Grade 7 — FIRST MONTHLY NOTE TAKING and LISTENING Word Stress Rule

Listening Strategies 1. Nouns and adjectives with two syllables

Exam Coverage
The rule: When a noun or an adjective has two sylla-
1. Know what to listen for bles, the stress is usually on the first syllable.
1. Pitch, stress, intonation, and speech rate
2. Take note of relevant details Examples: table /TA-ble/ , scissors /SCI-ssors/
2. Note taking skills and multiple intelligences 3. Ask questions 2. Verbs and prepositions with two syllables
3. Study habits Note taking The rule: When a verb or a preposition has two sylla-
4. Slang and Colloquialism bles, the stress is usually on the second syllable.
1. Extract and Summarize
5. Different sounds like (p\, \f\, \t\, \th\, \b\, Examples: present /pre-SENT/, export /ex-PORT/
2. Translate into own words
and \v\ 3.Words that are both a noun and a verb
3. Observe neatness and clarity
The rule: Some words in English can be both a noun
and a verb. In those cases, the noun has its word stress
When to use rising intonation? on the first syllable, and with the verb, the stress falls on
Type of Exam the second syllable.
1. asking questions
Example:
2. Lists
1. Identification present /PRE-sent/ (a gift) vs. present /pre-SENT/ (give
2. Multiple Choice When to use falling intonation? something formally)

1. statements suspect /SU-spect/ (someone who the police believe

3. Matching Type
may have committed a crime) vs suspect /su-SPECT/
4. Essay 2. commands (to believe that something is true, especially something
bad)

PARALANGUAGE Which word should be stressed? 4. Three syllable words ending in “er” and “ly”

Non verbal elements in speech that contain
meaning
Intonation— refers to the highness and low-
ness of a tune throughout the sentence.
Speech Rate—the fastness or slowness of the
speaking
Stress— the amount of emphasis placed on
words in different sentence or syllables in a
word
Pitch— highness or lowness of your voice
The basic rules of sentence stress are:
1. content words are stressed
Ex: main verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs,
negative auxiliaries (sell, car, red, quickly, don’t)
2. structure words are unstressed
Ex: pronouns, prepositions, articles, conjunc-
tions, auxiliary verbs
Exception: we can stress a word that would normally be only
a structure word
"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?"
"No, THEY haven't, but WE have."
The rule: Words that have three syllables and end in ―-
er‖ or ―-ly‖ often have a stress on the first syllable.
Examples: quietly /QUI-et-ly/, manager /MA-na-ger/
5. Words ending in “ic,” “sion” and “tion”
The rule: When a word ends in ―ic,‖ ―sion‖ or ―tion,‖ the
stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable. You
count syllables backwards and put a stress on the se-
cond one from the end.
Examples: creation /cre-A-tion/
commission /com-MI-ssion/
 Word Stress Rule
6. Words ending in “cy,” “ty,” “phy,” “gy” and “al”
The rule: When a word ends in ―cy,‖ ―ty,‖ ―phy,‖ ―gy‖ and
―al,‖ the stress is often on the third to last syllable. Simi-
larly, you count syllables backwards and put a stress on
the third one from the end.
Examples:
democracy /de-MO-cra-cy/, photography /pho-TO-gra-
phy/, logical /LO-gi-cal/, commodity /com-MO-di-ty/,
psychology /psy-CHO-lo-gy/
7. Compound nouns
The rule: In most compound nouns (a noun made up of
two or more existing words), the word stress is on the
first noun.
Examples: football /FOOT-ball/, keyboard /KEY-board/
8. Compound adjectives and verbs
The rule: In most compound adjectives (a single adjec-
tive made of more than one word and often linked with a
hyphen) and compound verbs (a multi-word verb that
functions as a single verb), the stress is on the second
word.
Examples: old-fashioned /old-FA-shioned/
understand /un-der–STAND/
Credits: fluentu.com/English-word-stress
PRONUNCIATION V ARTICULATION
Pronunciation — the act or manner of speaking a word.
Enunciation — is the act of speaking clearly and concisely. The
opposite of good enunciation is mumbling or slurring.
Different sounds in English
( \p\ and \f\, \v\ and \b\, and \t\ and \th\
\p\ - To create the \p\, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract by closing the
lips. The sound is aspirated when the air is released (pan/pun/pat)
\f\ - To create the /f/, the jaw is held nearly closed. The upper backside of the bottom lip is
pressed very lightly into the bottom of the top teeth. Air is pushed out the mouth between
the top teeth and the upper backside of the bottom lip. (fan, fun, fat)
\b\ - To create the /b/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract by closing the
lips. The sound is aspirated when the air is released. (ban, base, bail)
\v\ - To create the /v/, the jaw is held nearly closed. The upper backside of the bottom lip
is pressed very lightly into the bottom of the top teeth. Air is pushed out the mouth between
the top teeth and the upper backside of the bottom lip. (van, vase, veil)
\t\ - To create the /t/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the tip of the
tongue presses against the tooth ridge while the sides of the tongue press against the up-
per side teeth. (true, torn, trust)
\th\ - putting your tongue between your teeth so that the tip of your tongue is touching your
teeth, to pronounce this TH, place the tip of your tongue between your top and bottom
teeth and vibrate your vocal cords . (through, thorn, thrust)
SLANG AND COLLOQUIALISM
SLANG COLLOQUIALISM
Words that are invented or derived from more
Words that are invented or derived from more
formal words or phrases
formal words or phrases
Restricted within geographical area
Restricted to a particular context or group of
people (Idiomatic expression and contractions)
EXAMPLE EXAMPLE
Wallflower Actions speak louder than words. ...
The grass is always greener on the other
GOAT
side
Bae
Couldn’t Shouldn’t