Sunday, 13 July 2025

Word Stress and Sentence Stress

 Definition of Word Stress

Word stress refers to the emphasis we place on a particular syllable of a word when speaking. English words with two or more syllables have one syllable that is pronounced more strongly than the others.

Example:

  • TAble → Stress on the first syllable.
  • aBOUT → Stress on the second syllable.
  • imPORtant → Stress on the second syllable.

Definition of Sentence Stress

Sentence stress refers to the emphasis we place on certain words in a sentence. Usually, content words (nouns, main verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) are stressed, while function words (articles, prepositions, pronouns, etc.) are not.

๐Ÿ“Œ Example:

  • She BOUGHT a NEW CAR yesterday.
    (Stress falls on the content words: bought, new, car)

20 Practice Questions on Word Stress

Choose the word with the correct stressed syllable. (a, b, c, or d)

1.      Where is the stress in the word photograph?
a) phoTOgraph
b) PHOtoGRAPH
c) PHOtograph
d) phoTOGraph

2.      Where is the stress in the word education?
a) eduCAtion
b) EDUcation
c) EDucation
d) educaTION

3.      Where is the stress in the word economy?
a) eCONomy
b) EConomy
c) econOmy
d) econoMY

4.      Where is the stress in the word present (as a noun)?
a) preSENT
b) PREsent
c) presENT
d) PreSENT

5.      Where is the stress in the word photographer?
a) phoTOgrapher
b) PHOtographer
c) phoTOGRAPHer
d) phoTOGrapher

6.      Where is the stress in the word university?
a) uniVERsity
b) UNiversity
c) univerSITY
d) uniVERsITY

7.      Where is the stress in the word advertisement?
a) adVERtisement
b) ADvertisement
c) advertiSEment
d) adverTISEment

8.      Where is the stress in the word important?
a) imPORTant
b) IMPORtant
c) imporTANT
d) impoRTANT

9.      Where is the stress in the word development?
a) DEvelopment
b) deVELopment
c) deveLOPment
d) developMENT

10. Where is the stress in the word understand?
a) UNderstand
b) underSTAND
c) unDERstand
d) UNDersTAND

11. Where is the stress in the word banana?
a) BAnaNA
b) baNAna
c) baNAna
d) baNAna

12. Where is the stress in the word politics?
a) poLItics
b) POLitics
c) politiCS
d) poLItiCS

13. Where is the stress in the word engineer?
a) ENgineer
b) engiNEER
c) enGINEer
d) enGINeer

14. Where is the stress in the word organization?
a) orGAnization
b) ORganization
c) organizaTION
d) organiZAtion

15. Where is the stress in the word family?
a) FAmiLY
b) FAmily
c) faMILy
d) famiLY

16. Where is the stress in the word information?
a) INformation
b) inforMAtion
c) informaTION
d) inFORmation

17. Where is the stress in the word engine?
a) ENgine
b) enGINE
c) engINE
d) ENGIne

18. Where is the stress in the word create?
a) CREate
b) creATE
c) CReate
d) creaTE

19. Where is the stress in the word hospital?
a) hosPItal
b) HOSpital
c) hospiTAL
d) hospiTal

20. Where is the stress in the word research (as a noun)?
a) reSEARCH
b) REsearch
c) reseARCH
d) reSearch

 Word Stress Answers with Reasons


1.      photograph
c) PHOtograph
๐Ÿ”น Three-syllable noun: Stress usually falls on the first syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "PHO-to-graph"


2.      education
a) eduCAtion
๐Ÿ”น Words ending in -tion generally have stress on the syllable before -tion.
๐Ÿ“ "ed-u-CA-tion"


3.      economy
a) eCONomy
๐Ÿ”น Four-syllable words with suffix -y usually stress the second syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "e-CON-o-my"


4.      present (noun)
b) PREsent
๐Ÿ”น Noun: stress usually on the first syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "PRE-sent" (gift, current time)
๐Ÿ” Verb form is "pre-SENT".


5.      photographer
d) phoTOGrapher
๐Ÿ”น Derived from "photograph", but stress shifts to the second syllable before -er.
๐Ÿ“ "pho-TOG-ra-pher"


6.      university
c) univerSITY
๐Ÿ”น Words ending in -ity are stressed on the syllable before "-ity".
๐Ÿ“ "u-ni-ver-SI-ty"


7.      advertisement** (British English)
b) ADvertisement
๐Ÿ”น In British English, the stress is on the first syllable: AD-ver-tise-ment.
๐Ÿ” In American English, stress may fall on the third syllable.


8.      important
a) imPORTant
๐Ÿ”น Words ending in -ant usually have stress on the second syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "im-PORT-ant"


9.      development
b) deVELopment
๐Ÿ”น With -ment endings, stress often falls on the second syllable of the root.
๐Ÿ“ "de-VEL-op-ment"


10. understand
b) underSTAND
๐Ÿ”น For most three-syllable verbs, especially compound ones, stress falls on the last syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "un-der-STAND"


11. banana
b) baNAna
๐Ÿ”น Words from foreign origin or with three syllables often stress the middle syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "ba-NA-na"


12. politics
b) POLitics
๐Ÿ”น Nouns ending in -ics often stress the first syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "POL-i-tics"


13. engineer
b) engiNEER
๐Ÿ”น Words ending in -eer typically have stress on the last syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "en-gi-NEER"


14. organization
c) organizaTION
๐Ÿ”น Words ending in -tion stress the syllable before "-tion".
๐Ÿ“ "or-ga-ni-ZA-tion"


15. family
b) FAmily
๐Ÿ”น Common three-syllable nouns often stress the first syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "FAM-i-ly"


16. information
c) informaTION
๐Ÿ”น Stress is on the syllable before "-tion".
๐Ÿ“ "in-for-MA-tion"


17. engine
a) ENgine
๐Ÿ”น Two-syllable nouns typically stress the first syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "EN-gine"


18. create
b) creATE
๐Ÿ”น Two-syllable verbs often stress the second syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "cre-ATE"


19. hospital
b) HOSpital
๐Ÿ”น Three-syllable nouns often stress the first syllable.
๐Ÿ“ "HOS-pi-tal"


20. research (noun)
b) REsearch
๐Ÿ”น Noun form: stress is on the first syllable.
๐Ÿ” Verb form: "re-SEARCH"
๐Ÿ“ "RE-search"


Let me know if you'd like a printable table version or more practice!

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