Word Stress and ING Verbs American English Pronunciation

In this American English pronunciation video, wer’re
going to go over the word stress of -ing verbs.

The -ing form of a verb always adds an extra
syllable. And this syllable is always unstressed.

So it should be lower in pitch and usually
a little faster than the stressed syllable

in the word. Take, for example, ‘standing’.
Stand-ing, stand-ing. Standing. Be careful

with words like ‘seeing’ or ‘being’. The difference
between ‘seeing’ and ‘sing’ is subtle. But

— ee-ee, ee-ee, ee-ee — there is that
little reemphasis of the vowel sound that

makes the second syllable, which is correct.
Seeing, seeing.

So even in quick, everyday speech, in the
context of a sentence, it needs to sound different.

I’m seeing her later. I’m singer later. I’m
seeing her later, I’m singer later. Seeing. [x3]

Let’s look at some more -ing verb words. Doing,
do-ing, do-ing. Doing. Following. Fol-low-ing. Following.

Hoping. Hop-ing, hop-ing. Hoping. Wondering.
Won-der-ing, won-der-ing. Wondering.

Word stress is important. So make sure that
you do have this contrast between stressed

syllables and unstressed syllables. And keep
in mind that the -ing form of a verb always

adds an unstressed syllable.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.

Don’t stop there. Have fun with my real-life
English videos, or get more comfortable with

the IPA in this playlist. Learn about the online
courses I offer, or check out my latest video.