economy
But, the adjective is:
economic
The stress is on the...
third syllable.
Right then! Moving on: Pair 6.
How do you say these two words?
Right! The first one is:
voluntary
As you can hear, the stress is on the...
first syllable.
The second one is:
volunteer
So, the stress is on the...
third syllable.
Surprisingly!
Listen again:
voluntary
volunteer
Here's our Pair #7.
Have a go yourself.
The first one is:
desert
The stress is on the first syllable,
whereas the second one is:
dessert
The stress is on the...
second syllable.
Listen again:
desert
dessert
That brings us to Pair 8.
How do you say these two?
Very similar looking words!
Okay! The first one is:
purpose
First syllable,
whereas the second one is:
propose
Second syllable.
So, notice that by just changing the word stress, the pronunciation of the vowel changes as well.
Look at the second syllables.
We have 'pose' and 'pose'.
So, in the first one, the stress is on the first syllable.
So, the 'p-o-s-e' sounds like 'ps':
pur-ps
Whereas in the second one, the stress is on 'p-o-s-e'
the second syllable,
and it has its full sound:
pose
pro-pose.
So, listen again:
purpose
propose
Okay! This is our last pair.
Have a go yourself.
Right! The first one is:
undermine
So, the stress (the main stress) is on the...
last syllable:
mine,
whereas in the second one,
the stress is on the second syllable:
determine
And, notice that, because there is no stress on the last syllable, on 'mine' in the last syllable,
the pronunciation has changed to
'min'.
So, a short sound not the complete 'I' sound:
determine
So, listen again:
undermine
determine
Okay! The last two words are not in a pair.
But, it's the same word pronounced differently in British and American English.
So, here we have the word:
'laboratory' in British English
with the stress on the second syllable:
laboratory
But, different in American English, where the stress is put on the...
first syllable:
laboratory
So, listen again:
British English: laboratory
American English: laboratory
And, the final word... Same thing.
The same word, different pronunciation, because of the word stress.
So, in British English, the stress is on the...
second syllable:
advertisement,
whereas in American English, the stress is on the...
third syllable:
advertisement
Listen to the difference again:
advertisement
Well, that's the end of our pronunciation practice for today.
Make sure you check out my other pronunciation lessons on my online course at
Anglo-Link.com.
And, don't forget to subscribe and allow notifications
so you're not going to miss any of my future lessons.
Thank you for watching, and goodbye for now.