Pronounce English words correctly Word Stress Syllables Pronunciation
Hello! I’m Emma from mmmEnglish and in
this lesson we’re focusing on your
pronunciation, specifically syllable
stress, which is very important.
It’s the difference between the noun, present and
the verb, present.
Hear the difference?
These two words look exactly the same
but they’re pronounced differently.
And that’s all because of syllable stress.
First thing! What’s a syllable?
A syllable is a part of an English word and it’s
created by a vowel sound.
Take the example from before. Present.
It has two vowel sounds in it /e/ and /ə/
Present.
Thus, there’s two syllables. The word book has only one syllable.
The word date has only one syllable. It’s tricky because there are two vowel letters.
But if you listen carefully you’ll hear
there is only one vowel sound
/eɪ/, date.
The ‘e’ is silent and in the word my, there’s
only one syllable. Even though there’s
only consonants in this word there is
still a vowel sound.
The ‘y’ makes a vowel sound /aɪ/, my.
How many syllables does the word apple have? Apple.
Two.
How many syllables does the
word banana have? Banana.
Three.
What about beautiful? Beautiful.
Three.
And economical? Economical.
Five.
Great!
Notice that I’m saying ba-NA-na, not ba-na-na.
Not all syllables are equal! If there is
only one syllable in the word then of
course, it will be the stressed syllable.
If there is more than one syllable in the word,
then there will be one syllable
that is stronger, clearer and bolder than the others.
The pronunciation of that
syllable is clearer. Here are a few more examples:
Perfect. Can you hear how the first syllable is
clearer and stronger than the second? /pɜ:/
The second syllable is /fɪkt/
Perfect. Perfect.
So the first syllable is definitely
stronger. It’s been a perfect day.
See if you can guess which syllable in each of these words is the strongest?
Beautiful. Beautiful.
The first syllable is the strongest syllable.
What a beautiful sunset.
We use this stress to add
emphasis to our sentences as well.
Especially with adjectives. It’s a
beautiful sunset. That’s a beautiful dress.
Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Which
syllable is stressed?
Ridiculous.
The second syllable is the stressed syllable. Ridi.. ridi.. culous. Ridiculous.
I can’t wear that! I’ll that I’ll look ridiculous!
Enthusiastic. Enthusiastic. It’s the fourth
syllable.
En-thu-si-A-stic
Enthusiastic.
We were really enthusiastic about the idea, until we found out how much it would cost!
So how do you know which
syllable to stress?
Unfortunately, there is no simple rule that you can follow
but there is an easy way that you can find out this information!
When you’re looking up a new word in the dictionary
you’ll see the phonetic script next to
that word.
It will tell you what syllable to stress and it will be marked like this:
Complicated. Economical. Intelligent.
Of course you can also listen to the
pronunciation if you’re using an online
dictionary. Some longer words will also
have a secondary stress but the
strongest stress - the main stress - is this
symbol.
So what do you need to remember?
There is always one main syllable in a
word that is stressed. It’s stronger than
the others. Pronouncing it incorrectly
can be confusing.
Present. Present. Object. Object.
Contract. Contract.
Learning to push down on the strongest
syllable will help you to add emphasis
to your speech and your pronunciation.
It will help you to sound more sincere, more
interesting and natural!
I really like it.
Your home is beautiful. What a perfect
afternoon.
Speaking English clearly and confidently
is about more than just the
pronunciation of sounds. Word stress and
syllable stress are just as important.
I hope that you enjoyed that lesson and
you don’t have to stop now!
There’s heaps more videos available on
my Youtube channel. Come and say hi on my
Facebook page or go visit my website at
mmmEnglish.com to find out more about my
online courses.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time. Bye for now!