WORD STRESS

A. DANGERS OF STRESSING THE WRONG SYLLABLE

1.

noble

Nobel

He won the Nobel prize for his noble effort.

2.

invalid (n)

invalid (adj)

The invalid has an invalid permit.

3.

personal

personnel

Some of the personnel have some personal problems.

4.

eligible

illegible

You wont be eligible for that position if your handwriting is illegible.

5.

pronouns

pronounce

Can you pronounce those pronouns correctly?

6.

advantages

advantageous

It would be advantageous to learn about the advantages of that method.

7.

decade

decayed
Their relationship has decayed in the past decade.

8.

access

excess

Do you have access to the excess data?

9.

content (n)

content (adj)

Are you content with the content of that letter?

10.

career

carrier

He had a career working for an aircraft carrier.

B. GENERAL RULES FOR STRESS PLACEMENT

1. Two-syllable words

Two-syllable words
NOUNS /
VERBS NOUNS VERBS
ADJECTIVES
Stress the second Stress the second
Stress the first syllable Stress the first syllable
syllable syllable
action (n) produce addict addict
paper (n) achieve conduct conduct
building (n) apply contest contest
concert (n) succeed convict convict
famous (adj) employ desert* desert*
clumsy (adj) include increase increase
clever (adj) destroy insult insult
object* object*
present* present*
produce* produce*
record record
suspect suspect
Note: Some of the above words (*) have completely different meanings in the verb and noun forms

Practice:

A: Have you heard? The police caught the suspect!

B: Do you mean the one who is suspected of robbing the bank?

A: Yes, I heard that he had a criminal record.

B: Oh really? What crime was he convicted of?

A: Hes a drug addict who has been robbing banks to support his addiction.

B: How many years do you think he will spend in prison?

A: A maximum of ten years. But he might be released early on good conduct.

B: If he conducts himself badly and insults the prison guards, I wonder if his sentence will be
increased.

A. I dont know. I havent heard of a prison term increase for insults and bad conduct.

2. Suffixes

2.1 The suffix does not change the stressed syllable.

Suffixes which don't usually change the stress pattern in the root word include -able, -age, -al (# -ial),
-er, -ful, -less, -ness, -ous and -fy.

Exceptions with -able and -al include:

2.2 The suffix does change the stressed syllable.

Stress is on the syllable immediately before these suffixes -ial, -ic, -ion, -ious, -ity, -ive, -ulous, -
orous and -eous:
Note:

When a word ends with one of the consonants t or s and the suffix -ion, this is how they are
pronounced:

-tion is pronounced ____________ after __________________: suggestion, digestion

____________ after __________________: education, adoption

-sion is pronounced ____________ after __________________: extension, comprehension

____________ after __________________: decision, persuasion

-ssion is pronounced ____________: admission, expression

2.3 Other rules

2.3.1 Stress is on the third syllable from end if the word ends in one of the following suffixes: -cy, -
phy, -gy, -ise / -ize, -ate

democracy, photography, geology,

organize, supervise, recognize,

communicate, calculate, concentrate

Note:

ate endings of verbs and nouns

-ate (in verbs) -ate (in nouns)

separate They have decided to separate. They will live in separate houses.
graduate He will graduate next spring. He will be a college graduate.
estimate Can you estimate the cost of the repairs? I would like to have an estimate of the
costs.

See these endings in a pattern:

 Some suffixes themselves usually have the main stress. These include -ee, -eer, -ese, -ette,
ique, -self (-selves).

your'self them'selves

u'nique bou'tique

Note: Some people say 'cigarette.

Words with these suffixes can often have stress shift:

She's JapanESE. but: She's a JAPanese JOURnalist.
He's a refuGEE. but: We saw photos of REFugee CHILdren.

2.4 Notes in pronunciation

2.4.1 Some words don't change their stress pattern when a suffix is added to the root word, but do
change the pronunciation of the vowel in the main stressed syllable. Compare:

2.4.2 Words that do change their stress pattern when a suffix is added to the root also commonly
change their pronunciation in one or more syllable:
3. PREFIXES

Prefixes, e.g. de-, dis-, il-, re-, un-

3.1 Prefix + root word = VERB Prefix is unstressed.

3.2 Prefix + root word = NOUN Prefix is stressed.