SENTENCE STRESS AND RHYTHM

• Sentence stress can be described as the rhythm of spoken

language
It can help you to understand a language, especially when
spoken fast
• They 'came
• 'See me at 'twelve.
• 'Take the 'horse for a ride.
• Have you 'met my ,friend
• I 'want to 'buy a 'car
• 'Amir and 'Salim are 'friends
• 'This is the 'house that 'Jack 'built
• 'Buy me a 'car
• He lost my ' bunch of 'keys.

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FUNCTIONS OF SENTENCE STRESS

• Stress in a sense determines whether these words function as

nouns/adjectives or as verbs in a sentence
• When two -syllable words function as nouns or adjectives they are
stressed on the first syllable
– PREsent
• When they function as verbs they receive the stress on the second
syllable
– preSENT

RULES FOR SENTENCE STRESS IN ENGLISH

The basic rules of sentence stress are:
1. content words are stressed
2. structure words are unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is always the same
Content words – stressed

Words carrying the meaning Example

main verbs SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY

nouns CAR, MUSIC, MARY

adjectives RED, BIG, INTERESTING

adverbs QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER

negative auxiliaries DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure words - unstressed

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 Words for correct grammar Example

pronouns he, we, they

prepositions on, at, into

articles a, an, the

conjunctions and, but, because

auxiliary verbs do, be, have, can, must

PRONUNCIATION OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE “THE”

Pronounce “the” /ðə/ before consonant sounds

the cake → /ðəˈkeɪk/ the lesson → /ðəˈlɛsən/
the university → /ðəˈjuːnəˈvɚsəti/

Pronounce “the” /ði/ before vowel sounds.

the apple cake → /ðiˈjæpəl keɪk/ the → orange → /ðiˈjɔrɪnʤ/
the Earth → /ðiˈjɚθ/ the hour → /ðiˈjawɚ/

Pronounce “the” /ˈðiː/ (with a long /i/ sound) when saying “the”

it with emphasis; it does not matter what sound follows it.
the way /ˈðiː ˈweɪ/

PRONUNCIATION OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE “ A & AN ”

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 “A” followed by Consonant sounds
a cake → /əˈkeɪk/
a lesson → /əˈlɛsən/
a university → /əˈjuːnəˈvɚsəti/
Pronounce “a” /ˈeɪ/ when you say the word by itself or when you
want to emphasize it. Some people also pronounce it /ˈeɪ/ normally

“AN” followed by vowel sounds

an apple cake → /ənˈæpəl keɪk/
an orange → /ən'ɔrɪnʤ/
an English movie → /ən'ɪŋglɪʃ 'mu:vi/

A SILENT LETTER
A silent letter is left unpronounced, such as
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 the d in handkerchief,
the n in autumn and the p in cupboard.
When talking fast, silent words like are very lightly pronounced
E.g Christmas, mountain and little. 

Silent letters from A to Z 

A - artistically B – dumb, bomb, doubt
C - muscle, scissors D - handkerchief, Wednesday
E – bridge F - halfpenny G – align, high
H – choir, rhyme I – business
K -  know, knee L - calm, talk
N – autumn, column P – cupboard
S – island T – listen
W - who, whole, write, wrong, two, sword, wrist