Word Stress-Content Words

If you watched the intro to word stress video then you know that English is a language in which word stress is very important. Stress word syllables are higher in pitch, and usually longer in duration, reduced syllables are syllables that are lower in pitch an usually very very quick. For example in the sentence "Dad's at the bank", "Dad" and "bank" are both higher in pitch. They are the stressed words in the sentence, "Dad's at the bank", the words "at" and "the" are sounded very quickly [ətðə], [ətðə], and are also lower in pitch. "Dad's at the bank". So how do you know Which words within a sentence should be stressed? , words that are usually stressed in a sentence are called Content words. Words that are not usually stressed, sometimes reduced, are called Function words. This video today will focus on Content words or the words that are stressed. There are four categories, Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, and Adjectives. We'll go over each one with an example. A Noun is a person, place or thing. For example "Rachel", "Sister", "Glass", "Phone", "Beach", "School". In the sample sentence given earlier. "Dad's at the bank" both "Dad" and "bank" are nouns. A verb is a part of speech that depicts the action "to drive", "to eat", "to say". In the sentence "She went to the store", "went" is the verb and you would notice that it is stressed, it is higher in pitch. "She went to the store", "store" is also higher in pitch, also stressed, it is a noun, which is also a content word. An Adverb is a word that describes a Verb, it often, though not always ends in "ly". Examples: "quietly", "quickly", "often", "usually". In the sample sentence "He'll be here soon", "soon" is the Adverb. "He'll be here soon". It is stressed, higher in pitch. "He'll be here soon". An Adjective is a word that describes a noun. For example, "boring", "smart", "funny". In the sample sentence, "She took the red car", "red" is the Adjective, it is stressed, higher in pitch. "She took the red car". So these are the four categories of Content words. Content words being where are usually stressed in a sentence. Let's look at some example sentences, "Sometimes is hard to walk in a single woman´s shoes". Which words did you hear as being stressed? Higher in pitch. "Sometimes is hard to walk in a single woman´s shoes", I heard three, "hard", "single", and "shoes". So two adjectives and one noun. Now those were not the only content words in the sentence. "Sometimes" is an adverb, and that's a Content word. "Sometimes is hard" but "hard" was stressed at a higher level. "Sometimes is hard to walk" "walk" is a verb, again a content word. But it hasn't brought up as high as the other ones, the word "to" was reduced [tə], [tə], "to walk", "Sometimes is hard to walk", [tə], [tə]. "in a", also those words were reduced [ɪnə], [ɪnə]. "single woman´s", now "woman" again, This is a noun, but it wasn't stressed as much as "single" or "shoes". "single woman's shoes". As you can see in this sentence, all of the stressed words were Content words. But not everyone of the Content words was stressed. "Sometimes is hard to walk in a single woman´s shoes". "Bob and I finally received our wedding gift from Michael". "Bob and I" "Bob" is stressed more than "and I". "Bob and I finally" "finally" is given the most stress here. It's an adverb. "Bob and I finally received" "received" is a verb but is not as high as "finally", the stress is on "finally", as if they've been waiting for it. "Bob and I finally received our wedding gift" "our wedding gift" "wedding gift" being a noun. "from Michael". "Michael" also being a noun. "Bob and I finally received our wedding gift from Michael". "Bob and I finally received our wedding gift from Michael". These Content words are just to give you an idea of what might be stressed in a sentence. There are always exceptions. For example in the following sentence. "Now let the world come to you", the word "you" was stressed in this sentence. "Now let the world come to you". "you" is a pronoun which is a Function word, not a Content word so it is normally not stressed in a sentence. But they did stressed here for emphasis. And you will find that sometimes words that are not Content words are stressed within a sentence, usually to draw attention an emphasis to that idea. Now that you know what Content words are, go out and stress them!