Word Stress

19. Mark the stress for any eight of the following words

Rules Of Word Stress

Rule 1: Words with weak prefixes

World’s beginning with (a, be, de, re, con) the stress falls on the 2nd syllable.

a be de re con
a’loud be‘gan de‘feat re‘gret con‘tinue
a‘bove be‘came de‘gree reb’pay con’clusi
on
a‘lone be‘lief de‘fence re’play con’tent
re’venge con’sent

Rule 2: Compound Words

a) A compound word is a word that is composed of two words. in such words, the stress falls on
the first syllable

‘toothpaste ‘grandmaster
‘book shop ‘time table
‘foot ball ‘jellyfish

b) Words that ends in ever, self, and selves the stress falls on the second syllable.

ever self selves

how ‘ever your ‘self them ‘selves
whos ‘ever my ‘self our ‘selves
for ‘ever him ‘self
when ‘ever it ‘self
what ‘ever our ‘self
Rule 3: Words which denote number numbers have a specific stress pattern

a) Words which denote numbers and that end in teen the stress falls on teen

Seven‘teen thir’teen
Can‘teen fif’teen

b) Words that denote the multiples of tens, the stress falls on the first syllable

‘thirty ‘six-thousand
‘twenty ‘fifty

Rule 4: Suffixes

a) Words that end in ee, ier, ette, queue, and aire the stress falls on the last syllable

ee eer ette que aire

Emplo’yee Engi’neer ga’zette u’nique millio
‘naire
addre’ssee profi’tteer ciga’ret o’blique billio
te ‘naire
refe’ree volun’teer heor’ge cri’tique
tte
absen’tee auctio’neer kitche’n an’tique
ette
devo’tee Pio’neer suffra’g pict’resq
ette ue
exami’nee electio’neer tech’niq
ue
b) Words end in ion ial ie and ious/eous the stress fall on the second syllable from the end

ion ial ie ious/eous

deco’ration po’tential patri’otic no’torious
appli’cation of’ficial sympa’thetic ‘conscious
exami’nation es’sential aca’demic cere’monio
us
prepa’ration ‘social ‘logic am’bitious
combi’nation fi’nancial his’toric cou’rageous
‘station re’medial fa’natic de’licious
so’lution ‘partial

c) Words that end in ical , ity, ize ,logy and graphy take stress on the third syllable from the end.

ian ical ity ize logy graphy

mu’sician his’torical a’bility ‘civilize bio’logy ge’ograph
y
li’brarian ‘optical ca’pacity ‘symbol zo’ology bi’ograph
ize y
co’median ‘practical oppor’tu ’empha physi’olog chore’grap
nity size y hy

Rule 5 : Stress shift

One very important feature of word stress is the stress shift. That is the stress shift when some
suffixes are added to a word.
Example : e’conomy e’conomic econo’metrics ‘photograph pho’tographer Photo’graphic

In the above examples you have seen that the edition of a suffix results in stress shift but theyare
some suffixes which do not affect the stress some of them are

age ance ment er ess ship

‘carry at’tend ‘enlighten be’gin ‘actor ‘schlor
‘carriage at’tendance ‘englightenment be’ginner ‘actress ‘schol
arship
 Exercises

1. In the following disyllabic words the stress falls on the first syllable. (Page No 220)

‘apple ‘action ‘atom ‘centre ‘cotton

‘sorry ‘business ‘paper ‘interest ‘lawyer
‘novel ‘nature ‘author ‘common ‘father
‘danger ‘service ‘doctor ‘freedom ‘damage
‘system. ‘water ‘always ‘doubt ‘mother

2. In the following disyllabic words the stress falls on the second syllable. (Page 221)

be’cause a’round pre’pare be’fore be’gin

can’teen de’gree for’give ma’chine a’dopt
Ju’ly su’ccess ga’rage de’scribe a’laram
ex’tract en’joy bal’loon ho’tel di’rect
com’plete gar’bage ca’reer ab’sent before

3. Mark the stress on the following words (Page 221)

‘Adjective a’partment af’fection a’bout

‘Botany ‘bachelor be’hind be’lieve
‘Capital con’tainer col’lector ‘Centre
Cre’ated con’tinue ‘character ‘comfort
Cer’tificate con’fusion ‘century di’rector
Di’spute de’scribe en’joy eigh’teen
For’mation ‘famous ‘government ho’tel
‘Incident ‘mistaken ‘moment over’take
‘Perfect ‘question re’hearsal sa’lute
To’day to’morrow tele’vision under’stand
A’go ‘victory ‘cinema ‘junior
De’licious ‘excellent ‘happy ‘people
4. You have read the stress rules on suffixes. Follow the rules and mark the stress onthe following
words. (Page 221)

Pu’blicity possibility simp’licity ne’cessity

Stu’pidity te’nacity infor’mation conver’sation
Appli’cation obser’vation plan’tation po’litical
‘Cyclical me’chanical ter’rific scientific
Catas’trophic spe’cific ener’getic rea’listic
Refu’gee trai’nee lu’xurious ‘conscious
Sus’picious ju’dicious ca’reer it’self
Gene’ration va’cation a’trocious hu’mility
Civili’zation con’fusion fal’lacious curi’osity
Obser’vation ‘nation gram’matical mo’rality
License edu’cation visi’bility ‘humanize
selection ceremony legibility Authorize

5. The following words have weak prefixes. Put sstress mark on the word and refer tothe
dictionary. (Page 222)

A ‘far be’friend be’little be’come

A’cross al’though a’gree a’round
A’gain a’sleep a’live ar’rive
Re’sistant a’head ac’cording in’debted
A’broad a’fraid be’cause a’part