Job Discussion Forums

[Littlebird]

Can anyone direct me to a good book or online resource which explains stress on certain syllables. I have a pre-course CELTA task and cannot understand where the stress is in certain words. Obviously some words are very easy to see where the stress is but some aren't. It would be useful to read up on this.

Thanks in advance

[Glenski]

Have you tried looking in a dictionary?

[naturegirl321]

Certain verbs and nouns have rules. Such as ADvice and adVISE. If you were more specific, we could probably help more. Sorry.

[MO39]

[naturegirl321]

Sorry dyslexia kicking in. I usually switch the letters around in words though. Guess it's time for bed. Try this site
http://yoursecondlanguage.com/resources/english.nouns.verbs.accented.shtml

[MO39]

[BenE]

for single words I tend to just refer to www.dictionary.com

for full sentences it's more a case of following the principles.

Not sure where you'll find them.

[spiral78]

There's a useful book for teaching/learning pronunciation that includes a nice section on word (and sentence) stress.

Clear Speech - if you have access/time to get a copy, it's a good one.

[Madame J]

It might also be worth bearing in mind that British and American English use some different stress patterns, and so if you take any sources too literally then you may end up teaching different stresses to those you'd use in everyday conversation. The US "aDULT" versus the UK "Adult" and, likewise, "ADDress" versus "addRESS" are the main ones I've noticed people point out.

[naturegirl321]

Also
stoodent vs shudent
twosday vs chewsday

[father Mackenzie]

Hi

Try this site for help with word stress, I find it useful when teaching stresses on syllables.

http://www.soundsofenglish.org/pronunciation/suprasegmentals/index.html

[Kaspar Hauser]

What's this got to do with grammar?

[Littlebird]

Thanks a lot everybody ! Only 2 sarastic responses ! Why do you have to be so sarcastic Glenski and Kaspar ??? A dictionary does not give sufficient information and often only indicates one stress not the secondary stress. AS I said some words are obvious some (to me) are not obvious at all.

Naturegirl are you sure you're not talking about differences in pronounciation not stress ? I cannot see the difference in stress in the two different examples you have given. I thought there was a difference only in pronounciation. There are similar differences in US/UK prounciation of tomato and tuna. A syllable is elongated. Does this change the stress ? I am starting to think I suffer from oral dyslexia.

while we are on the subject of US/UK differences, do you teach American or British English when abroad ? Should you correct words which are spelt the American way or just leave in ? I 'm thinking of words like center, theater, organization and so on. My natural instinct is to change to the UK spelling but then maybe people accept equally both ways of spelling. I hope this is not going to turn into a massive debate or argument.

SAM

[spiral78]

Sam, the international standard is usually (in my experience) that so long as the student has consistently used either UK or North American spellings, and has not mixed them, it is ok.

[Justin Trullinger]

And what's sarcastic about the dictionary suggestion- did you notice that standard syllable stress patterns (often with common variants) are in there? Very helpful- I definitely teach my students to use those.

And Kaspar is right- your question is legit, but it isn't grammar. Sorry.


Best,
Justin