Tập bài giảng ngữ âm thực hành

TẬP BÀI GIẢNG
NGỮ ÂM THỰC HÀNH
(PRONUNCIATION IN USE)
i
LỜI NÓI ĐẦU
Các em sinh viên thân mến!
Để bước đầu làm quen với việc phát âm tiếng Anh, chúng tôi xin giới thiệu tập
bài giảng “Ngữ Âm Tiếng Anh Thực Hành” được biên soạn cho 03 đơn vị học trình,
dành cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất hệ cao đẳng sư phạm tiếng Anh chính qui. Đây là
tập hợp các bài học về ngữ âm nhằm giúp các em nắm chắc các hiện tượng ngữ âm cơ
bản, đồng thời tạo cơ hội cho các em vận dụng thực hành việc phát âm tiếng Anh
chuẩn. Tập bài giảng gồm hai phần:
Phần 1: Nội dung, gồm 10 bài học về các hiện tượng ngữ âm cơ bản trong tiếng Anh
Phần 2: Đáp án cho các bài tập thực hành.
Mỗi bài học được chia thành 4 mục:
Mục 1: Mục đích của bài học
Mục 2: Nội dung bài học
Mục 3: Thực hành
Mục 4: Bài tập về nhà
Hi vọng với sự chăm chỉ và cần cù học tập, các em sẽ tích cực luyện tập và khai thác
tốt những kiến thức trong tập bài giảng này.
Chúc các em thành công trong việc học và vận dụng tiếng Anh!
TÁC GIẢ
ii
TABLE OF CONTENT
PART I: CONTENT………………………………………………………………….1
UNIT 1: SPEECH ORGANS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS………………………… 1
UNIT 2: VOWELS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION …………………………… 3
UNIT 3: CONSONANTS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION ……………………….9
UNIT 4: OTHER CONSONANTS ………………………………………………….15
UNIT 5: WORD STRESS ………………………………………………………… 20

UNIT 6: PHRASE STRESS AND SENTENCE STRESS ………………………….26
UNIT 7: STRONG FORM AND WEAK FORM ………………………………… 31
UNIT 8: ELISION AND LINKING SOUNDS………………………………………37
UNIT 9: ASSIMILATION ………………………………………………………… 43
UNIT 10: PITCH AND INTONATION …………………………………………… 48
PART 2: ANSWER KEYS………………………………………………………….55
1
PART I: CONTENT
UNIT 1: SPEECH ORGANS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS
I. OBJECTIVES
- To study the organs of speech, and their functions.
II. CONTENT
2.1. General
The sounds of English are all produced by the air which comes from
the lungs into the throat (pharynx) and then passes through the nose
or the mouth. The parts of the body that are used to modify this
stream of air in order to produce different sounds are the organs of
speech. E.g. We have the sound /p/ when the two lips are used —>
as are among the organs of speech.
2.2. Description
2.2.1. Points of articulation
Points of articulation are the speech organs at which the articulators
touch or nearly touch during the production of a particular sound.
They are : - upper lip : opposite to the lower lip.
- upper teeth I between the upper lip and the tooth ridge.
- Tooth ridge or alveolar ridge : The small ridge just behind the
upper teeth.
- Hard palate : The hard part of the roof of the mouth.
- Soft palate : The soft part of the roof of the mouth.
2

2.2.2. Articulators
Articulators are the most movable speech organs. They are :
- Lower lip : Facing the upper lip.
- Lower teeth : between the lower lip and the tip of tongue.
- Tip of tongue : opposite to the alveolar ridge, it can touch the
teeth, the alveolar ridge and the hard palate.
- Front of tongue : facing the hard palate.
3
- Middle of tongue : between the front and the back of the tongue.
It can touch the hard palate and the soft palate.
- Back of tongue : the end part of the tongue that can touch the soft
palate.
- Velum or Uvula : the extreme back of the roof of the mouth that
can be raised or lowered to open or close the passage to the nasal
cavity.
- Vocal cords : in the throat (Adam’s apple). They may open or
close and let the air pass through the opening between them.
When they are apart, the air can pass out freely without the
vibration. Then we have voiceless sounds. But when they close
tightly and open rapidly, there is vibration we have voiced
sounds.
- Jaw: it can move up or down to change the size of the oral cavity.
- Epiglottis : in the pharynx.
III. PRACTICE
Exercise 1: Draw the organs of speech and point out their names.
Exercise 2: What do we need first when we speak?
Exercise 3: What are voiceless / voiced sounds? How are they
produced?
IV. HOMEWORK
Learn by heart names of speech organs and their functions.

4
UNIT 2: VOWELS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION
I. OBJECTIVES
- To study 4 types of Vowels
- To practise thesetypes
- To develop the student's patience in studying
II. CONTENT:
V0WEL SOUNDS
2.1
. Long vowels (5 long vowels: /i:, u:, ɔ:, a:,
3:
, æ/
)
Open your mouth very
little to make the sound /i:/
First practice the sound
/ɔ/, then put the back of
your tongue
a little to
make the sound /
ɔ
:/
Put your tonguedown and back
to make the sound /a:/
l' -
First practise the sound /u/
,
then put
your tongue up and back to make the
sound

/u:/
5
2.2. Short vowels: (6 short vowels /i, e, ɔ,, ə, u / )
First practise the sound /i:/.Then open your
mouth a little more to make the sound ill
First practise the sound /
æ
/.
Then
First make the sound
/3:/
.
Then put your
tongue back a little co make make it very short
.
This is/
ə
/, (a
the sound
/

/
(a very short sound)
very short sound)
First practise the sound
/
ɔ
:/
, then put your tongue
forward and up a little to make the sound / 3:/

First practise the sound ill
.
Then
open your mouth a little more to
make the sound /e/
First practise the sound /
æ
/.Then
put your tongue slightly back and
bring your lips slightlyforward: /ɔ/
First practise the sound /ɔ/
.
Then put the
back
of your tongue forward and up alittle
to make the sound /u/.
First practice the sound /e/
.
Then
open your
mouth a little more to
make the sound /
æ
/
6
2.3. Dipthongs : (8 dipthongs /ai, ei, au, eə, iə, ɔi, uə, əu/)
First practise the sound /a:/ (a long
sound
.
Then add /i/(a short sound),

we have
/ai/
First practise the sound
/
æ
/
.
Now
add /u/.
We have /au/
First practise the sound /e/
.
Now
First make the sound /i/.
Now
Make it longer and add /
ə
/. It's
/e
ə
/
add /ə/
.
We have /iə/.
First say /
ɔ
:/
. Now make it longer First say/ə/. Now make it longer:
ɔɔɔ. Then add /i/
.

This is very short. əəə.
Then add jut
. This is very short.
We have /
ɔi/.
We have /
ə
u/.
First make the sound /e/. now make
it longer: eee
.
Then add /i/, and we
have /ei/
7
2.4.
Tripthongs (5 tripthongs:
aiə, auə, eiə, ɔiə, əuə/
Long vowels
Short vowels
Dipthongs
Tripthongs
/i: , u:, ɔ:, a:,
3:/)
/i, e, æ, ɔ,, ə, u /
/ai, ei, au, eə, iə, ɔi,
uə, əu/
/aiə, auə, eiə, ɔiə,
əuə/
III.PRACTICE
Exercise 1:

a. Classify /i:/ and /I/:
Evening, tin, easy, eat, it, since, this, meat, teach, film, interesting, tea, sea, seen,
sit, seat, minute, fifty, cheese, chinese, free, three, be, she, pleased…
b. Classify /a:/ and /  /:
Cut, cup, cart, card, done, come, mar, march, must, darn, last, lust, heart, harm, hut,
much, calm, farm…
c. Classify /u:/ and / u/:
Look, cook, book, soot, shoot, pull, pool, could, shoe, suit, stood, stewed, to, too,
wooed, wood, food, cool…
d. Classify / æ / and / e /:
Dad, dead, dense, man, send, many, mad, any, at, stretch, sat, head, hand, fan, can,
land, set, met, letter , fed, catch…
e. Classify / o: / and / o / :
Corn, cord, copy, swan, sworn, sod, soared, shot, stock, talk, spot, sport, chalk, shock,
loss, got, caught, bought…
f. Classify / з / and / ә /:
Her, teacher, heard, shirt, the, first, fur, stir, sister, prefer, refer, skirt, hurt, learn,
today, sir, brother, occur, …
g. Classify / au / and / әu /:
Now, no, show, how, hoe, loud, load, tone, town, couch, know, noun, known, foal,
fowl, rouse, rose, stout, stoat, found, phone…
h. Classify / iә /, / eә /, / uә /:
/aiə/
/auə/
/eiə/
liar: /laiər/
Power: /pauər/
layer: /leiər/
fire:/faiər/
Hour: /auər/

player: /pleiər/
/ɔiə/
/əuə/
royal: /rɔiəl/
Lower: /ləuər/
Lawyer: /lɔiər/
Summary: Classification of vowel sounds
8
Hear, hair, sure, tour, wear, near, fear, year, stair, cure, beard, cheer, scared,
careful, fierce, moor, shared, careless, theatre…
Exercise 2: Write the symbols for the vowels in the following words, then speak
aloud.
Exercise 3: Transcribe the following words, then read aloud.
1. Book
2. Private
3. Communicative
4. Language
5. Chemical
6. Nationality
7. There
8. Something
9. Patience
10.Sandwich
Exercise 4: Long vowel sounds
or
short vowel sounds
ship & Sheep bean & chicken
pot & ball cord & cod
store &stock book & boot
Exercise 5: Choose the word with the different pronunciation of the underlined part.

1.A.idea B. repeat C. cheat D. feast
2.A.cook B. fool C. moon D. tool
3.A.nature B. angel C. frankly D. aging
4.A.study B. ready C. puppy D. occupy
5.A.event B. lend C. even D. dentist
6.A.behind B. decline C. timing D. distrust
7. A. show B. cow C. slow D. blow
8. A. lively B. life C. like D. live
9. A. some B. woman C. come D. love
10.A.boss B. hot C. stone D. cost
Exercise 6: Work in pairs. Think of two things that these adjectives can describe
1. Common
2. Good
3. Comfortable
4. Horrible
5. Funny
V. HOMEWORK
Exercise 1: Distinguish between /i/ and /i:/
1. A. sheep b. ship
2. A. bean b. bin
3. A. cheeks b. chicks
4. A. cheap b. chip
5. A. Heel b. hill
6. A. peel b. pill
Bread potato
Beer pea
Butter pork
Bean peach
Bamboo pear
9

Exercise 2: Match the words in each group that contain the same vowel sound.
Watch good just push blood book
Looks stopped got lunch not long
Shut stuck pull cough cook cut
Exercise 3: All the following words include the letter ‘u’. how is it pronounced? Write
the words in the table.
/  /
/u/
/u:/
Exercise 4: Read the dialogue
In a restaurant
Peter: What would you like to eat, Edith?
Edith: A meat sandwich.
Peter: Jean? Would you like a meat sandwich or a cheese sandwich?
Jean: A cheese sandwich, please, Peter.
Waiter: Good evening.
Peter: Good evening. We’ll have one meat sandwich and two cheese sandwiches.
Edith: And three teas, please!
Waiter: (writing down the order) One meat sandwich … two cheese sandwiches … and …
three teas.
Include customer full supermarket
June gun pull Sunday
Flu put push number
10
UNIT 3: CONSONANTS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION
I. OBJECTIVES
- To classify Consonant sounds (3 types): plosives, nasals, and fricatives
- To practise these types
- To develop the student's patience in studying
II. CONTENT

2.1. Definition of consonants
A consonant is produced with an obstruction or constriction of the air stream formed in the
mouth by the organs of speech. The air stream from the lungs is stopped or obstructed
somewhere in the mouth before rushing out. This forms different consonants.
2.2. Classification of consonants (part 1)
We classify the consonant according to the manner of the pronouncing (i.e. the ways the organs
work to modify the air stream) we have:
2.2.1. Plosives (stop consonants):
- How to produce: in producing stop consonants, the breath is completely stopped at
some point in the mouth, then released suddenly with an explosive sound.
- There are 6 plosives /p, b, t, d, k, g/
- /p, t, k/ voiceless – strong consonants
- /b, d, g/ voiced – weak consonants
(1) Close your lips hard. Put air forward in your
mouth.
(2)
Open your lips quickly.
It’s/p/.
First practise /p/. Then use your
voice to make
/b/.
(1). Put the front of your tongue behind your
top teeth. Put air
forward
in your mouth.
(2).
Move your tongue away. It 's /t/
First practise /t/
.
Then use your

voice to make /d/.
11
1 2
2.2.2.Nasals :
-How to produce: in producing nasal consonants, the breath is completely stopped in
the mouth (as for the plosive consonants) but is permitted come through the nose.
-There are 3 voiced nasal consonants /m, n, η /
(1)
. Touch the back roof of your mouth with
the back of your tongue. Put air forward in
your mouth
.
(2)
. Then move your tongue
away
.
We have /k/.
First practice /k/. then use your voice
to make /g/
Close your lips
.
Use your voice.
/m/ comes through your nose.
Touch the back of the roof of your mouth with
the back of your
tongue
.
Use your voice, /η
/
comes through your nose.

Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Touch your side
teeth with the sides of your tongue, use your voice. /n/ comes
through your nose.
12
2.2.3. Fricatives :
- How to produce: In producing friction consonants, the oral cavity (air passage is
narrowed because the speech organs have moved close together, the air stream is not
completely stopped but constricted then passes out of the mouth and causes fricative
sounds.
- There are 9 fricatives /s, z, , ʒ, f, v, h, , ð /
- /s, , f,  / are strong – voiceless consonants
- /z, ʒ, v, ð / are weak – voiced consonants
Touch your side teeth with the
sides
of your tongue. Put your tongue
forward. Do not use your voice.
It's /s/.
First practise /s/
.
Then use your voice
to make /z/.
First practise/s/.
Then put your tongue
up and back a little tomake /

/.
First practise //
.
Then use
your

voice
to
make/
ʒ
/.
Touch your top teeth with your bottom lip.
Blow out air between your lips and your
teeth. We have /f/.
First practise/f/. Then use your voice
to make /v/.
13
III. PRACTICE
Exercise 1:
a. Classify /  / and /  /:
Think, thigh, though, thought, breath, breathe, bath, bathe, cloth, clothe, clothing,
clothes, threaten, although…
b. Classify / s / and / ∫ /:
She, see, sugar, seat, sound, show, sure, suit, sugary, sunny, soon, saturn, shrink,
scream, settle, surely…
c. Classify / s / and / z / :
See, seat, please, mouse, pass, mass, bags, close, has, sum, sick, tease, sues, rise,
lays, eyes…
d. Classify/ ∫ / and / ʒ /:
Measure, English, Pleasure, shave, shack, television, sheet, azure, rush, confusion,
rouge, wish, shampoo, delusion…
e. Classify /f/ and /v/:
Laugh, live, leave, cough, vote, friend, coffee, gave, prove, relief, proof, never, offer,
marvel, feel,…
f. Classify /t/ and /  /:
Tin, thin, tanks, thanks, thigh, bath, tie, bat, mat, fate, math, faith, tent, tenth

Push a lot of air out very quickly
.
Do not touch the
roof of your mouth with your tongue
.
We have
/h/.
Put your tongue between your teeth Blow
out air between your tongue and your top
teeth
.
We have //.
First practice //
.
Then use your voice to
make / ð /.
14
g. Classify /d/ and //:
Dan, than, day, dare, doze, there, idea, either, breed, load, breathe, loathe, die,
brother, did, mother.
Exercise 2: Transcribe the following words, then read aloud.
1. creature
2. climb
3. luggage
4. essay
5. tournament
6. abbreviation
7. moustache
8. feudalism
9. weightlessness

10.recognizable
Exercise 3: Find out cases in which /h/ is not pronounced (as a silent sound)
Hat hour honest honey humorous honor Hannah
vehicle heard heir exhausted Thai Heart ghost
Exercise 4: Choose the word with the different pronunciation of the underlined part.
1. A. dubbing B. robot C. climbing D. sober
2. A. they B. clothes C. therefore D. think
3. A. news B. papers C. stations D. adults
4. A. although B. cough C. though D. through
5. A. season B. first C. plastic D. waste
6. A. cease B. chase C. increase D. raise
7. A. knees B. papers C. trees D. bats
8. A. enough B. tough C. laugh D. though
9. A. breathe B. with C. thermal D. clothing
10. A. education B. individual C. procedure D. product
11. A. this B. thick C. maths D. thin
12. A. sugar B see C. say D. sky
13. A. horse B. hour C. hundred D. head
14. A. go B. large C. angry D. give
15. A. sugar B. pressure C. chess D. fashion
15
IV. HOMEWORK
Exercise 1: Say the rules for prouncing the ending “ed” of regular verbs in the past
tense. Give examples.
Exercise 2: Explain how the air passage is narrowed in producing the sounds /f/ and
/s/
Exercise 3: Tran scribe the underlined letter in the following sentences.
1. Three thirty
2. The bathroom’s through there.
3. They’re brothers, aren’t they?

4. When does it get there?
5. Is that Tom and David?
6. That’s OK.
Exercise 4: Write the sentences in Exercise 3 in the spaces in these conversations. Then
practice the conversations.
1. A: Where’s the toilet?
B: …………………………
A: thanks.
B: ………………………….
2. A: What time’s the train to Doncaster?
B: ………………………….
A: ………………………….
B: Ten twenty-three.
3. A: ………………………….
B: Yes. They’re always together.
A: ………………………….
B: That’s right.
16
UNIT 4: OTHER CONSONANTS
I. OBJECTIVES:
- To classify Consonant sounds (4 types): non- fricatives, affricatives, semi-vowels,
and consonant clusters.
- To practice these types
- To develop the student’s patience in studying
II. CONTENT: Classification of consonants (part 2)
2.1. Non- fricatives :
- How to produce: The tip of the tongue is firmly pressed against the tooth
ridge or the teeth, so that the air can escape at one or both sides of the tongue.
- There are 2 voiced non- fricatives /l, r/.
2.2. Affricatives :

- How to produce: The production of affricative consonants is similar to that of
plosive consonants, but the release of the air is less sudden, so that it sounds
like a plosive consonant followed by a fricative one.
- There are 2 affricatives /t, dʒ/
- /t/ is voiceless consonant.
- /dʒ/ is voiced consonant.
First practise /n/
.
To make /l/, the air
goes over the sides of your tongue and
out of your mouth.
Turn the tip of your tongue up as in the
picture
.
Do not touch the roof of mouth
with your tongue
.
It's/r/
17
2.3. Glides or semi-vowels :
- How to produce: semi-vowels are gliding sounds in which the organs of
speech start at or near a close vowel and immediately move away to some
other vowels.
- There are 2 voiced semi-vowels /w, j/
Summary: Classification of consonant sounds
Plosives
Nasals
Fricatives
Non-fricatives
Affricatives

Semi-vowels
/p, b, t, d, k, g/
/m, n, η /
/s, z, , ʒ, f, v,
h, , ð /
/l, r/
/t, dʒ/
/w, j/
(
1)
. Begin to make /t/. (2)Then slowly
move your tongue from the roof
of your mouth
.
It's/
t
/.
First practise
/
t
/
. Then use your voice
to make
/dʒ/.
First practise /i:/, very quickly move
your tongue to make the next sound
Do not touch the roof of your month
with your tongue.
It's/j/.
First practise /u:/. Make your lips

round and hard for /w/
.
/w/
is a short
sound.
18
2.4. Consonant clusters
- Groups of two, three or more consonants said together with no intervening of vowel
are called clusters.
- Vietnamese has no sequences of consonants, or only very few and very short ones.
e.g: Tết này : /t n/ , Việt Nam : /t n/, nghĩ : /ngh/ , không : /kh/ , trong : /tr/ , …
- In contrast, English has many consonant clusters:
2.4.1. / s / + / p, t, k, f, m, n, w, j /
Spy, stay, sky, smile, snow, sleep, swear, suit, speak,…
2.4.2. / p / + / l, r, j /:
Plough, play, proud, pray, pure, puritant,…
2.4.3. / t / + / r, w, j /:
Tree, try, twin, twice, tune, tunic,…
2.4.4. / k / + / l, r, w, j /:
Clerk, clay, crown, cry, quite, quick, cure, curious,…
2.4.5. / b / + / l, r ,j /:
Blind, blow, blown, brown, bring, brick, beauty, bureau,….
2.4.6. / g / + / l, r /:
Glass, glance, grass, grow,…
2.4.7. / d / + / r, w, j /:
Draw, dress, dwell, dwinkle, duty, duke,…
2.4.8. / f / + / l, r, j /:
Fly, flat, free, frozen, few, fuse,…
2.4.9. /  / + / r, w /:
Throw, throat, thwart, thwack,…

2.4.10. / v / + / j /:
View, viewer,…
2.4.11. / ∫ / + / r /:
Shrink, shriek,…
2.4.12. / m / + / j /:
Music, mule,…
2.4.13. / n / + / j /:
New, nude,…
2.4.14. / spr /: spread, spray, …
2.4.15. / str /: strand, stray, string,…
2.4.16. / skr /: scratch…
2.4.17. / spj /: spure, spurious, …
2.4.18. / spl /: splendid, split,…
2.4.19. / stj /: stupid, student,…
2.4.20. / skj /: skew, skewer,…
2.4.21. / skw /: square, squash,…
19
III. PRACTICE
Exercise 1:
a. Classify / k/ and / t∫ /:
Chess, chimney, choice, chaos, chemist, chest, chemical, chicken, cheap, catch,
chemistry, school, scholar…
b. Classify /∫/and / t∫ /:
Ships, chips, sheep, sherry, cherry, cheap, chop, catch, shop, cash, wash, watch, shin,
shoes, chin, choose, dish, ditch, leaches, leashes
c. Classify / t∫ / and /dʒ/:
Cheap, jeep, choke, joke, gin, jerry, cherry, larch, large, H, age, search, surge, chilly,
jilly, cheer, chain, jeer, Jane.
d. Classify/d/ and /dʒ/:
Debt, jet, jeep, deep, deer, doe, joe, dust, just, raider, aiding, bad, rager, aging, badge,

seed, siege, paid, page.
e. Classify/z/ and /dʒ/:
Zest, jest, zip, gypt, A’s, age, stays, stage, pays, page, chains, seizes, raising, change,
sieges, raging, hues, huge.
f. Classify / t / and / t∫ /:
Chalk, talk, tap, tear, tease, chap, cheer, tease, two, coating, chew, chair, coaching,
teeter, teacher, cat, art, catch, arch.
Exercise 2: Transcribe the following words, then read aloud.
Salary boss
Private produce
Rich village
Classroom scream
Flood square
Exercise 3: Hear the teacher reading the conversation and practice with a partner.
Peter: Mark, can I borrow $ 10 for a couple of days?
Mark :
I’m always lending you money
.
You still owe me the $ 50 I lent
you last week.
Peter:
Don't worry
. I’ll
pay you back.
Mark: Sure.
When? At Christmas?
Peter: No, on Friday
.
I promise.
Exercise 4: Choose the word in each that has the underlined part pronounced

differently from the rest.
1. A. teach B. cheap C. school D. church
2. A. While B. white C. Which D. Who
3. A. cheap B. children C. chemist D. church
4. A. church B. chemistry C. chorus D. chemical
5. A. pollution B. question C. attraction D. condition
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IV. HOMEWORK
Exercise 1: Transcribe the following sentences and words.
1. There’s cherry in my sherry.
2. There’s too much of that mush.
3. Language, George, Churchill, damage, agency, passenger.
Exercise 2: Prounce these words. Underline and transcribe all the affricative
sounds.
Peaches sugar orange juice jam chicken cherries
Champagne cheese mushrooms cabbage chocolate fish
Fresh vegetables milk shake chips
Exercise 3: Pronounce the words on the left. Then choose a suitable word to fill the
blank in each sentence on the right.
(Remember to link the consonant sound at the end of the word with the vowel sound at the
beginning of the next word.)
Exercise 4: Underline all the /w/ sound in this conversation. Can you find any “w”
letters that are not pronounced /w/ ?
A: What’s the weather like?
B: Awful. It’s wet and windy.
A: Shall we have a walk anyway?
B: Let’s wait twenty minutes.
Door
Hour
Their

Neither
Year
Mother
Far
Brother
1. Is the ……… ……… open?
2. They’ve forgotten ……………… air tickets.
3. She’s my ……………. in – law.
4. He started his new job a …………………. ago.
5. I’ve been waiting for an………………… and a half.
6. My …………… is order than me.
7. Do you live ……………… away?
8. …………………… am I.
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UNIT 5: WORD STRESS
I. OBJECTIVES
- To study the basic rules of word stress
- To practice pronouncing a word stress in which stress occur
- To develop the concentration in studying
II. CONTENT
2.1. General
2.1.2. Definition
Stress is the degree of loudness or prominence with which a sound or a word is
pronounced.
2.1.2. Kinds of stress
There arẹ three kinds of stress: word stress, phrase stress, and sentence stress.
Word stress is fixed whereas stress and sentence stress vary with the context in which they
are found.
2.2. Word stress
Introduction:

- When a word has more than one syllable, one of them is spoken with more force
than the rest. This force is called stress, and the syllable which is stressed is shown with
stress - marks / ' /. In some words, usually long ones, other syllable may also be
spoken with more force than the rest, but with a stress that
is not as strong as for those
syllables marked /'/
. The stress - mark /
, /
is used
to show this
. So, / ' / is used to show the
strongest or
primary
stress, and
/ , /
is
used to show the secondary stress (which is
less strong).
For example; investigation /in ,vesti'gei(ə)n/.
- The main stress of a word may occur on any syllable in English.
For instance:
distaff:/
'dista:f/ and
cigar: /
si 'ga:/ .
- In the course book, we will mark the stressed syllable by writing it bigger than others.
For example: investiGAtion DIStaff ciGAR
2.2.1. Basic rules of English word stress
There are two very simple rules about word stress:
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 One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two
stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there
can be a “secondary” stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller
than the main “primary” stress, and is only used in long words.)
 We can only stress vowels, not consonants.
Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the
stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to
try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally.
a. Stress on first syllable
Rule
Example
Most 2-syllable nouns
PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble
Most 2-syllable adjectives
PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy
Words ending in er, or, or ly
DIRect/DIRector, ORder/Orderly, MANage/MANager
Word ending in a consonant or y
RARity, Optimal, GRADient, CONtainer
Numbers
TEN, FIFty, ONEhundred
b. Stress on last syllable
Rule
Example
Most 2-syllable verbs (especially, verbs
have the 2
nd
syllable containing long vowels,
dipthongs, tripthongs or ending by more
than one consonants)

to preSENT, to exPORT, to
deCIDE, to beGIN
Most 2-syllable prepositions
aMONG, aSIDE, beTWEEN
Reflexive pronouns
mySELF, themSELVES,
ourSELVES
There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a
change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first
syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second
syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contract
and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or
second syllable.