If you have already read Part 1 & Part 2 about –ate, then you already know that you should not put stress on the –ate ending. The tricky part is that sometimes the –ate is not at the end of a word — it may be hidden by a suffix added after it. But even when it is hidden, you still need to follow the rule of not stressing it.
In the following examples, the –ate is not at the end of the new words, but the stress is still controlled by the –ate, which means that the stress falls 2 syllables before it.
elevate + or = elevator (don’t say: eleVAtor)
complicate + ed = complicated (not: compliCAted)
evaporate + ing = evaporating
accurate + ness = accurateness
deliberate + ly = deliberately
But watch out! There are other suffixes which do control stress, and overrule the –ate rule. The most common is –tion. This suffix moves the stress to the syllable just before itself. So, the word educate + tion = education, and evaporate + tion = evaporation. This -tion pattern makes it seem like the -ate is taking the stress.
Graduate, or, graduate… Which is the correct pronunciation? Actually, both are right!
The other important thing to know about words with –ate is that the “A” uses two different sounds. The good news is that this is a clear and predictable pattern.
The letter “A” sounds like Long-A (or the name of the letter “A”) in Verbs, but it sounds like the reduced vowel or “schwa” in Nouns and Adjectives.
Here are some examples:
Verbs: calculate / originate / pollinate / refrigerate /
Nouns & Adjectives: certificate / electorate / proportionate / vertebrate /
However, there are quite a few –ate words that can be used as both a Verb AND as a Noun or Adjective. For example:
alternate (Adj & N) / alternate (V)
associate (Adj & N) / associate (V)
coordinate (N) / coordinate (V)
duplicate (N) / duplicate (V)
estimate (N) / estimate (V)
graduate (Adj & N) / graduate (V)
moderate (Adj) / moderate (V)
separate (Adj) / separate (V)
But don’t forget, whether the word is a Noun, Adjective or Verb, the stress always goes two syllables before the –ate ending, not on it.
Finally, as usual, there is always a word or two that doesn’t follow the rule. In this case, I have found a few: concentrate / primate / mandate / inmate / rebate. In these nouns, the “A” sounds like Long-A rather than a schwa sound.
A very common problem for learners of English is incorrect word stress in words that end with –ate. In fact, almost every student I have worked with has had difficulty with this. Almost everybody makes the mistake of putting the stress on the –ate ending.
HERE’S THE RULE: Do not put stress on –ate. Put it two syllables before that ending.
So, the 3-Syllable word “celebrate” has stress on the 1st syllable (not the last): CElebrate, not celeBRATE. And the 4-Syllable word “eliminate” has stress on the 2nd syllable: eLIminate, not elimiNATE
Here are some more examples:
3-Syllable words
accurate / delicate / demonstrate / fabricate / fluctuate / isolate / moderate / populate / separate / tolerate / vertebrate / violate /
There are hundreds of 3 & 4-Syllable words that end with –ate, but only just a few do not follow the rule, for example: elongate / interrelate / oxygenate / reinstate / relocate /
5 & 6-Syllable words
There are a few 5 & 6-Syllable words with -ate, and they also follow the same rule:
decontaminate / differentiate / hyperventilate / intermediate / rehabilitate / intercommunicate /
So, with only just a small number of words that do not follow the rule, it means that virtually every time you see a new word with –ate, you can confidently predict the stress.
What about 2-Syllable words?
Most 2-Syllable words that end with –ate have stress on the 1st syllable. Here are just a few (of many) examples: agate / climate / dictate / donate / frustrate / hydrate / inmate / locate / magnate / mandate / migrate / narrate / notate / primate / private / rebate / rotate / senate / translate / vibrate /
However, some 2-Syllable words do have stress on the –ate, such as: create / debate / deflate / elate / equate / estate / inflate / innate / irate / negate / ornate / relate / sedate. Some of these words are used fairly frequently, and perhaps this pattern influences learners of English to follow a similar stress pattern for all other words with –ate.
Now that you know the stress pattern, did you notice something else about –ate endings? Sometimes the “A” sounds like “A” and sometimes it sounds like the reduced vowel sound known as “schwa”. This difference is explained in –ate Part 2.
Did anyone ever tell you that the way to distinguish between the numbers “13” and “30” was with word stress? There are plenty of ESL books and teachers that will tell you that the difference between them is this:
— for 30, you should stress the first syllable [ THIR-ty ]
— for 13 you should stress the 2nd syllable [ thir-TEEN ]
That advice works great when you are comparing the two numbers, or emphasizing them to make them extra clear, but what about when you are just saying the number 13 in a normal conversation…?
Listen closely the next time you go shopping. If someone’s total comes to $13.95, you will not hear the cashier say “thir-TEEN ninety-five”. And if you listen to a native speaker count out loud, they don’t say “…ten, eleven, twelve, thir-TEEN, four-TEEN, fif-TEEN…” (It would sound strange if they did.)
Actually, putting strong stress on the 2nd syllable of 13 is usually for when you need to be careful to distinguish it from 30. Most of the time, 13 (or 14 or 15 or 16…) is pronounced with two equally strong syllables. However, the stress can vary depending on the context. For example, if you need to clarify between 14 and 15, then the stress will be stong on the first part, as in, “I said FOUR-teen, not FIF-teen!”
By the way “$13.95” actually has 4 equally strong beats: “THIR-TEEN-NINEty-FIVE”, which is similar to the stress pattern used for acronyms (abbreviations such as ASAP or VIP).
Now you know!
By the way, I am always noticing the pronunciation of people when I hear them speak… One person that I have noticed who really took the rule “thir-TEEN vs. THIR-ty” to heart is Benny Hinn. He follows the rule perfectly, which indicates that he was very conscientious about his pronunciation while he was learning English. He has only a small trace of foreign accent when he speaks English — hats off to him!
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