Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missmay13]

I am having a difficult time with this. I need to underline the words that are stressed and tell why. Where can I find help? Thankyou!

1. He telephoned the police yesterday.
2. Can you show me the diamonds?
3. Paul has gone to the theatre.
4. Have you heard about Marcella? She�s won $50,000 on the lottery.
5. I�m not doing anything this evening.

[Anuradha Chepur]

I am having a difficult time with this. I need to underline the words that are stressed and tell why. Where can I find help? Thankyou

Important words in the idea receive stress. Content words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs) are stressed, structure words (prepositions, articles, conjunctions) aren't.

1. He telephoned the police yesterday.
2. Can you show me the diamonds?
3. Paul has gone to the theatre.
4. Have you heard about Marcella? She�s won $50,000 on the lottery.
5. I�m not doing anything this evening.

It also depends on what the message is, as to which word is stressed, and the same sentence can have different meanings depending on which word is stressed:

a. She killed him. (It was she who killed him and not someone else.)
b. She killed him. (She didn't spare him.)
c. She killed him. (She killed him and not someone else.)

[lotus]

Hi missmay13,

It really does depend on what you want to stress.

Here's what I hear most often:
(with some editing for more natural speech)

1. He called the police yesterday.
2. Can you show me the diamonds?
3. Paul went to the theatre.
4. Did you heard about Marcella? She won $50,000 on the lottery!
5. I�m not doing anything tonight.


--lotus