When you hear Americans pronounce words you'll notice that they always stress one syllable in each word more that the others. We call this emphasis major stress. The syllable with major stress will sound louder, longer and clearer that the other syllables in the word. The vowel sound in this syllable is lengthened.
Syllable stress is important in spoken American English because it helps to create the rhythm of the language.
Three Rules for Syllable Stress in English Words
Below are three rules to help you choose which syllables to stress. Read each rule. Then pronounce the example words and sentences in each chart.
1. Stress is usually placed on the syllable that contains the root or base word. Here are some examplesun
PAID- The rent was unpaid for three months.
inCLUDE- Please include your name and address.
preDICT-Thomas predicts it will be sunny tomorrow.
unABLE- I'm unable to help you today.
reMIND- Will you remind me to call home after class?
prePARE- Richard said he would prepare dinner tonight.
2. Word prefixes are usually NOT stressed. Here are some examples:
SLOWly-Christina walks very slowly.
FASTer- John walks faster than I do.
SPEAKing- Jean likes speaking in class.
CAREful- Please be careful walking home at night.
SMALLest- Lucy is the smallest person in the class.
DRINKable -The water in the bathroom is undrinkable!
3. Most two-syllable nouns (90%) are stressed on the first syllable. Here are some examples: MARket-Sally buys bananas at the market.
TEAcher-Mr. Williams is my computer teacher.
FRIday -We're going to the movies on Friday.
PAper- I need to buy paper for the printer.
KITchen -The kitchen is a mess!
BROther Robert's brother is very kind.
These are just some of the rules and patterns that you can learn about syllable stress in words.
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