SENTECE ESTRESS

SENTENCES STRESS: where word stress is the accent on one syllable in a word, sentence stress is accent on certain words within a sentence. Often considered to be the "rhythm" of English. Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like word stress, sentence stress can help you to understand spoken English, especially when spoken fast.

EXAMPLE:

Where do you live?  (strong - weak - weak - strong) 

   

                       NOTE 

 

 It is important to remember that an English sentence will have a certain number of beats.  Stressed (content) words always take up an entire “beat”, while “unstressed” function words fall between the beats – irrespective of how many function words have been grouped together.  The time between beats is always the same.  For this reason, function words are often spoken faster and with less volume – they are literally being “squeezed” into the gap between regular stressed beats.  In the examples below, all of the function words (or groups of function words) take the same amount of time to pronounce, irrespective of the number of sounds or syllables they include.  Doing a simple rhythmic clap or thump in time to the spoken sentence will demonstrate how this happens.

Examples:

	Beat 1		Beat 2	Beat 3
I am	talking	to the	clever	students.

	Beat 1		Beat 2		Beat 3	Beat 4
You’re	sitting	on the	desk	but you	aren’t	listening	to me.

	Beat 1	Beat 2		Beat 3		Beat 4
He’s	writing	quickly	so it’s	difficult	for him to	hear	me.

Exercise: Write out a number of sentences. Read each of them stressing a different word each time you read them. Notice how the meaning changes depending on which word you stress. Don't be afraid to exaggerate the stress, in English we often use this device to add meaning to a sentence. It's very possible that when you think you are exaggerating, it will sound quite natural to native speakers.

I said she might consider a new haircut.

Say the sentence aloud using the stress word marked in bold. Once you have spoken the sentence a few times, match the sentence version to the meaning below. You will find the answers to this quiz on the following page.

1. I said she might consider a new haircut.
2. I said she might consider a new haircut.
3. I said she might consider a new haircut.
4. I said she might consider a new haircut.
5. I said she might consider a new haircut.
6. I said she might consider a new haircut.
7. I said she might consider a new haircut.

• Not just a haircut.
• It's a possibility.
• It was my idea.
• Not something else.
• Don't you understand me?
• Not another person.
• She should think about it. it's a good idea.