Word stress is the stress you put on a specific syllable within a word. It’s not the same as sentence stress (which is the stress you put on a specific word within a sentence).
Word stress is very important in languages where it occurs. For example, in the Spanish word ‘mañana’, it’s the second syllable which should be emphasised and stressing another syllable would make the word lose its meaning.
You can use Google Translate or any other dictionary and do a little word stress exercise.
Take a newspaper article and pronounce each word individually followed by listening to its correct stress in Google Translate. Focus on the stress – can you hear the difference between the way you stress it and the way Google Translate does it? Continue until you get it right.
Sentence stress: stress the right words
As was said above, sentence stress is about emphasising a particular word or (words) within a sentence. This can be done, for example, for emphasis or to clarify what you mean.
For example:
“I didn’t say he stole the money.”
In this sentence, by shifting the stress to different words, we can create seven different meanings, with the stress on:
“say” – The speaker is denying that they made a statement
“he” – The speaker is denying that they said anything about a particular person
“stole” – The speaker is denying that they said the person stole the money
“the” – The speaker is denying that they said the person stole any money
“I didn’t say he stole the money” – The speaker is denying that they said the person stole money
“I didn’t say he stole the money.” – Same as above, but the period indicates a complete thought
“I didn’t say he stole the money!” – Same as above, but the exclamation mark indicates surprise or excitement
When doing your next listening activity, pay attention to which words are stressed in each sentence and repeat this pattern yourself.
As you do it more and more, you will begin to notice patterns of stress that native speakers use all the time.
As another example, when an English native speaker says ‘Did you have a nice weekend?’, the first five words tend to be quite flat and blend into one, with the final word emphasized.
Don’t forget to record yourself and listen to the recordings! Then, share your progress with us here.
