Pronunciation
Sentence stress
In a sentence, we don't say every word with the same strength. We make the important words strong and say the small grammar words quickly.
Content words and structure words
| Content words | Structure words | |
|---|---|---|
| Stress | Strong | Weak |
| Job | Carry the meaning | Hold the grammar together |
| Parts of speech | nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs | pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, a, an, the, is, are, can |
In the examples below, the bold words are stressed. Click 🔊 and listen.
I want a red car.
She works in Bangkok.
I'm learning English at night.
The telegram test
Read only the stressed words: want red car. You still understand the message! That is why content words are stressed. They carry the meaning.
Fix the bug in the login page.
Only fix bug login page is enough to understand this sentence.
Negatives are stressed
Words like not, can't, don't and never change the meaning, so they are content words. Always say them clearly:
I can't come to the meeting.
Can or can't?
In American English, can and can't sound very similar. The stress helps: I can SWIM (weak can, /kən/) vs. I CAN'T SWIM (strong can't, /kænt/).
Stress to show a special meaning
You can stress any word to show it is the new or important information. The same sentence can have a different meaning:
| Sentence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| I built this website. | Not someone else. I did. |
| I built this website. | I didn't buy it. I made it. |
| I built this website. | Not that one. This one. |
| I built this website. | Not an app. A website. |
Practice idea
Take a sentence from your blog post. Underline the content words. Then read it out loud and make those words louder and longer.