Hey everyone. In this video we're going to do some more pronunciation.
We're going to focus on word stress. In order to talk about word stress, we need to
review syllables first. So remember that words in English are made up of syllables.
A syllable is a little unit that always contains a vowel sound.
So for example, my name Larissa has three vowel sounds and three syllables: La-ris-sa
and Misha has two: Mi-sha. Word stress talks about the syllable which is
emphasized more strongly or more loudly. So in my name, it's the second syllable
that is stressed. My name is LarRIssa, not LArissa (who's that?) or LarisSA. Those are both...
They sound strange to me. They're not my name. My name is LaRIssa. The same with Misha:
MIsha, not MiSHA. Hey, MiSHA! (laughint) It sounds strange to us because words in
English have syllables and each word has one syllable that is the strongest.
So the stressed syllable in a word is louder, it's longer and it's at a higher
pitch than the other sounds. Higher pitch means like this instead of like this.
So this is how you can tell that this one is the stressed syllable and how you can
make sure that you're making a stressed syllable - make it louder, longer, and
higher pitched. The reason you want to do this is because it really affects the
understanding of an English speaker. If your rhythm is off or the stress of your
words is in the wrong place or there is no stress, it's much harder for an
English speaker to understand. So even if you make all the right sounds, all the
right letter sounds, if you don't have the right rhythm it's going to affect
the way you're understood. This is really important. It is a really
important part of pronunciation. So how do you know which syllable is the
stressed one - which when to say louder, higher, and longer? Well, you could look in
a dictionary. Your dictionary will note which one it is,
but the way it tells you that might be different from dictionary to dictionary.
Sometimes they put a little apostrophe at the beginning of the stressed syllable.
Sometimes they put it at the end, and
sometimes they have a different way altogether of noting that. So just learn
how your dictionary shows the stressed syllable and then pay attention to that
when you're learning a new word. For our purposes today we're going to
use circles because we think they're more clear when it comes
to showing the stress. So for a stressed syllable we're going to have a big circle,
and for an unstressed syllable we'll use a small circle.
We're going to look at some rules today that can help you determine what stress
pattern to follow in a word. There are always exceptions so these are rules
that apply in most cases - not all cases. The first one is if you have a
two-syllable noun or adjective, the stress is on the first syllable of the word.
For example, if you have a word like apple, which is a two-syllable noun,
it's AP-ple, not ap-PLE. AP-ple. Every time we say the wrong one,
it makes us laugh a little because it sounds so strange. It sounds so strange.
Another example of a noun is teacher. TEA-cher.
Two-syllable adjectives: an example could be YEL-low, YEL-low, or CRA-zy.
Extra long there: CRAAAA-zy.
That's right. If you want to emphasize a word, you just make that strong syllable even stronger.
The opposite of that would be cra-ZY, cra-ZY sounds very strange.
It sounds CRA-zy. It sounds CRA-zy. Cra-ZY is CRA-zy.
The next rule or guideline is when you have a two-syllable verb or preposition,
usually the second syllable is emphasized..is the stressed one.
For example, cre-ATE, cre-ATE or ex-PLAIN, ex-PLAIN.
For prepositions, be-HIND, not BE-hind, be-HIND and in-SIDE, in-SIDE.
The next rule is if you have compound nouns.
A compound noun is a word that is made up of two smaller words,
two smaller nouns. And in this case there are a little more evenly balanced
than some nouns but there is still a slight emphasis on the first syllable.
For example TOOTH-paste, TOOTH-paste or FOOT-ball, everybody's favorite, FOOT-ball.
Alright, this rule is a little bit complicated. If you have a three-syllable word
that ends in either 'ER', 'LY' or a consonant, usually the first syllable is stressed.
For example, MAN-a-ger or QUI-et-ly, and BEAU-ti-ful
beau-TI-ful - no! It's fun to do it the wrong way sometimes. BEAU-ti-ful.
Sometimes to help you decide the pattern of stress in the word,
you can look at the suffix, which is the ending of the word
like the example that Larissa just gave. And also in words that end in 'CY', 'TY', 'PHY', or 'GY'.
In these words the stress is on the syllable that is third from the end.
So if you start at the end of the word and count backwards, it will be the third syllable.
For example, hy-PO-cri-sy or CHA-ri-ty or ge-O-gra-phy and ge-O-logy.
Another pattern is three syllable words that end in 'EE' or 'EER'.
In this case the emphasis is on the last or third syllable.
For example, em-ploy-EE, ref-er-EE, vol-un-TEER, en-gi-NEER.
The last rule that we have today is when you have a word that ends in /shun/
So 'SION' or 'TION', or the suffix 'IC',
then the syllable that comes directly before this suffix is the stressed one
For example, con-FU-sion, trans-por-TA-tion, GRA-phic.
So remember that these are rules, but there are many words that don't fit into any of these categories.
So if you encounter a word that doesn't end in 'ION' for example, or it doesn't
fit any of these, just listen to somebody pronounce it - a native speaker,
listen for the stress, or look it up in your dictionary.
Okay we are going to play a game.
This game is called snap, so syllable snap. What will happen is
Larissa and I will both hold up a word, so each of us will hold up one word, and if
the word has the same pattern of stress --so maybe big, small, small; or small, big, small,
if this pattern is matching, then whoever shakes this thing first
gets to keep all the cards. Okay? If it's not matching, then we put them down take another
And if it's not matching and we shake? I don't know...lose all our cards? Lose a point.
It won't happen. I don't know, it might.
You can watch and see. Okay ready? Yes, I'm ready.
No. OP-er-ate / con-DI-tion
[laughing] Just at the same moment! She's so quick!
am-BI-tious / dra-MA-tic. Same.
Oh. She's so much quicker. mu-SE-eum / spe-CI-fic
CHE-mi-cal / TOL-er-ant
vol-un-TEER / en-gi-NEER
le-mon-ADE / PHO-to-graph
ref-er-EE / de-LI-icious
guar-an-TEE / CHAR-ac-ter
nope em-ploy-EE / CA-na-da
am-BI-tious / con-DI--tion
TOL-er-ant / mu-SE-um
CA-na-da (I almost shook it!) CA-na-da / spe-CI-fic
OP-er-ate / CHAR-ac-ter
Ok, so to practice we're gonna show you these words that we played our game with
and you decide which column each word goes into.
So to summarize, one very important aspect of English pronunciation is word stress.
Remember that each word has one syllable which is pronounced more loudly,
more clearly, more strongly, at a higher pitch. So when you're learning a new word
remember to pay attention to the syllable stress or the syllable which is
stressed so you can learn that along with the meaning and then practice
speaking by emphasizing the syllable that is stressed.
Alright, thanks for watching this video by ex-TRA En-GLISh prac-TICe.
Woah, woah, woah, woah. EX-tra ENG-lish PRAC-tice! Yeah, that sounds better.
You can sub-SCRIBE for more.
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