Word Stress Made Easy : 21 Rules with Examples

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Word Stress : Do you know that word stress can change the meaning of a word in English? Pronouncing words correctly is not just about knowing the letters; it’s also about stressing the right syllable. In this blog, we will explore 21 simple rules of word stress with clear examples to help you speak English more naturally. 

What is Stress?

Stress means emphasis. The emphasis you put on a word or a part of word when you pronounce it, so that it sounds louder. When we pronounce an English word made up of more than one syllable, we pronounce it in such a way that one of the syllables is more important than the other syllable(s) in the same word. The syllable that is prominent in the word is called stressed or strong syllable and that are pronounced without prominence are called unstressed or weak syllables.


There are three types of Stress :-

1. Syllable Stress

2. Word Stress

3. Sentence Stress

In this post we will cover only WORD STRESS.


Some Rules of  Word Stress:

Rule – 1. Words with weak prefixes always take the Stress on the root word.

Examples:-

  • a’broad
  • a’board
  • a’head
  • a’lone
  • be’come
  • be’cause
  • be’low
  • be’neath

 

Rule -2. Words with –ed , -s/es, -ing added to them take the Stress on the same syllable as the words to which they have been added.( –ed, -s/es and –ing do not affect the Stress as they are inflectional suffixes)

Examples:-

ed

  • ac’count
  • ac’counted
  • af’fect
  • af’fected
  • de’mand
  • de’manded

-s/es

  • a’buse
  • a’buses
  • com’pose
  • com’poses
  • re’lax
  • re’laxes

-ing

  • be’gin
  • be’ginning
  • ‘reason
  • ‘reasoning
  • ‘happen
  • ‘happening

 

Rule -3. Words ending in ion receive the Stress on the second last syllable.

Examples:-

  • ‘action
  • ad’diction
  • admi’ration
  • appli’cation
  • combi’nation
  • de’duction
  • ‘nation
  • ‘notion
  • ‘station

 

Rule -4. Words ending in –ic, -ical, -ically, -ious, -ial, and –ially receive the Stress on the syllable before the suffix.

Examples:-

ical

  • bio’logical
  • e’lectrical
  • ‘optical
  • psycho’logical

ically

  • ‘chemically
  • sta’tistically

icous

  • a’trocious
  • cere’monious

ial

  • com’mercial
  • me’morial

ially

  • com’mercially
  • confi’dentially

 

Rule -5. Words ending in –ity take the Stress on the third last syllable.

Examples:-

  • a’bility
  • bar’barity
  • ca’pacity
  • elec’tricity
  • e’normity
  • fu’tility
  • o’pacity
  • gene’rosity
  • hospi’tality
  • oppor’tunity

 

Rule -6. Words ending in –aire, -eer, -ier and –ee take the Stress on last syllable.

Examples:-

aire

  • millio’naire
  • optio’naire
  • questio’naire

eer

  • engi’neer
  • profi’teer

ee

  • addres’see
  • draw’ee
  • ru’pee

[Exceptions – ‘coffee , ‘toffee]

 

Rule -7. If words ending in –ate have two syllables, they take the Stress on last syllable.

Examples:-

  • cre’ate
  • dic’tate
  • re’late
  • mi’grate
  • trans’late
  • nar’rate
  • col’late

 

Rule -8. If words ending in –ate have more than two syllables they take the Stress on third last syllable.

Examples:-

  • ‘educate
  • ‘cultivate
  • ‘passionate
  • ‘generate
  • ar’ticulate
  • ‘liberate
  • par’ticipate
  • reca’pitulate

 

Rule -9. If words ending in –ize/-ise have two syllables, they take the Stress on last syllable.

Examples:-

  • re’rise
  • de’rise
  • cap’size
  • bap’tize

[Exception – ‘realize]

 

Rule -10. If words ending in –ize/-ise have more than two syllables, they take the Stress on third last syllable.

Examples:-

  • ‘criticize
  • a’natomize
  • ‘agonize

[Exceptions – i’dealize, ‘characterize]

 

Rule -11. Words ending in –ental take the Stress on second last syllable.

Example:-

  • ‘dental

 

Rule -12. Words ending in –graphy, -logy, -metry, -sophy, -cracy, -crisy, -phony, -gamy, -nomy, -ian, and –ics take the Stress on the syllable just before these suffixes.

Examples:-

  • gi’ography
  • bi’ology
  • phi’losophy
  • de’mocracy
  • hy’pocrisy
  • ca’cophony
  • mo’nogamy
  • mathe’matics
  • pho’netics
  • e’conomy
  • ma’gician

 

Rule -13. Words with –ain suffix take the Stress on last syllable.

Examples:-

  • de’tain
  • at’tain
  • enter’tain
  • abs’tain
  • main’tain
  • re’frain

 

Rule -14. Words with –esce and –isce suffixes take the Stress on last syllable.

Examples:-

  • effer’vesce
  • coa’lesce

 

Rule -15. Words ending in –fy take the Stress on the third last syllable.

Examples:-

  • ‘amplify
  • ‘qualify
  • ‘beautify
  • ‘classify
  • ‘gratify
  • i’dentify
  • a’cidify
  • e’lectrify

 

Rule -16. If words ending in –ute have two syllables, they receive the Stress on last syllable.

Examples:-

  • sa’lute
  • im’pute

 

Rule -17. If words ending in –ute have more than two syllables, they receive the Stress on third last syllable.

Examples:-

  • ‘constitute
  • ‘institute
  • ‘execute

[Exceptions:- at’tribute dis’tribute con’tribute] cre’ator trans’lator spec’tator

 

Rule -18. If words ending in –ator have more than three syllables, they take the Stress on the fourth syllable from ending.

Examples:-

  • ‘calculator
  • ‘operator
  • ‘demonstrator
  • e’valuator

 

Rule -19. Words with –meter suffix take the Stress on third last syllable.

Examples:-

  • ther’mometer
  • spee’dometer
  • ba’rometer
  • pa’rameter

 

Rule -20. Words with –oid (two syllables) take the Stress on first syllable.

Examples:-

  • ‘cycloid
  • ‘hydroid

 

Rule -21. Words ending in –itor will take stress on the 3rd syllable from the last as it’s in the given examples.

Examples:- 

  • auditor
  • ‘monitor 

I hope this post will be very helpful to you for RPSC 1st and 2nd Grade (English) Exams. Special thanks to Vijay Daiya Sir [Assistant Professor – Ramgarh, Jaisalmer (Rajasthan)]


Quiz on : Phonetics Quiz : 15 MCQs

Girdhari Lal

Girdhari Lal , एक dedicated अंग्रेजी विषय के वरिष्ठ अध्यापक और gyankundli.com के संस्थापक हैं। 1.5 वर्षों के ब्लॉगिंग अनुभव के साथ, वे अंग्रेजी व्याकरण, साहित्य, भाषा और शिक्षा से जुड़ी अद्भुत जानकारी अपने ब्लॉग पर publish करते हैं। उनके ब्लॉग पर English Grammar, Literature और शैक्षिक अपडेट मिलती रहती हैं।

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