Word Stress and -ING Verbs: American English Pronunciation

In this American English pronunciation video, wer're going to go over the word stress of -ing verbs.

The -ing form of a verb always adds an extra syllable. And this syllable is always unstressed.

So it should be lower in pitch and usually a little faster than the stressed syllable

in the word. Take, for example, 'standing'. Stand-ing, stand-ing. Standing. Be careful

with words like 'seeing' or 'being'. The difference between 'seeing' and 'sing' is subtle. But

--- ee-ee, ee-ee, ee-ee --- there is that little reemphasis of the vowel sound that

makes the second syllable, which is correct. Seeing, seeing.

So even in quick, everyday speech, in the context of a sentence, it needs to sound different.

I'm seeing her later. I'm singer later. I'm seeing her later, I'm singer later. Seeing. [x3]

Let's look at some more -ing verb words. Doing, do-ing, do-ing. Doing. Following. Fol-low-ing. Following.

Hoping. Hop-ing, hop-ing. Hoping. Wondering. Won-der-ing, won-der-ing. Wondering.

Word stress is important. So make sure that you do have this contrast between stressed

syllables and unstressed syllables. And keep in mind that the -ing form of a verb always

adds an unstressed syllable.

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

Don't stop there. Have fun with my real-life English videos, or get more comfortable with

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