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English Pronunciation – Word Stress
Pronunciation is an important aspect of learning English. If you learn the incorrect pronunciation of a word, you may not understand it when someone pronounces the word correctly. Also, when you use the word, the person listening may not understand you.
Let me give you an example. An exchange student from Mexico asked me if we could go to a “boo-fet.” I did not understand where he wanted to go. I asked him for clarification. He then asked if we could go to a “boo-fet” where you eat all you want. Now, I understood. He was trying to pronounce the word buffet (buh-fay). He learned the incorrect pronunciation from his teacher of English.
How many words do you know that start with photo? Let’s make a list:
photograph, photographer, photography, photographic, photographed, photographically, photogenic
Do you know the correct pronunciation of these words? You probably can pronounce some of these words correctly.
In English, one syllable in any word is called the stressed syllable. The stressed syllable is the part of a word that you give the most emphasis to. Stressed syllables are often perceived as being more forceful than non-stressed syllables. Let’s look at some examples. The following underlined syllables are stressed:
sofa, telephone, celebrity, computer
Here are the pronunciation rules. Remember, every rule has an exception or two.
When the word ends in -al (architectural), -crat (democrat), -ist (economist), -meter (thermometer), or -y, -cy, -gy, -fy, -phy, -ry, -try, the stress generally falls on the ante-penultimate syllable. For example, in architectural, “tec” is the ante-penultimate syllable.
architectural
ar chi tec tur al
al – ultimate syllable
tu – penultimate syllable
tec – ante-penultimate syllable
When the word ends in -ian, -ic, ics, -sion, -tion, the stress is usually on the penultimate syllable. For example, politician, “ti” is the penultimate syllable.
Politician
When the word ends in -ee,-eer the stress usually is placed on the last syllable.
Employee
Most other endings, for the most part, do not change the stress of the base word. For example, -able, -ed, -er, –ful, -ing, -ise, ize, -ist, -less, -ly, -ment, -ness, -ous, -ure.
architecture, employed, useless
Prefixes usually do not change the stress of the base word. Here are some examples.
generate / degenerate
believe / disbelieve
national / international
action / transaction
In the list below, underline the stressed syllable in the word families.
photograph, photographer, photography, photographic, photographed, photographically, photogenic
economy, economic, economist, economics, economical, economically
architect, architecture, architectural, architecturally
industry, industrial, industrially, industrious, industrialize, industrialization, industrialist, industrialism
democrat, democracy, democratic, democratically, democratize, democratization
employ, employer, employee, employing, employed, employment
use, used, user, useless, uselessly, uselessness, useful, usefully, usefulness, usable
