The Art of Speaking

1. How to overcome my fear of public speaking

Fear of public speaking is a common form of anxiety. It can range from slight

nervousness to paralyzing fear and panic. Many people with this fear avoid

public speaking situations altogether, or they suffer through them with shaking

hands and a quavering voice. But with preparation and persistence, you can

overcome your fear.

These steps may help:

 Know your topic. The better you understand what you're talking about

— and the more you care about the topic — the less likely you'll make a

mistake or get off track. And if you do get lost, you'll be able to recover

quickly. Take some time to consider what questions the audience may ask

and have your responses ready.

 Get organized. Ahead of time, carefully plan out the information you

want to present, including any props, audio or visual aids. The more

organized you are, the less nervous you'll be. Use an outline on a small

card to stay on track. If possible, visit the place where you'll be speaking

and review available equipment before your presentation.

 Practice, and then practice some more. Practice your complete

presentation several times. Do it for some people you're comfortable with

and ask for feedback. It may also be helpful to practice with a few people

with whom you're less familiar. Consider making a video of your

presentation so you can watch it and see opportunities for improvement.

 Challenge specific worries. When you're afraid of something, you may

overestimate the likelihood of bad things happening. List your specific

worries. Then directly challenge them by identifying probable and

alternative outcomes and any objective evidence that supports each worry

or the likelihood that your feared outcomes will happen.

 Visualize your success. Imagine that your presentation will go well.

Positive thoughts can help decrease some of your negativity about your

social performance and relieve some anxiety.

 Do some deep breathing. This can be very calming. Take two or more

deep, slow breaths before you get up to the podium and during your

speech.

 Focus on your material, not on your audience. People mainly pay

attention to new information — not how it's presented. They may not

notice your nervousness. If audience members do notice that you're

nervous, they may root for you and want your presentation to be a

success.
  Don't fear a moment of silence. If you lose track of what you're saying

or start to feel nervous and your mind goes blank, it may seem like you've

been silent for an eternity. In reality, it's probably only a few seconds.

Even if it's longer, it's likely your audience won't mind a pause to

consider what you've been saying. Just take a few slow, deep breaths.

 Recognize your success. After your speech or presentation, give yourself

a pat on the back. It may not have been perfect, but chances are you're far

more critical of yourself than your audience is. See if any of your specific

worries actually occurred. Everyone makes mistakes. Look at any

mistakes you made as an opportunity to improve your skills.

 Get support. Join a group that offers support for people who have

difficulty with public speaking. One effective resource is Toastmasters, a

nonprofit organization with local chapters that focuses on training people

in speaking and leadership skills.

2. How to prepare the content for your presentation

1. Choose a topic based on your assignment and decide what you want to talk

about. Based on the topic and the idea that comes to your mind, write a topic

sentence. The topic sentence is the main idea of your presentation. Be clear with

the purpose of the presentation. Search for the material and write a coherent

presentation and have a strong comprehensive conclusion. And in the end

include the sources of your materials.

3. Paraphrase the content of your presentation. Read it several times and

write it in your own words. Try to use easy understandable words so the

students can easily understand and follow what you say. Try to make the

presentation as natural as possible as if you are explaining something to a

friend.

2. Prepare an outline for the students so they can follow what you present

easily. The outline is a helpful guide in organizing your paper. Outlines give a

visual structure to your work and are used to show relationships and hierarchies

within your content. To outline, you must create an organized plan for your

paper that shows the main ideas that you will discuss as well as their

relationships within the paper.

3. How to prepare in advance

 Visit your classroom in advance. Familiarize yourself with the layout of

the desks and the front of the classroom. Decide where you will stand and

how you will move from one place to another. Find out whether the

classroom has audio-visual equipment or whether you will have to

request it from audio visual services. Make sure that you know how to

use the audio-visual equipment.

 Have a back-up plan. If you are using technology, have a back-up plan

ready in case you run into technical difficulties. Technology problems

 can negatively affect your credibility, even if they are beyond your

control.

 Plan your lecture and visual aids beforehand. Outline how you will

introduce, explain, and summarize the main ideas. Select examples and

prepare how you will show students the relationships between the main

ideas.

 Prepare speaking notes. Prepare notes that work for you (e.g., a detailed

outline, a list of major points, key definitions, proofs, solved problems,

examples, etc.). To better engage students, avoid reading from a script,

a computer screen, or overhead projector.

 Include delivery reminders in your notes. Include cues to remind

yourself to smile, look at the whole class, pause after posing a question,

etc.

 Practice your lecture. Practice to ensure that you have an appropriate

amount of material and activities for the time available. Resist the

common error of including too much material in a lecture. Students’

questions and learning activities can take up to 50% more time than you

may first think.

 Bring a bottle of water. The water will soothe a sore or dry throat.

Taking a sip is also a good way to buy thinking time before responding to

a student question.
4. How to engage the audience

Have an opening question it makes the audience willing to listen to your

presentation till the end. It is a technique to make them interested to follow what

you say.

Ask first, then tell. Prompt students to engage by asking questions rather than

simply telling them information. For example, rather than telling students the

findings from a study, ask them to predict what the study found based on what

they know so far. Learn more in our Question Strategies teaching tip.

Use questions to prompt students to think about how the material relates to

their life experience. Relate the content to students’ interests, knowledge,

experiences, and their future occupation in the discipline. Making the material

relevant helps students retain the information.

Be flexible when following your notes. Watch students’ level of interest and

confusion and be ready to adapt your lecture accordingly. Your notes are there

if needed, but the lecture should arise out of your interaction with the students,

not the notes themselves.

Avoid reading the material for the students. It reduces their interest and

concentration and attention. They prefer to listen to you while you speak to

them and explain everything.

5. How to deliver the presentation

*Use effective presentation strategies

 Maintain regular eye contact with the entire class. By doing so, you

create connections with them, are able to gauge their note-taking, and

discourage distracting class noise.

 Avoid turning away from students when you speak. It helps many

students to be able to see your face and mouth while you speak

 Use a microphone in large classes. Amplifying your voice will help all

students — not just students with hearing impairments — and will also

put less stress on your vocal cords.

 Speak clearly, but use a conversational tone. Think of the lecture as an

opportunity to speak with the students, not at them.

 Convey your enthusiasm for the material and the students. Vary your

vocal speed and pitch, as well as your facial expressions. Smile often.

Consider using humor when appropriate.

 Use humor. Don't be strict when you are delivering the lecture. Try to

have a sense of humor so the audience won't get bored as you continue

the lecture. Try to have funny examples or the humorous incidents.

 Ask the students periodically if they can hear and see everything.

Make changes to your volume and visual aids as necessary.

 If possible, move around the room, and use natural gestures. This

movement is especially important for engaging large classes. Changes

help to refocus students’ attention, but remember to move with purpose

so you avoid distracting your students.

 Interact with your students to create positive rapport with

them. Arrive at class early so that you can welcome students. Address

them by name as much as possible, and plan to stay after class to chat

with students and answer their questions.

 Use the board. Try to write a brief outline on the board and write the

important names and dates if you don’t have any slides.

Use effective visual aids

 Use visual aids to stimulate and focus students’ attention. Multimedia

aids using sound, color, animations can help to attract and maintain

students’ attention, particularly in large classes where the impersonal

situation makes students feel less involved. Visual aids should be a

support for, not the focus of, your lecture. They also should not replace

your personal interaction with the students.

 Avoid writing everything that you say on your slides. Consider

providing partial or skeleton slides that leave space for students to write

down examples and other notes.

6. How to have a good body movement and gesture

Movement in Your Speech

At some point in your business career you will be called upon to give a speech.

It may be to an audience of one on a sales floor, or to a large audience at a

national meeting. You already know you need to make a positive first

impression, but do you know how to use movement in your presentation? In this

section we’ll examine several strategies for movement and their relative

advantages and disadvantages.

Customers and audiences respond well to speakers who are comfortable with

themselves. Comfortable doesn’t mean overconfident or cocky, and it doesn’t

mean shy or timid. It means that an audience is far more likely to forgive the

occasional “umm” or “ahh,” or the nonverbal equivalent of a misstep, if the

speaker is comfortable with themselves and their message.

Let’s start with behaviors to avoid. Who would you rather listen to: a speaker

who moves confidently across the stage or one who hides behind the podium;

one who expresses herself nonverbally with purpose and meaning or one who

crosses his arms or clings to the lectern?

Audiences are most likely to respond positively to open, dynamic speakers who

convey the feeling of being at ease with their bodies. The setting, combined
with audience expectations, will give a range of movement. If you are speaking

at a formal event, or if you are being covered by a stationary camera, you may

be expected to stay in one spot. If the stage allows you to explore, closing the

distance between yourself and your audience may prove effective. Rather than

focus on a list of behaviors and their relationship to environment and context,

give emphasis to what your audience expects and what you yourself would find

more engaging instead.

The questions are, again, what does your audience consider appropriate and

what do you feel comfortable doing during your presentation? Since the

emphasis is always on meeting the needs of the customer, whether it is an

audience of one on a sales floor or a large national gathering, you may need to

stretch outside your comfort zone. On that same note, don’t stretch too far and

move yourself into the uncomfortable range. Finding balance is a challenge, but

no one ever said giving a speech was easy.

Movement is an important aspect of your speech and requires planning, the

same as the words you choose and the visual aids you design. Be natural, but do

not naturally shuffle your feet, pace back and forth, or rock on your heels

through your entire speech. These behaviors distract your audience from your

message and can communicate nervousness, undermining your credibility.

Gestures

Gestures involve using your arms and hands while communicating. Gestures

provide a way to channel your nervous energy into a positive activity that

benefits your speech and gives you something to do with your hands. For

example, watch people in normal, everyday conversations. They frequently use

their hands to express themselves. Do you think they think about how they use

their hands? Most people do not. Their arm and hand gestures come naturally as

part of their expression, often reflecting what they have learned within their

community.

For professional speakers this is also true, but deliberate movement can

reinforce, repeat, and even regulate an audience’s response to their verbal and

nonverbal messages. You want to come across as comfortable and natural, and

your use of your arms and hands contributes to your presentation. We can easily

recognize that a well-chosen gesture can help make a point memorable or lead

the audience to the next point.

As professional speakers lead up to a main point, they raise their hand slightly,

perhaps waist high, often called an anticipation step. The gesture clearly shows

the audience your anticipation of an upcoming point, serving as a nonverbal

form of foreshadowing.
The implementation step, which comes next, involves using your arms and

hands above your waist. By holding one hand at waist level pointing outward,

and raising it up with your palm forward, as in the “stop” gesture, you signal the

point. The nonverbal gesture complements the spoken word, and as students of

speech have noted across time, audiences respond to this nonverbal

reinforcement. You then slowly lower your hand down past your waistline and

away from your body, letting go of the gesture, and signaling your transition.

The relaxation step, where the letting go motion complements your residual

message, concludes the motion.

7. Delivering the presentation, stress and intonation pattern

Stress and Intonation

Unit 1: The English writing system

Written English is more difficult to understand than the spoken English because

we cannot hear the person who says the sentences. Sometimes the punctuations

help. They give clue to stress and intonation. There are some punctuation marks

which give clues to stress and intonation such as the period (.) (You stop

talking) the comma (,) (usually a slight hesitation) the question mark (?) and the

exclamation point (!) (The word in a sentence is emphasized). But not all the

time they can help us. So it is important to know the rules for stress and

intonation.
*Intonation: is the rise and fall of the voice. It can make a difference in

meaning. For example:

_He is coming.

_He is coming?

*The two sentences can have different meanings when we read them as a

question or an affirmative sentence.

*There are four pitch levels which we use when speaking. We represent each

level with a line, the lowest level one.

*We have 9 patterns in sentences or phrases:

1. Affirmative or negative sentences ending in two syllabic words. they

beginning on level two, rise to level three, continue for a while, and then go

down to level one.

_He is my father.

_I need a haircut.

_They are my parents.

2. Affirmative or negative sentences ending in one syllabic words. They begin

on level two, rise to level three and then we go back to level one suddenly.

_He is my friend.

_That's a pen.

_ I have a car.

3. Wh questions ending in two syllable words. they beginning on level two, rise

to level three, continue for a while, and then go down to level one.
_What did you study?

_Where are you going?

_What are you doing?

4. Wh questions ending in one syllable words. They begin on level two, rise to

level three and then we go back to level one suddenly.

_ What do you want?

_ Where do you go?

_ Why do you ask?

5. Yes/ no questions ending in two syllabic words. They begin on level two, rise

to level three and then go higher to level four.

_Is he your brother?

_Do you need a paper?

6. Yes/ no questions ending in one syllable words. . They begin on level two,

rise to level three and then go higher to level four.

_ Is that your book?

_Have you seen Jim?

7. Yes/ no answers ending in one syllabic words. They begin on level two, rise

to level three and then we go back to level one suddenly.

_Yes, I can.

_No, he doesn't.

_Yes, we do.
8. Answers in a phrase ending in two syllabic words. They beginning on level

two, rise to level three, continue for a while, and then go down to level one.

_In a minute

_Under table

_In the kitchen

9. Answers in a phrase ending in one syllabic words. They begin on level two,

rise to level three and then we go back to level one suddenly.

_On the box

_Behind the door

*Stress: is the degree of loudness or force with which syllables are spoken in

English. Every word in English is made up of one or more syllables. When a

word has two or more syllables one syllable is always said louder than the

others. It is very important to know the place of the stress in each word.

_One syllable: pen, house, come, go (picture 1)

_Two syllables: dinner, breakfast, English, lesson (picture 3)

_Three syllables: Hospital, elephant, Carpenter, fluently (picture 3, the ending is

longer)

_Four syllables: naturally, usually, actually, personally (picture 3, the ending is

even longer)

_Three syllables (stress on the second syllable): professor, Italian, Direction,

tomorrow (picture 2)
*If the stress of the word is on the last syllable it would be like the sentence

with one syllable word in the end. (picture 2)

_Machine, alarm, report

*If the word has only one syllable it would be like the sentence with one

syllabic word. (picture 1)

*If the sentence has more than one syllable, if the stress of the word is on the

first syllable, it would be like the sentence with two syllabic words in the end

(picture 3).

_balcony, sentence, judgment

Page: 6:

* We have two types of stress: major stress and minor stress

* We have two types of major stress: primary stress and secondary stress

* We have two types of minor stress: tertiary stress and weak stress

*The stress in primary stress is Louder and stronger than the others. Secondary

stress is weaker than primary stress. Tertiary stress is weaker than primary

stress and secondary stress and weak stress is weaker than all.

Unit 2: Word Stress

* Be careful about some words that have different stress pattern when they have

different parts of speech.

*These words have the stress on the first syllable when they are nouns:

_Record, present, rebel, desert

*These words have the stress on the second syllable when they are verbs:

_Record present, rebel, desert

*These words have the stress on the first syllable when they are nouns or

adjectives:

_Separate, duplicate, intimate, emphasis

*These words have the stress on the first syllable and also they have a tertiary

stress as well when they are verbs:

_Separate, duplicate, intimate, emphasize

Unit 3: Noun Compounds or compound nouns

*Compound Nouns are two separate words function as a single word.

Sometimes we write them together, sometimes we hyphenate them, and

sometimes we write them as two separate nouns, but they are considered as a

single word. Always the first word has the primary stress the second word has

tertiary stress. Compound nouns can be the mixture of nouns, adjectives

prepositions or verbs.

_ classroom, bathtub, bath towel, fountain pen, earache, fruit juice, electric

shop, amusement park, fire department

Unit 4: word combination stress (1) minor stress:

So far we have a studied word stress. From now on we want to talk about word

combination stress. In each phrase we have one word that has the primary

stress. Generally, we can say that content words have major stress and function

words have minor stress in sentences.

Content words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

Function words: prepositions, auxiliaries, articles, pronouns

In sentences we can look at the end of the sentence. The content word at the

end of the sentence will have the primary stress.

_ I came.

_They remember

_My notebook.

_ She's my friend.

_It's our High School.

_Are they coming?

_Have you forgotten?

Unit 5: Word combination stress (2) major stress:

The content words at the end of the sentences will have the primary stress and

the other content words in the sentence will have the secondary stress.

_It was a long book.

_ It's a black car.

Adjectives: adjectives before the nouns at the end of the sentences will have the

secondary stress.

_It's an exciting movie.

_It was an easy Grammar book.

* pay attention to these interesting cases in English:

adjectives and nouns/ noun compounds:

Dark room: a room that is dark (adjective and noun)

darkroom: special room used in photography (noun compound)

green house: a house that is green (adjective and noun)

greenhouse: a glass structure used for growing plants (noun compound)

black bird: any bird that is black (adjective and noun)

black bird: a particular kind of bird (noun compound)

Blue bird: any bird that is blue (adjective and noun)

bluebird: a particular kind of bird (noun compound)

black board: a long piece of wood that is black in color (adjective and noun)

blackboard: a long slate used for writing with chalk (noun compound)

Light house: house that lets in a lot of light or that is painted with a light color

(adjective and noun)

Lighthouse: a tall tower with a light for warning ships (noun compound)
Verb-adverb: when we have adverb combination at the end of the sentences

the adverb gets the primary stress; the verb gets the secondary stress.

_Come here.

_Work carefully.

"Not": the word "not" at the end of sentence:

The verb gets the primary stress," not" gets the secondary stress.

_He is not coming.

_I'm not going.

"Please": if we have the word "please" in the sentence, it gets the secondary

stress.

_Please do it.

_Please try harder.

wh question words: wh question words get the secondary stress in the

sentence.

_When is he coming?

_When did he arrive?

Unit 6: Intonation ( 1) Declarative intonation

There are two most common intonation patterns in English: the declarative and
the question intonation.

It is also possible to say many sentences in two phrases. These sentences can be

said in 2 ways. The first way: the pattern is 231: they beginning on level two,

rise to level three, continue for a while, and then go down to level one.

Or They begin on level two, rise to level three and then we go back to level one

suddenly. The second way is 231 for each phrase (231:231).

_The weather is nice.

_The weather is nice.

_The movie was good.

_The movie was good.

_The pencil is sharp.

_The pencil is sharp.

_The lesson was hard.

_The lesson was hard.

_We thought it was pretty.

_We thought it was pretty.

*There are two important things to know about sentences that are spoken with

two or more phrases:

1. Each phrase has one and only one primary stress.

2. The sound of the voice does not actually stop between phrases. There is just
the slightest kind of hesitation. ‫‏‬This kind of intonation pattern is extremely

common and it is used with sentences that have two phrases joined by a

connecting word such as and, but, or.

*Affirmative and negative statements directed to someone by name also have

the same basic information pattern.

Question Intonation:

This is the second of the two most common intonation patterns. The pattern is

like the yes-no questions. (Yes/ no questions ending in two syllabic words. They

begin on level two, rise to level three and then go higher to level four. Or Yes/

no questions ending in one syllable words. . They begin on level two, rise to

level three and then go higher to level four.)

direct address:

When a term of address is used, the question is spoken in two phrases. The first

phrase begins on pitch two, rises to pitch three, there is a slight hesitation and

the second phrase begins on pitch three and ends with the slight rise.

_Are you coming, bill?

_Are you leaving, Jim?

_Did you study, June?

_Have you finished, George?

_Did you see it, Ed?

7. Word combination stress (3) major stress:

Adverbs

Intensifiers (like adverbs) have secondary stress when they come before

adjectives.

_very hard

_too long

Adverbs of frequency

Adverbs of frequency come before verbs and have secondary stress.

_They seldom drive.

_Bill often studies.

Adverbs of frequency come after the verb of "be" and before the adjective or

adverb.

_He is seldom wrong.

_She is usually right.

verbs followed by ing form of another verb

Verbs that are followed by ing form of another verb have secondary stress. The
verb with ing has the primary stress.

_He began writing.

_They stopped examining it.

Adjectives

Two adjectives in a series

If we have two adjectives before a noun they both have the secondary stress.

_She wrote a long and interesting letter.

_He was a funny old man.

Two adjectives before a noun compound

The adjectives will have the secondary stress. The first part of the compound

noun will have the primary stress.

_Pretty new sewing machine.

_Big black suitcase.

Noun compounds, longer forms

The first part of the noun compound will have the primary stress; the second

part will have the tertiary stress. The third part will have the secondary stress.

_It was an exciting basketball game.

_I'm going to ask the drugstore clerk.

Noun compounds as subjects

When a noun compound is the subject of the sentence the primary stress of the

first word of the compound noun will have the secondary stress.

_Her sewing machine is new.

_That basketball game was very exciting.

8. Word combination stress (4) minor stress:

Two-word verbs

The stress pattern of separable two- word verbs is tertiary- Primary. The verb

has tertiary stress the adverb has primary stress.

_put on

_take off

If there is a pronoun object, it always comes between the verb and adverb and

will have the weak stress.

_put it on

_take them off

Two-word verbs with a noun object following

When a noun object follows the two-word verb, the noun receives the primary

stress; the verb has tertiary stress and the adverb secondary stress.

_He put on his shoes.

_He takes off his coat.

Two- word verbs with a noun object between

When a two-Word verb is separated by a noun object the noun usually receives

the primary stress.

_He put his clothes away.

_He called his friend up.

*When you want to find the primary stress of a sentence, try to look at the end
of the sentence and find the content word. The primary stress is on the first

content word at the end of the sentence.

_I can't recommend him.

_I don't remember them.

_What did you do with it?

_Can you go with us?

_I want you to give it to me.

_Will you do it for them?

_Please open the window for me.

_My car has a heater in it.

_It is good for you.

verbs

verbs followed by "to" and the base form of another verb

The verb that comes after "to" will have the primary stress.

_Do you want to go?

_They hope to win.

Question Words
When we have these question words the word after the question word will have

the secondary stress.

_how long, how far, what book, which magazine

* In the sentences, these words will have weak stress:

one and ones, than, as... as

_Do you want the yellow one?

_The plane is as fast as sound.

_Planes are faster than cars.

Unit 9: intonation (2)

Tag questions

Two different intonations can be used with tag questions with slight differences

in meaning. Type 1 is the most common one.

Type 1

_ You can do it, can't you?

In this type the first part of the sentence has the normal stress at the end of the

sentence on the content word, then we have a rising intonation for the tag

question. In this type the question is asked for information and the speaker is

waiting for an answer. Type 1 with direct address

A tag question can be directed to someone by name.

_You can do it, can't you, Bill?

In this form, in the tag question, the voice remains on the second line and it

rises up when the speaker tells the name.

Type 2

In this type the speaker is just waiting for confirmation. The tag question will

have the falling intonation.

_ You know her, don't you?

Type 2 with direct address

In this type again we have the falling intonation even with the name.

_ the game was exciting, wasn't it, Bill?

Clauses

When a clause beginning with a connecting word comes as the second part of a

sentence, the sentence is often said as one phrase with one primary stress.

_ I'll tell him when he comes.

It can also have two primary stresses, one for each class with a slight hesitation

between the two clauses.

_ I'll tell him when he comes.

When the clause beginning with a connecting word comes at the beginning of

the sentence, there will be a slight rise at the end of the first phrase.

_ Before he went, he called his office.

Questions

Limited choice
This type of question is used when a person is asked to choose between

alternatives and the choice is limited.

In this form the first part of the question will have a rising intonation and the

part after or will have a falling intonation.

_Do you want potatoes or rice?

Stress and Intonation (book 2)

Unit 1: Phrase stress normal (1)

Verbs

Phrases ending in a verb form

A phrase which ends in another form usually has the phrase stress on the verb.

_ John is working.

_ When do you want to go?

Phrases ending with a verb and (1) object pronoun or (2) preposition and

object pronoun

Phrases of this type are usually stressed on the verb form.

_ I can't hear you.

_How much will it cost me?

Two-word verbs

Separable two-word verbs

The stress of two-word verbs is tertiary- primary. The verb has tertiary stress;

the adverb has primary stress.

_ hang up

_ turn off

A phrase ending in a two-word verb has the primary phrase stress on the the

adverb.

_ The light is turned on.

_ The car is put away.

Separable two-word verbs with pronoun objects

When the separable two-word verb has a pronoun object (‫‏‬which must come

between two parts) the phrase stress is on the adverb in the two-word verb.

_ Please give me your coat. I will hang it up.

Inseparable two-word verbs

The stress will be on the adverb.

_come about

_ get in

A very few inseparable two word-verbs have the primary stress on the verb and

secondary stress on the adverb. The phrase stress falls on the verb when they

end a phrase.

_ They don't have much money. I don't know what they live on.

Nouns phrases ending in a noun

The stress is on the noun.

_ He has a lot of ideas.

Phrases ending in a noun followed by a preposition and a pronoun object

The stress is on the noun.

_ Please open the window for me.

Phrases ending in noun compounds

The phrase stress is on the first part of the noun compound.

_ She has a new sewing machine.

Noun compounds followed by a preposition and a pronoun objects

The phrase stress is on the first element of the noun compound.

_ His new car has air conditioning in it.

Two-word verbs with noun objects

When the noun object appears between the verb and adverb the noun receives

the phrase stress.

_Please put your clothes away.

Two-word verbs followed by a preposition and an object pronoun

The stress is on the noun object.

_ Please turn the radio on for me.

Adjectives

Phrases ending in an adjective

The stress is on the adjective.

_It's too long.

Phrases ending in an adjective followed by a preposition and an object

pronoun

The stress is on the adjective.

_ That dress looks good on her.

phrases ending with an adjective and the words one or ones

The stress will be on the adjective.

_ Please bring me a clean one.

Unit 2: Phrase stress normal (2)

Comparative phrases

Comparisons using as ... as or than, with a final noun or pronoun

They have the phrase stress on the noun or pronoun.

_ Books are usually bigger than magazines.

_ No one is happier than I.

Comparative phrases which end with a modal, auxiliary or form of be

The stress is on the noun or pronoun which precedes the final model, auxiliary

or form of be.

_ John writes better than bill does.

_ My sister is younger than I am.

Short answers and short questions

Short answers

The phrase stress is on the modal, auxiliary or a form of be.

_ Does John like to swim? Yes, he does.

Short questions type 1

The phrase stress is also on the modal, auxiliary or form of be.

_ Bill and John can't come? They can't?

Short questions type 2

The phrase stress is on the modal, auxiliary or form of be that precedes the

pronoun.

_ Mary isn't coming. Isn't she?

So and neither

In short comments they are followed by a modal, auxiliary or a form of be and a

noun or pronoun. The noun or pronoun in these comments receives the phrase

stress.

_ John likes his teacher. So does Bill.

_ Henry hasn't finished his work. Neither has John.

Phrases with final adverbials

Phrases with final adverbials at the end of the sentences will have the phrase

stress.

_ He's coming today.

When we have two adverbs at the end of the sentence, the adverb in final

position will have the phrase stress.

_ My father goes to his office every morning.

Special short adverbs: here, there, now, yet, ago

These adverbs at the end of the sentences won't have the primary stress. The

word with major stress will have the phrase stress (noun, verb, adjective).

_ I've never been here.

_ It's very nice here.

* There is an exception to this rule. In imperative verbs or when there is a

contrast, these adverbs can have the primary stress.

_ Please come here.

_ I want you to sit here.

‫‏‬