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Home | English Pronunciation Pod 16 | |
Podcast Archive | Saturday August 19th, 2017
The Focus of this Week's Podcast: In this week's podcast we're going to learn how to determine syllable stress in words of three or more syllables. General Rule: In order to determine the syllable stress of words of three or more syllables in English, you want to look at the suffix of the word. The suffix is the ending, the end part of a word. The suffix of a word will act as a signal. By recognizing the suffix of the word, you wil be able to determine Today's podcast will focus on a specific group of suffixes. Example: suffix <ful> has no effect on the stress of root form. root: beauty: stress falls on the first syllable (long vowel and higher on pitch on first syllable) Add suffix <ful> to beauty- beautiful The stress stays on the same first syllable because <ful> is one of those suffixes which has no effect on the syllable stress. Exercise: Suffixes which do not change the syllable stress of the root. Suffix: <able> believe... believable... depend... dependable... understand ... suffix:<ful> beauty... beautiful... power ... powerful... suspense... suffix:<ment> invest ... investment... develop... development... establish .... suffix:<ness> happy... happiness... forgive... forgiveness... ugly... suffix:<ed> (simple past tense) prevent ...prevented ...mention... mentioned... appreciate... suffix:<er>(comparative form) funny... funnier ... happy... happier... fancy... suffix:<ing> (present continous and gerunds) decide... deciding... finish... finishing... calculate... Today's lesson is just the beginning of our discussion of syllable stress for words with three or more syllables. In future lessons, we're going to look at some suffixes which affect the syllable stress of the root. You Need More Training! If you're looking for more training with syllable stress, I recommend Best Accent Training mp3s- a full English Pronunciation course in mp3 format. Any questions, comments or suggestions ? Contact us at: contact@englishpronunciationpod.com Thank you and see you next time!
Photograph photography photgraphic Why is this? The reason the stress is moving is due to the suffix of each word. There are certain suffixes which will determine where the stress falls. Whenever you see the suffix, graphy the stress willl fall right before the suffix, one syllable before. Example: geography Whenever you see the suffix ic the stress will fall immediately before the suffix. Example: economic Here are some important suffixes for which the stress falls immediately before the suffix: cial, tion and ic
Exercise: Listen and repeat the following suffixes and words.
suffix: cial financial Suffix: tion information Suffix:ic electric Exercise: Listen and repeat the following pairs of words. root root+suffix finance financial root root+suffix commerce commercial root root+suffix inform information We were informed that the information was not correct. root root+suffix assasin assasination
root root+suffix fantasy fantastic root root+suffix economy economic The economy follows certain rules of economics.
Again, if you can remember the syllable stress of a word just by feeling the rhythm, musically, that's good! I definitely encourage you to try to learn that way. At the same time, it's good to know these rules for reference and knowledge, in case you have to figure out the syllable stress of a new word. Looking for more practice? Try Best Accent Training mp3s! Any questions, comments or suggestions ? Contact us at: contact@englishpronunciationpod.com Thank you and see you next time! | "Excellent! |
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