Module 2

Chapter 3_Stress
Lesson 1: Syllables and Stress Patterns
Time Frame: 1.5 hours
Intended Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:

a. understand that word stress is related to part of speech;

b. correctly pronounce words that change part of speech depending upon
word stress;
c. identify the stresses syllables in a word.

Content:

English Syllables and Stress Patterns

Syllables and stress are two of the main areas of spoken language.
Pronouncing words with the stress on the correct syllables will help you improve
your spoken English, make your sentences easier to understand and help you sound
more like a native speaker.

 Syllables refers to a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or

without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word.
 Stress Patterns is the way syllables are stressed in a word, phrase, language,
etc.

The English language is heavily stressed with each word divided into
syllables. Here are some examples of English words with different numbers of
syllables. These sets of words are followed by a series of examples using the
correct stress placement:

1) Words with one syllable

The, cold, quite, bed, add, start, hope, clean, trade, green, chair, cat, sign, pea,
wish, drive, plant, square, give, wait, law, off, hear, trough, eat, rough, trout, shine,
watch, for, out, catch, flight, rain, speech, crab, lion, knot, fixed, slope, reach,
trade, light, moon, wash, trend, balm, walk, sew, joke, tribe, brooch

2) Words with two syllables

Party, special, today, quiet, orange, partner, table, demand, power, retrieve, doctor,
engine, diet, transcribe, contain, cabbage, mountain, humour, defend, spatial,
special, greedy, exchange, manage, carpet, although, trophy, insist, tremble,
balloon, healthy, shower, verbal, business, mortgage, fashion, hover, butcher,
magic, broken

3) Words with three syllables

Fantastic, energy, expensive, wonderful, laughable, badminton, idiot, celery,

beautiful, aggression, computer, journalist, horrify, gravity, temptation, dieting,
trampoline, industry, financial, distinguished, however, tremendous, justify,
inflation, creation, injustice, energize, glittering, tangible, mentalise, laughable,
dialect, crustacean, origin

4) Words with four syllables

Understanding, indecisive, conversation, realistic, moisturising, American,

psychology, gregarious, independence, affordable, memorandum, controversial,
superior, gymnasium, entrepreneur, traditional, transformation, remembering,
establishment, vegetation, affectionate, acupuncture, invertebrate

5) Words with five syllables

Organization, uncontrollable, inspirational, misunderstanding, conversational,

opinionated, biological, subordination, determination, sensationalist, refrigerator,
haberdashery, hospitality, conservatory, procrastination, disobedience, electrifying,
consideration, apologetic, particularly, compartmentalize, hypochondria

6) Words with six syllables

Responsibility, idiosyncratic, discriminatory, invisibility, capitalization,

extraterrestrial, reliability, autobiography, unimaginable, characteristically,
superiority, antibacterial, disciplinarian, environmentalist, materialism,
biodiversity, criminalization, imaginatively, disobediently
 7) Words with seven syllables

Industrialization, multiculturalism, interdisciplinary, radioactivity, unidentifiable,

environmentalism, individuality, vegetarianism, unsatisfactorily, electrocardiogram

English Stress Patterns

When thinking about syllables and stress in English, usually we find that one
syllable of a word is stressed more than the others. There are always one or more
stressed syllables within a word and this special stress placement helps words and
sentences develop their own rhythm. Syllables and stress patterns in English help
to create the sounds, pronunciations and rhythms that we hear all around us.

Word Stress in English

We come to recognize these English syllables and stress patterns in

conversations in real life interactions and on the radio and television. Using the
correct stressed syllables within a word is an important part of speech and
understanding. Pronouncing words with the right word stress will make your
language sound more natural to native speakers. Here are some words from the
previous lists with the stressed syllable in bold:

 Two syllable words stress patterns:

Quiet, party, today, orange, partner, table, demand, power, retrieve,

engine, diet, greedy, exchange, manage, carpet, although, relax, comfort

 Three syllable words stress patterns:

Fantastic, energy, expensive, aggresion, wonderful, laughable, badminton,

celery, temptation, trampoline, industry, distinguished, financial, however,
tremendous, library

 Four syllable words stress patterns:

Understanding, indecisive, conversation, realistic, moisturising, American,

psychology, independence, entrepreneur, transformation, fascinating,
comfortable
  Five syllable words stress patterns:

Uncontrollable, inspirational, misunderstanding, conversational,

opinionated, biological, alphabetical, subordination, refrigerator, hospitality

 Six syllable words stress patterns:

Responsibility, idiosyncratic, invisibility, capitalisation, discriminatory,

antibacterial, superiority, autobiography, materialism, biodiversity,
criminalisation, imaginatively,

 Seven syllable words stress patterns:

Industrialisation, multiculturalism, interdisciplinary, radioactivity,

unidentifiable, environmentalism, individuality, vegetarianism, unsatisfactorily,
electrocardiogram

English Word Stress Rules

Here are some general rules about word stress in English:

 Only vowel sounds are stressed (a,e,i,o,u).

 A general rule is that for two syllable words, nouns and adjectives
have the stress on the first syllable, but verbs have the stress on the
second syllable.

For example: table (noun), special (adjective), demand (verb).

 Words ending in ‘ic’, ‘tion’ or ‘sion’ always place their stress on the
penultimate (second to last) syllable. (e.g. supersonic, Atlantic,
dedication, attention, transformation, comprehension).

 Words ending in ‘cy’, ‘ty’, ‘gy’ and ‘al’ always place their stress on the
third from last syllable. (e.g. accountancy, sincerity, chronology,
inspirational, hypothetical).

 Words ending in ‘sm’ with 3 or fewer syllables have their stress on the
first syllable (e.g. prism, schism, autism, sarcasm) unless they are
extensions of a stem word. This is often the case with words ending ‘ism’.
  Words ending in ‘ism’ tend to follow the stress rule for the stem word
with the ‘ism’ tagged onto the end (e.g. cannibal = cannibalism,
expression = expressionism, feminist = feminism, opportunist =
opportunism).

 Words ending in ‘sm’ with 4 or more syllables tend to have their stress on
the second syllable (e.g. enthusiasm, metabolism).

 Words ending in ‘ous’ with 2 syllables have their stress on the first
syllable (e.g. monstrous, pious, anxious, pompous, conscious, famous,
gracious, gorgeous, jealous, joyous).

 English words ending in ‘ous’ with 4 syllables usually have their stress on
the second syllable (e.g. gregarious, anonymous, superfluous,
androgynous, carnivorous, tempestuous, luxurious, hilarious,
continuous, conspicuous). There are some exceptions using different
stressed syllables, such as sacrilegious, which stresses the 3rd syllable.

Words ending in ‘ous’ with 3 or more syllables do not always follow a set
stress pattern. Here are some common English words with 3 syllables ending in
‘ous’ and their stress placement:

 Words ending in ‘ous’ with stress on first syllable (fabulous,

frivolous, glamorous, calculus, dubious, envious, scandalous,
serious, tenuous, chivalrous, dangerous, furious)

 Words ending in ‘ous’ with stress on second syllable (enormous,

audacious, facetious, disastrous, ficticious, horrendous, contagious,
ambitious, courageous)