OE1.6 Sentence Stress

SPOKENENGLISH1PRONUNCIATION6:SENTENCESTRESS6.1.1:INTRODUCTIONJustasinEnglishspeechwordsaremadeupofacombinationstressedandunstressedsyllables,soalsoareEnglishsentencescomposedofacombinationofstressedandunstressedwords.Knowingwhenandwheretostressthewholewordsisessentialtothemeaningoftheutteranceandisoneofthedistinguishingfeatures..26:SentenceStress6.1.2:INTRODUCTIONEnglishspeakersandlistenersrelyonstresstodrawattentiontothemostimportantandinformativeideasinthesentenceandtoclarifymeaning.Thewordsyouemphasisedependonwhichinformationyouwanttofocusonandarethereforeimportanttolisteners.Ifthewrongwordsareemphasised,listenerscanbequiteconfusedaboutyourmeaning.36:SentenceStress6.2.1:CONTENTVS.STRUCTUREContentwordsarethewordsinanutterancethatconveymeaningoftheutterance..Theseareopenclassofwordswhichconstantlyacquirenewmembers,throughsuchprocessesascompounding,derivation,coining,borrowing,etc.Theycanbecomparedtostructureorgrammaticalwords,whicharemerelystructural.46:SentenceStress6.2.2:CONTENTVSSTRUCTUREContentWordsare:mainverbs–sell,give,employnouns–car,music,Maryadjectives–red,big,interestingadverbs–quickly,loudly,nevernegativeauxiliaries–don’t,aren’t,can’t56:SentenceStress6.2.3:CONTENTVS.STRUCTUREStructurewordsarewordsthatexisttoexplainorcreategrammaticalorstructuralrelationshipsintowhichthecontentwordsmayfit.TheyaremuchfewerinnumberandgenerallydonotchangeasEnglishaddsandomitscontentwords.Therefore,werefertostructurewordsasaclosedclass.66:SentenceStress6.2.4:CONTENTVSSTRUCTUREStructurewordsare:pronouns–I,he,she,we,theyprepositions–on,at,intoarticles–a,an,theconjunctions–and,but,becauseauxiliaryverbs–do,be,have,can,must76:SentenceStress6.2.5:CONTENTVS.STRUCTUREStructurewordscanonlybeunderstoodcompletelywhentheyoccurwithotherwordsinasentence.Theytendtobeshortandarenormallyofonesyllable.Manyarerepresentedarepronouncedusinglessthanthreephonemes(/ɑt/,/bi/,/du;/,/soʊ/,/ɒn/,/ɔr/,etc).Thereareonlyaboutthree-hundredstructurewordsintheEnglishlanguage.86:SentenceStress6.2.6:CONTENTVS.STRUCTURESomewordscanfunctionaseithercontentorstructurewordsdependingonitsfunctioninanutterance.Example1IhavecometoseeBillhaveisastructureword(auxiliaryverb)Ihaveagiftforhimhaveisacontentword(fullverb)Example2Onehasbecareful“one”isastructureword(pronoun)Onemanwasrobbedtoday“one”isacontentword(numeral)Example2Ihavenotimerightnow“no”isastructureword(anegativeparticle)No.Ican’tdoitnow“no”isacontentword(Yes/Noanswer)96:SentenceStress6.3.1:STRESSANDMEANINGWithspokenEnglishsomecontentwordsreceiveextrastressThisstresscanchangetheunderlyingmeaningofthesentence.Thefullmeaningofanyutteranceisexpressedthroughthestressedwords.Evensimplesentencescanhaveseverallevelsofmeaning.106:SentenceStress6.3.2:STRESSANDMEANINGThissimplesentencecanhavemanylevelsofmeaningbasedonwhichwordyoustress.Considerthemeaningofthefollowingsentences.ThestressedwordsareinLARGEPRINT.1)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROWMeaning:Somebodyelsethinkshecanpassthatexam.116:SentenceStress6.3.3:STRESSANDMEANINGThissimplesentencecanhavemanylevelsofmeaningbasedonthewordyoustress.Considerthemeaningofthefollowingsentences.ThestressedwordsareinLARGEPRINT.1)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROWMeaning:Somebodyelsethinkshecanpassthatexam.2)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:It'snottruethatIthinkhecanpasstheexam.126:SentenceStress6.3.4:STRESSANDMEANING3)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Idon’tthinkhecanpasstheexambutInotsure.136:SentenceStress6.3.5:STRESSANDMEANING3)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Idon’tthinkhecanpasstheexambutInotsure.4)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Hecan’tpasstheexambutotherscan.146:SentenceStress6.3.6:STRESSANDMEANING3)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Idon’tthinkhecanpasstheexambutInotsure.4)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Hecan’tpasstheexambutotherscan.5)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Hecan’tpasstheexam.156:SentenceStress6.3.7:STRESSANDMEANING3)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Idon’tthinkhecanpasstheexambutInotsure.4)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Hecan’tpasstheexambutotherscan.5)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Hecan’tpasstheexam.166:SentenceStress6.3.8:STRESSANDMEANING3)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Idon’tthinkhecanpasstheexambutInotsure.4)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Hecan’tpasstheexambutotherscan.5)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Hecan’tpasstheexam.6)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Inmyopinionheshouldnotbothertoevenbothertotaketheexam.176:SentenceStress6.3.9:STRESSANDMEANING7)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Heshouldnottaketheexam,he’snotworthyofit.186:SentenceStress6.3.10:STRESSANDMEANING7)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Heshouldnottaketheexam,he’snotworthyofit.8)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Hewon’tpassbutheisstillagoodstudent.196:SentenceStress6.3.11:STRESSANDMEANING7)IDON'TTHINKHEWILLPASSTHEEXAMTOMORROW.Meaning:Heshouldnottaketheexam,h