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
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