2017م - 1444هـ
Stress

Stress is the force of breath with which a sound or a syllable is pronounced. In the stressed syllables, the vowel is the syllable is longer than that in the unstressed syllable and also has louder voice.



Stressed and unstressed words

In English, there are two types of words:

1- Content words are words that have the most information in a sentence. They are words that convey meaning. They are usually nouns, main verbs, adverbs, adjectives, question words, and demonstratives ( this, that )

2- Structural words are the grammatical words that hold the content words together. They are pronouns, prepositions, "to be" verbs, and auxiliary verbs. They are de-emphasized and unstressed because they do not carry meaning.

If the sentences or the group of words is looked upon as building the content words are the blocks and he structure words are the cement.

Levels of stress

1- primary or loudest stress usually marked /

2- secondary or second loudest stress usually marked

3- tertiary or third loudest stress usually marked