Understanding Syllables

syllable (noun): a unit of pronunciation that has one vowel sound, and may or may not
be surrounded by consonants. A syllable can form a whole word or part of a word. For
example, there is one syllable in cat, two syllables in monkey and three syllables
in elephant.
 To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables.
 Every word is made from syllables.
 Each word has one, two, three or more syllables.

word number of syllables

dog dog 1

green green 1

quite quite 1

quiet qui-et 2

orange or-ange 2

table ta-ble 2

expensive ex-pen-sive 3

interesting in-ter-est-ing 4

unrealistic un-rea-lis-tic 4

unexceptional un-ex-cep-tio-nal 5

Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or
u) orvowel sound.
What is Word Stress?
In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word,
we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important)
and all the other syllablesvery quietly.
Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the
same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word.
And it is not always the same syllable. So the "shape" of each word is different.
This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa,
aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera,
etCETera
The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Fluent speakers of
English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word
stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your
pronunciation and your comprehension.
Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - on the
radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After
that, you can USE it!
There are two very important rules about word stress:
1. One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear
two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)
2. The stress is always on a vowel.
Why is Word Stress Important?
Word stress is not used in all languages. Some languages, Japanese or French for
example, pronounce each syllable with eq-ual em-pha-sis.
Other languages, English for example, use word stress and pro-NOUNCE DIF-fer-ent
SYL-la-bles with more or less im-POR-tance.
Word stress is not an optional extra that you can add to the English language if you
want. It is part of the language! Fluent English speakers use word stress to
communicate rapidly and accurately, even in difficult conditions. If, for example, you
do not hear a word clearly, you can still understand the word because of
the position of the stress.
Think again about the two words photograph and photographer. Now imagine that you
are speaking to somebody by telephone over a very bad line. You cannot hear clearly.
In fact, you hear only the first two syllables of one of these words, photo... Which
word is it, photograph or photographer?
Of course, with word stress you will know immediately which word it is because in
reality you will hear either...
Where do I Put Word Stress?
There are some word stress rules about which syllable to stress. But...the rules are
rather complicated! Probably the best way to learn is from experience. Listen
carefully to spoken English and try to develop a feeling for the "music" of the
language.
When you learn a new word, you should also learn its stress pattern. If you keep a
vocabulary book, make a note to show which syllable is stressed. If you do not know,
you can look in a dictionary. All dictionaries give the phonetic spelling of a word. This
is where they show which syllable is stressed, usually with an apostrophe (')
just before or just after the stressed syllable. (The notes in the dictionary will
explain the system used.)
Look at (and listen to) this example for the word plastic. There are two syllables and
the first syllable is stressed.
Word Stress Rules
There are two very simple rules about word stress:
1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you
hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is
true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary
stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long
words.)
2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants.
Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to
put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions.
It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally.
A. Stress on first syllable

rule example

Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble

Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy

B. Stress on last syllable

rule example

Most 2-syllable verbs preSENT, exPORT, deCIDE, beGIN

There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a
change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress
the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we
stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the
words export, import, contract and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on
whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.
C. Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)

rule example

Words ending in -ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic

Words ending in -sion and -tion teleVIsion, reveLAtion

For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" on where to put the
stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another
example is:CONtroversy and conTROversy.
D. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)

rule example

Words ending in -cy, -ty, - deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy,

phy and -gy geOLogy

Words ending in -al CRItical, geoLOGical

E. Compound words (words with two parts)

rule example

For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part BLACKbird, GREENhouse

For compound adjectives, the stress is on bad-TEMpered, old-

the second part FASHioned

For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part underSTAND, overFLOW

Word Stress Rules

There are two very simple rules about word stress:
1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you
hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is
true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary
stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long
words.)
2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants.