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at METEN
By David Turnbull
Contents
1……. Introduction
2……. Understanding Syllables.
3 - 4……. Rules of word stress.
There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class
change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-
syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an
adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it
becomes a verb (to offer).
More examples: the words export, import, contract and object can all
be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or
second syllable.
3. Rules of Word Stress.
There are two very simple rules about word stress:
One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If
you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one
word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But
a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is
only used in long words.)
Rule example
Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna,TAble
Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy
Rule example
Most 2-syllable verbs……to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN
Rule example
Words ending in -cy-ty-phy and–gy…….deMOcracy, dependaBIlity,
phoTOgraphy, geOLogy.
Unexceptional un-ex-cep-tion-al 5
5. Word Stress
Word pattern
tea.cher • .
beau.ti.ful • . . un.der.stand
. . • con.ti.nue . •
. con.ti.nu.a.tion . • . • .
black.board • •
However, there are several rules for word stress which can make it
easier to deal with.
8. Basic Syllable Rules.
1. To find the number of syllables:
---count the vowels in the word,
---subtract any silent vowels, (like the silent "e" at the end of a
word or the second vowel when two vowels a together in a syllable)
---subtract one vowel from every diphthong, (diphthongs only
count as one vowel sound.)
The word "outside" has 4 vowels, but the "e" is silent and the "ou" is
a diphthong which counts as only one sound, so this word has only
two vowels sounds and therefore, two syllables.
9.
The only exceptions are those times when the first syllable has an
obvious short sound, as in "cab/in".
10.
4. Divide before the consonant before an "-le" syllable.
When you have a word that has the old-style spelling in which the "-le"
sounds like "-el", divide before the consonant before the "-le".
For example: "a/ble", "fum/ble", "rub/ble" "mum/ble" and "this/tle".
Split off the parts of compound words like "sports/car" and "house/boat".
Divide off prefixes such at "un/happy", "pre/paid", or "re/write".
Also divide off suffixes as in the words "farm/er", "teach/er",
"hope/less" and "care/ful".
In the word "stop/ping", the suffix is actually "-ping" because this word
follows the rule that when you add "-ing" to a word with one syllable, you
double the last consonant and add the "-ing".
11. Stress Patterns
Example:
1. Sing a song.
Consonants: p………
………………………………pen, copy, happen b……
…………………………………back, baby, job t…
…………………………………….tea, tight, button
d………………………………………day, ladder, odd
k………………………………………key, clock, school
g………………………………………get, giggle, ghost
tʃ………………………………………church, match, nature
dʒ……………………………………..judge, age, soldier
f……………………………………….fat, coffee, rough, photo
V…………………............................view, heavy, move
θ ……………………………………..thing, author, path
ð ……………………………………..this,
other, smooth s ……………
…...............................soon, cease, sister
z ……………………………………..zero, music, roses, buzz
ʃ ……………………………………..ship, sure, national
ʒ ……………………………………..
pleasure, vision h …………………
………………….hot, whole, ahead m
……………………………………more, hammer, sum
13.
Ŋ ……….. ring, anger, thanks, sung
l ………….light, valley, feel
r …………right, wrong, sorry, arrange
j ………… use, beauty, few
w ……….wet, one, when, queen
ʔ ………..(glottal stop) department, football
Vowels:
ɪ ………………..kit, bid, hymn, minute
e ……………….dress, bed, head, many
æ ………………trap, bad
ɒ ……………….lot, odd, wash
ʌ ……………….strut, mud, love, blood
ʊ ………………foot, good, put
I ː……………..fleece, sea, machine eɪ
……………..face, day, break aɪ
……………..price, high, try
14.
ɔɪ …………….........................................choice, boy
u ː………………………………………..goose, two,
blue, group əʊ ………………………………
………..goat, show, no aʊ ………
………………………………..mouth, now
ɪə …………………………………………near, here, weary
eə ………………………………………..
square. fair, various ɑː …………
….....................................start, father
ɔː ……………………………………….thought, law, north, war
ʊə ……………………………………….poor, jury,
cure ɜː ………………………………
……….nurse, stir, learn, refer
ə …………………………………………about, common, standard
I ………………………………………….happy,
radiate. Glorious u …………………
………………………thank you, influence, situation
n̩ …………………………………………suddenly, cotton
l̩ ……………………………………
…….middle, metal
15. How to make some of the most important sounds.
First, here is a picture of the inside of your mouth and the important
articulators, the parts of your mouth that help you to make the sounds.
Your lips, teeth, tongue, nose, and roof of your mouth are all important
for pronunciation. The epiglottis is also important. That is the thing that
you use to hold your breath and to swallow. It closes your windpipe so the
air cannot come out.
We make the sound in "heed" (/i/) with our tongue very close to the top
of our mouth. We also spread our lips so it looks like we are smiling.
16.
When we make the sound in "hid" (/I/), we don't look as much like we are
smiling, and our tongues are lower in our mouths. Here is a picture of our
mouths so that you can compare where the tongue is for these two
sounds.
Meat mitt
sheep ship
leak lick
17.
We make the sound in "head" with our mouth open wider than for /i/ or /I/
and our tongues not as close to the top of our mouths.
We make the sound in "hot" (/a/) with our mouth open the widest.
Pretend you are going to the doctor and saying "ahhhhhhhh".
See how open your mouth is and how far back your tongue is.
The sound in "hat" is made with your mouth open not as wide and the
sound is not as far back in your throat. Pretend someone is choking you.
The sound you will make is this "hat" vowel.
We make the sound in "hoot" (/u/) with our really rounded. Sing "ooh,
baby, baby" or pretend you are going to kiss someone.
Local Luke
soap soup
21. Compound words.
I. Compound Nouns:
Listen to the following compound nouns. Can you hear the word stress?
In each of these examples, the first part of the compound gets the stress.
Similar to the rule for compound nouns, the first part of the compound--
here, the first word--gets the stress. (Note: If the "unstressed" part of the
noun+noun compound is more than one syllable, it will have some word
stress. However, the first part of the compound will get even more
stress.)
22.
3. Phrasal Verbs versus Compound Nouns derived from phrasals
You will see many other English words using one or other of these
combining forms.
The vowels are "a,e,i,o, and u"; also sometimes "y" & "w". This also
includes the diphthongs "oi,oy,ou,ow,au,aw, oo" and many others.
The consonants are all the other letters which stop or limit the flow
of air from the throat in speech. They are:
"b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,qu,r,s,t,v,w,x,y,z,ch,sh,th,ph,wh, ng, and gh".
1. Sometimes the rules don't work.
There are many exceptions in English because of the vastness of
the language and the many languages from which it has borrowed.
The rules do work however, in the majority of the words.
2. Every syllable in every word must have a vowel.
English is a "vocal" language; Every word must have a vowel.
3. "C" followed by "e, i or y" usually has the soft sound of "s".
Examples: "cyst", "central", and "city".
4. "G" followed by "e, i or y" usually has the soft sound of "j".
Example: "gem", "gym", and "gist".
29.
5. When 2 consonants are joined together and form one new sound,
they are a consonant digraph. They count as one sound and one letter
and are never separated. Examples: "ch,sh,th,ph and wh".
Mad
.Flat Hat Mat Rat Bag
To understand linking, it is
important to know the
difference between vowel
sounds and consonant
sounds. Here is a table of
English vowels and
consonants:
Vowels a e i o u
consonants b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z
Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important
words that carry the meaning or sense.
Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simple
words that make the sentence correct grammatically. They give the
sentence its correct form or "structure".
If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still
understand the sentence.
35. example:
If you remove the content words from a sentence, you will not
understand the sentence. The sentence has no sense or meaning.
Imagine that you receive this telegram message:
Content words
Will you sell my car because I’ve gone to England
Structure words
In our sentence, the 4 key words (sell, car, gone, England) are
accentuated or stressed. Why is this important for pronunciation? It is
important because it adds "music" to the language.
syllables
2 1 3 1
Will you sell my car because I’ve gone to England
beat beat t1 beat beat
t1 t1 t1
38. examples.
A good attitude and a well disciplined self motivation will help you in
this competitive world of developing China to achieve your goal as a
good English speaker.
“Good Luck!”
Copy rights by D.Turnbull.