STRESS

STRESS

            We need to know the stress, the intonation and style of speech for effective way of communication with others. Stress is the force with which we utter a   a sound or syllable. It is the process of giving prominence to a syllable in a word or word in a sentence. For doing so, air is ejected from the lungs with a particular effort which determines the prominence of syllable or a word. A strongly stressed syllable is uttered more loudly with some force than the others.

Kinds of Stress: 1. Syllable stress   2. Word stress   3. Sentence stress

I. Syllable stress :- Syllable is letter, group of letters or a word pronounced by a single effort of voice.

1.         Two syllables --  Stress on the first syllable  =  sis/ter ,   doc / tor,   fi / nish

            Two syllables --   stress on the second syllable  =  a/gain,   mis/take,   be/lieve

            Two syllables --   stress on the both syllables   =  six/teen ,  up/stairs,  un/known     

2.         Two syllables – If it is a noun the stress will be on the first syllable. 

Con/duct,   con/tract,   ob/ject,   pro/ject        

            Two syllables – If it is a verb the stress will be on the second syllable.

                                    Con/duct,   con/tract,  ob/ject,  pro/ject

3.         Three syllables --  Stress on the first syllable   = ho/li/day,  pho/to/graphy

            Three syllables – stress on the second syllable  =  dic/ta/tion,  to/mo/rrow

            Three syllables – stress on the third syllable  =  un/der/stand

4.         Four syllables – Stress on the last syllable  =  pro/nun /cia/tion

II  Word Stress :-

1.      Content words are stress. Content words are Nouns, Adjective, Main verbs and Adverbs.

2.      Structural words are not stressed.  Structural words are articles, preposition, auxiliaries, conjunctions, and personal pronouns.

3.      Words with more than two syllables have primary stress and secondary stress.

III  Sentence Stress :- Sentences are however differently stressed according to their meaning. Difference in stress leads to difference in the meaning.

1.       He is my uncle.                2.  He is my uncle. [why do you doubt]

1.       Two syllable words.  STRESS  on the first syllable.

‘action,  ‘almost,  ‘bathe,  ‘body,  ‘doctor,  ‘foreign,  ‘idle,  ‘glorty,  ‘even,  ‘English,  ‘conduct

2.      Two syllable words.  STRESS  on the second syllable.

A’bout,  be’fore,  be’hold,  em’ploy,  re’gard,  con’trol,  ma’chine,  re’main,  de’feat,  sup’port

3.      Three syllable words.  STRESS  on the first syllable.

‘accident,   ‘beautiful;,  ‘confidence,  ‘dangerous,  ‘’educate,  ‘’family,  ‘glorious,  ‘holiday,  ‘library

4.      Three syllable words.  STRESS  on the second syllable.

Ac’custom,  as’tonish,  be’haviour,  com’pletion,  ex’tension,  im’mediate,  de’partment,  re’lation,  ex’amine

5.      Three syllable words.  STRESS  on the third  syllable.

After’noon,  enter’tain,  disap’pear,  introduc’tion,  under’stgand, repre’sent