A multi-syllable word has a prominent syllable. This is called a stressed syllable .

1. A multi-syllable word has a prominent syllable. This is called a stressed syllable. • Stressed syllable is longer in duration, higher in pitch, and louder in volume. • Duration is the primary attribute to the prominence of a syllable. • Except for the compounds, stressed syllables in words with more than 2 syllables never stand next to each other (Stressed syllables and weak syllables alternate).

2. When a word has more than one syllable, one is more prominent than the others. When this happens, we say that the syllable has a stress, or that it is stressed. In the following examples, stressed syllables are expressed with boldface.

3. When a syllable is stressed, it is pronounced; longer in duration higher in pitch, and louder in volume

4. Exercise Group the following words so that they match the patterns in the table. word list

5. the nouns typically have the first syllable stressed, whereas verbs have the stressed second syllable. 90% two-syllable nouns, and 60% two-syllable verbs follow this pattern. Look at the following three syllable words. Consider the stress patterns. Three-syllable words

6. Basically, stressed words are considered CONTENT WORDSsuch as Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter (most) principal verbs e.g. visit, construct Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting Adverbs e.g. often, carefully

7. Non-stressed words are considered FUNCTION WORDSsuch as Determiners e.g. the, a, some, a few Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were Prepositions e.g. before, next to, opposite Conjunctions e.g. but, while, as Pronouns e.g. they, she, us

8. Using suffixes to predict stress  (A)  Stress the suffix itself:

9. Stress the syllable immediately before the suffix: