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Stress

What is stress?

Stress is the way that words are pronounced and which sounds are pronounced stronger than other sounds.

Example:

LesSON – the second sound (son) is pronounced stronger than the first sound (les).

Are there any rules for stress in English?

Yes there are. Here are the main rules.

1. Nouns and verbs with the same spelling

When we have nouns and verbs with the same spelling, the stressed sounds are different.

Nouns normally have the first sound stressed.

Verbs normally have the second sound stressed.

Examples:

DEcrease (noun) / DeCREASE (verb)

PROtest (noun) / proTEST (verb)

TRANSfer (noun) / transFER (verb)

2. Words with one sound

Words with only one sound stress that sound.

Examples:

DOG (the whole word is stressed

HAT (the whole word is stressed)

PANTS (the whole word is stressed)

3. Compound words

Words with two nouns joined together normally have the stress on the first sound.

Examples:

DRUGstore

NOTEbook

TOOTHpaste

4. Longer words ending in 'cy', 'phy' and 'al'

With longer words ending in ‘cy’, ‘phy’ and ‘al’, the stress is normally the third last sound in the word.

Examples:

LOgical

PHARmacy

PhoTOGraphy

5. Two sound adjectives

Two sound adjectives normally have the stress on the first sound of the word.

Examples:

CLEver

FREEzing

HAppy

How can I find out where the stress should be?

The best way to find out where the stress should be in words is to look in an online dictionary such as the Cambridge Language Learner’s Dictionary.

Let’s pretend you search for the word ‘runner’.

You will see something like this: ˈrʌnər

The little dot next to the ‘r’ tells you where the stress is.

The little dot tells you that the stress is after the little dot.

So in this word, it is pronounced RUNner. The first sound is stressed.

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