Sentence Stress Part 3

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Sentence stress is the combination of weak and strong words in a sentence, which creates a sort of rhythm. The first step in learning how sentence stress works, is to know which words are weak and which ones are strong. After that, you need to know how the stress patterns are used to make a conversation be clear and go smoothly.

One way to help a conversation be more clear, is to put strong stress on a weak word when necessary. This could happen if a weak word becomes especially important to the topic of the conversation, or if it is needed to help clarify what you are talking about. Here are some examples to illustrate.

Example 1:
He wants to leave now.
This is a basic sentence with the basic stress pattern. There are only two strong words in this sentence — the two verbs: “wants” and “leave”.

He wants to leave now.
This time, the word “he” is also stressed, but this is not the basic pattern. Therefore, this sentence implies that something was not clearly understood, and so you are indicating specifically which person wants to leave — perhaps someone thought that you wanted to leave, or perhaps someone was unsure about exactly who wanted to leave.

Example 2:
She put the box on the desk.
This is a basic sentence with the basic stress pattern. There are three strong words — the verb and the nouns: “put”, “box”, and “desk”.

She put the box on the desk.
Now the sentence has four stressed words. The word “on” is not normally strong, but here it is stressed to clarify the exact location of the box — perhaps someone else tried to find the box by the desk, or under the desk.

The overall rule is that the most important words in the sentence need to sound the strongest. A weak word should always stay weak unless you have a reason to make it strong. If you put stress on a weak word incorrectly, it can cause some confusion, or slow down the conversation. The person you are speaking to may wonder if you are both understanding each other ok, or may become a bit hesitant and stop to double check what you really mean to say.

Few and little

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This topic is a little bit more about grammar than pronunciation, but it is important because so many students are confused by it. There is one very small difference in grammar, which can make a big difference in meaning. It’s the word “a” when using the words “few” and “little”.

“Few” is not the same as “a few”, and “little” is not the same as “a little”. Here is what they do mean:

“a few”
This means: some, but not too many; a small amount of something.
For example: I just need a few more minutes to finish.

“few”
This means: almost none; there are scarcely any to be found.
For example: Few people have ever seen the Amur leopard.

“a little”
This means: some, but not too much; a small amount.
For example: Could I please have a little water?

“little”
This means: almost nothing, there is hardly any at all.
For example: They had little time to escape the burning house.

To help make the distinction even more clear, let’s compare two similar sentences. The following sentences are almost the same — the only difference is the word “a” — but the meanings are basically the opposite.

There are a few good reasons to visit that mountain.

This means that the mountain is a good place to visit. Perhaps there is unusually beautiful scenery, or some very interesting wildlife — so there are some good reasons to visit it.

There are few good reasons to visit that mountain.

This means that the mountain is not a place very many people would want to visit. Perhaps it is dangerous, or unusually difficult — so there are not many reasons to visit it.

Noticing the presence or absence of the word “a” can be difficult, because it is usually very small and hard to hear. Small words, such as “a” and “the” or prepositions, are normally weak in sentences because of sentence stress. Even though they can be hard to hear, they are still very important, and native speakers do notice when they are used or not used, so this is definitely something to watch out, or rather, listen for.

The Sounds of I

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Each vowel letter of English uses three or four different vowel sounds, but there is something unique about the letter “I” — it shares its sounds with the letter “Y”. They are sort of like “twins”. Whenever the letter “Y” is acting as a vowel, it uses the same sounds as “I”.

There are three basic sounds for the English letter “I”: Long-I, Long-I-2 (old-style), and Short-i.

Long-I

Long-I is the normal Long-vowel sound for “I”, because it is the same as the name of the letter “I”. Some common words with this sound are: like / write / time / line / right / kind / while / life / side / five / ice / sign / child / tie / item / my / why / type / style / rhyme / cycle / deny / apply / rely.

Long-I-2

The second Long sound that the letter “I” (or “Y”) uses is the “old style” Long-I — it is the sound that the letter “I” used hundreds of years ago, before the English vowels made a shift. A few words with the letter “I” retained the old sound, which is the same as the Long-E sound today. Here are some examples: ski / chic / police / machine / tangerine / mobile / souvenir / antique / magazine / unique / many / only / funny / baby / lady / very.

Short-i

Short-i is pronounced in the front upper part of the mouth, and it is very important to relax the tongue to avoid confusion with the Long-E sound (see This or These). There are quite a few frequently used words with the Short-i sound, so it is important to learn to relax the tongue well. Some words are: with / six / which / if / give / thing / think / big / list / inch / spring / quick / sing / myth / gyp / gym / cyst / lynx / system / rhythm / symbol.

(Words covered in Short-i in Frequent words:  is / it / its / his / him / will / did / still.)
(Words covered in This or These: this / bit / chip / itch / fill / hit / lip / living / sit / sick.)

Schwa

In addition to the basic Long and Short-vowel sounds, any vowel letter can also use the schwa sound. This happens in weak (unstressed) syllables, especially in a syllable that is adjacent to the strongest syllable of a word. In the following words, the letter “I” (or “Y”) is in an unstressed syllable: pencil / decimal / practice / office / chemical / flexible / dactyl.

Some tricky cases

The following words can be confusing because they are homographs. 

L-I-V-E: this word could be a verb or an adjective, and they are pronounced differently. When it is a verb, it has a Short-i: “live”. When it is an adjective, it is pronounced with a Long-I: “live”.

W-I-N-D: this word could be a noun or a verb. As a noun, it has a Short-i: “wind”. As a verb, it has a Long-I: “wind”. 

So remember, when you see the letter “I”, it will be pronounced with one of the four choices: Long-I, Long-I-2, Short-i, or Schwa. It is very unusual for an “I” to use some other sound.

Y and W

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Are “Y” and “W” consonants or vowels? The answer is: both are both.

Step One: watch for compounds

When you see a ”Y” or a “W” in the middle of a word, first look to see if the word is a compound. Inside of a compound word, a “Y” or a “W” will keep the same function that it has in the original smaller word. For example, the word “anyone” is a compound made from the words “any” plus “one”, and since the “Y” is the last letter of the word “any”, it still is pronounced as a word-final “Y”.

Here are some other compounds that have a “Y” or “W”.
Y: barnyard / boyfriend / copyright / daybreak / everybody / ladybug / layout / maybe / paycheck / playground / schoolyard.
W: cowboy / crewcut / forward / network / northward / sawhorse / showtime / southwest / viewpoint.
Y and W: anyway / citywide / keyword

Y as a consonant

The letter “Y” functions as a consonant when it comes before a vowel. There are two situations where this could happen:

  • As the first letter of a word, for example: ”you”, “yes”, “yard” or ”year”.
  • Between two vowels, for example: “royal”, “layer”, “voyage” or “beyond”.

Y as a vowel

The letter “Y” functions as a vowel in three situations:

  • As the last letter of a word, for example: “sky”, “rely”, “tiny” or “easy”.
  • As part of a vowel pair, for example: “play”, “they”, “toy”, or “buy”.
  • Between two consonants, for example: “cycle”, “type”, “myth” or “system”.

W as a consonant

The letter “W” is a consonant when it is in front of a vowel. This can happen in three situations:

  • As the first letter of a word, for example: “water”, “we”, or “with.
  • As part of a consonant pair, for example: “sweep”, “twenty”, “when” or “which”.
  • Between two vowels, for example: “vowel”, “coward”, “allowance” or “lower”.

W as a vowel

A “W” acts as a vowel only when it is the second partner of a vowel pair, for example: “brown”, “show”, “hawk” or “few”.

EXCEPTIONS: There are a few cases of silent “W”, as in: “answer”, “two”, “who”, “whole”, “wrap” or “wrong”.

One final thing to be aware of, is that a “Y” can function as a vowel independently, as in “lynx” or “gym”. When “Y” is a vowel, it uses the same sounds and spelling patterns as the Vowel “I”. (see Sounds of I – coming soon). However, a “W” cannot be a vowel independently, but is only a vowel when it is the second member of a vowel pair, as in “grow”. When “W” does have a vowel sound, it uses the Long-U sound, as in “grew”.

Compound words

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A compound word is a word that is made from two other words put together, for example, “lumber” plus “yard” = “lumberyard”. English has thousands of compound nouns, but there are also some compound adjectives, adverbs and verbs. Here are a few examples:

  • Adjective: childlike, postwar, secondhand, lifelike, monthlong, citywide, overanxious
  • Adverb: henceforth, anyway, overall, nonetheless (3 words!)
  • Verb: freelance, proofread, upgrade

Pronouncing compound words

The important thing to know about pronuncing compound words, is that you should follow the pronunciation and spelling patterns of the individual words. You should not try to apply spelling patterns to the whole compound word together. Here are some examples of errors that could happen if you try to say a compound as a single word rather than two words together:

Silent final -e
An [-e] at the ends of words is silent, but a silent [-e] can be found in the middle of a word, if it is part of a compound. For example “hedgehog” is the two words “hedge” plus “hog”. The [-e] at the end of “hedge” is still a silent final [-e]. So you should NOT say “hed-ge-hog”!

Y as a consonant
When the letter “Y” is in front of a vowel, it is a consonant. However, in a compound word such as “layout”, the “Y” is not a consonant, it is just part of the vowel of the first word “lay”. You should NOT say “la-yout”!

False digraphs
Normally, when the letters “T” and “H” are together, they work as a pair (diagraph) to represent the /th/ sound. However, in the middle of a compound such as “foothold”, it might look like there is a “TH”, but it is not. You should say “foot-hold” and NOT say “foo-thold”.

So, you need to keep your eye open for compound words, in order to pronounce them correctly. There are some compounds that are hyphenated (written with a dash mark), such as “mass-produced”, and those are easy to see, but a compound that is written as one word could trick your eyes.

There are only just a few compounds that have a pronunciation which is a little bit different from the original two words, such as “vineyard” and “breakfast”.

Don’t let your eyes be tricked — be on the lookout for compound words, and remember to use the spelling and pronunciation patterns of the individual words.

Compound Nouns Part 3

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Compound Nouns Part 1 explained that compound nouns are stressed on the first word. However, for names and titles, the stress pattern is different. For proper names or official titles, the last word is the stronger word.

For example, if I say the name “Mary Jane”, the 2nd part (Jane) is stronger, but if I add her surname, then the stress moves to the last name “Mary Jane Smith”. This is also true for place names, for example, “New York” is stressed on the second part, but “New York City” is stressed on the the 3rd part.

Here are some more examples:
2 part titles: attorney general / assistant professor / vice president / notary public / mayor-elect
2 part people or business names: John Smith / George Washington / Queen Elizabeth / General Motors / Children’s Hospital / Home Depot
2 part place names: Los Angeles / St. Paul / South Dakota / Long Island / Tenth Avenue / Maple Lane / Eastern Boulevard / Lake Superior / Mississippi River / Paris, France / Houston, Texas
3-part names: Yellowstone National Park / Thief River Falls / Vice President Johnson / First Baptist Church / Mall of America

Exceptions
Names which use the words “street” or “store” actually use regular compound noun stress, which means that the first part is stronger: Sixth Street / Oak Street / Jackson Street / Wall Street / General Store / Target Stores.

Be on the lookout for compound nouns, you are likely to find them any time you hear or read something in English! (These are the ones I used to write this blog post: stress pattern / last name / place names / lookout / blog post.)

Compound Nouns Part 2

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Compound Nouns Part 1 explained that compound nouns should be stressed on the first word. Part 2 explains how incorrect stress can sometimes change the meaning of what you are saying.

Sometimes, if you put the stress on the second word of a compound noun rather than the first word, it changes from a compound noun to an adjective-plus-noun phrase, and it has a different meaning. Here are some examples:

  • shortcake vs. short cake: a “shortcake” is a specific type of cake, but a “short cake” could be any type of cake that is not tall.
  • silverfish vs. silver fish: a “silverfish” is a kind of insect, but a “silver fish” is a fish that is silver colored.
  • blacktop vs. black top: “blacktop” is a certain kind of road surface, but a “black top” could be any lid or cover that is black in color.
  • briefcase vs. brief case: a “briefcase” is used by businessmen to carry their papers, but a “brief case” means a situation or example that is not very long.

Here’s a fun example I recently heard — it makes use of both a compound noun and the corresponding adjective-noun phrase. In a commercial for the movie “Despicable Me” the announcer says: “Just because he’s a bad guy, doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy.” Can you hear which one (bad guy) is the compound?

Most of the time, if you do not say a compound noun with proper stress, it probably won’t cause a terrible misunderstanding, but it can definitely slow down the conversation. For example, if you are talking about a “network” but you pronounce it as “netWORK”, a native speaker of English will probably pause a second to think about what you just said, and then realize that you were trying to say “network”.

So, it is best to learn to say compound nouns with the correct stress pattern. A final note: even though the name of a person or a place is a noun grammatically, names with two or more parts, such as “New York”, do not follow the stress pattern of compound nouns. This is covered in Compound Nouns Part 3.

Compound Nouns Part 1

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A compound word is two words put together to make a new word. In English there are thousands of compound nouns, so it is good to know a few basic things about them.

Compound noun spelling

The first thing to know is that some compound nouns are written with one word (closed compounds), such as “sunset”, and some are written with two separate words (open compounds), such as “sun tan”. There are also a few that are hyphenated, which means they are connected with a dash mark, such as “sun-belt”.

Here are a few more examples:
Closed compound nouns: network, snowfall, notebook, offspring, fishbowl, laptop, nonsense.
Open compound nouns: apple tree, ski pole, music stand, graph paper, chalk board, rush hour, turtle shell.
Hyphenated compound nouns: get-together, check-in, in-laws, close-up.

By the way, these sometimes change over time — some words that are written as an open compound today, might be written as a single word in 10 years from now. Also, some are spelled more than one way, such as half-sister / half sister, or even all three ways, such as lifestyle / life-style / life style.

What that means, is that you can not always recognize a compound noun just by seeing it. However, you can identify a compound noun by listening to the stress.

Compound noun stress

The stress pattern of compound nouns is staightforward — the first word has stronger stress. This is true whether the compound noun is closed or open. In fact, the stress pattern makes open compounds sound like one word, even though they are spelled as two words.

Listen to the stress of these compound nouns — they all have the same stress pattern. In fact, if you listen with your eyes closed, you might not know which ones are open or closed: daylight, coat room, bookworm, yard sale, pathway, oil change, volleyball, flower bed, chestnut, light year.

Exceptions

There are some words that really seem like they should be a compound noun, but they are not, such as: “iced tea”, “apple pie” (all types of pie), and “fast food”. So the best strategy is to use regular compound noun stress when you think that it is a compound, but always be ready to switch the stress if it seems like there is some misunderstanding. So for example, if you go to a restaurant and ask for “LEMON pie” but they don’t know what you are saying, then swtich the stress and say it again “lemon PIE”.

Compound nouns are everywhere – keep your eye open for them, or rather, your ear open for them.

How to stress

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Do you know how to stress? I don’t mean feeling worried and stressed out!
I mean word stress and sentence stress — what exactly does that mean?

Word stress and sentence stress are similar — they use the same sound features, but just on a different level. Word stress involves strong syllables and weak syllables in a word, and sentence stress involves strong words and weak words in a sentence.

There are 3 primary factors that go together for stress. When we compare the sound of un-stressed syllables, to stressed syllables, the stressed syllables are: 1. louder, 2. higher in pitch, and 3. a little slower.

Most students can make the sound of stress correctly, but sometimes I find a student who uses only two of those factors, but not all three, and it sounds a little strange.

I will try to demonstrate the difference it makes, if you do not include all three factors, using this sentence:

My phone is not on the table.

That sentence has 3 stressed (strong) words: phone, not, and table.

Now I will say the same sentence without all 3 factors, as best I can. It’s actually hard for me to say them the wrong way accurately, but hopefully you will be able to hear that they don’t sound like normal English.

This is what it sounds like if I make the strong words louder and higher, but not slower.
This is what it sounds like if I make the strong words louder and slower, but not higher.

Now let me say it correctly once more.

Now you know how to stress!

Sentence Stress Part 2

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Sentence Stress is the combination of strong and weak words in a sentence which create a sort of rhythm. This rhythm is explained in Sentence Stress Part 1. But, which words are strong and which words are weak? Here are the categories with some examples.

Strong words

Nouns: book / capacity / Tom / melody / justice / group / chair / storm / potato
Main verbs: walk / think / sing / expect / prepare / wait / jump / remember / indicate
Adjectives: beautiful / green / small / angry / round / active / old / fresh / good / several
Some adverbs: quickly / never / always / often / usually / nervously / softly / carefully
Negatives: no / never / not / can’t / shouldn’t / doesn’t / won’t / isn’t / aren’t
Question words: who / what / when / where / why / how

Weak words

Auxiliary (helping) verbs: can / could / may / might / would / will / be / do / have
TO BE: am / is / are / was / were / be / been
Linking verbs: got / seem / feel / become / turn
Pronouns: I / me / my / you / he / him / his / she / it / they / them
Prepositions: in / on / under / over / by / for / with / from / at / through
Some adverbs (at ends of phrases): soon / now / yet / well / here / there / still
Conjunctions: and / but / if / either / because / nor / yet / for
Articles: the / a / an

These categories make the basic pattern and the foundation of sentence stress. However, sometimes a weak word gets used as a strong word, but a weak word should only be stressed when there is an appropriate reason to do so. Otherwise, it can cause some confusion in the conversation.

Examples of how weak words can become strong words are in Sentence Stress Part 3.

A final note: DO and HAVE

Are the verbs “do” and “have” main verbs, or helping verbs? The answer is: both.
Here are some examples to illustrate.

DO as a main verb: She will do it tomorrow.
DO as a helping verb: I do not like chocolate.
HAVE as a main verb: They have a new baby.
HAVE as a helping verb: We have finished early.

So, when “do” and “have” are main verbs, they are strongly stressed words, but when they are helping verbs, they should be weak words for normal sentence stress.