Word Stress in English | How to Pronounce... ✅

Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

So tell me, do you know how to pronounce these words?

Really?

How do you know?

These words are nouns but they're also verbs.

And they're pronounced differently

depending on the type of word that they are.

So right now it's impossible to know how to pronounce

these words correctly.

The great news is that there are some simple rules

that will help you to pronounce these words correctly

when you do use them. Yeah.

Simple English rules!

Yes!

And I'll go over them with lots of examples

during this lesson today.

But first, let me explain why word stress

is important in spoken English.

English is a stressed language. Words are stressed

when spoken because they're important.

So when we speak, we speak those words more clearly.

They're the important words, they must be heard

for the sentence to be understood.

But if the word has more than one syllable,

there will be one syllable that is pronounced

more clearly than the others - at least one.

Syllables are stressed differently

and it's actually a really important part of speech

so it's something you need to know.

Not only does word stress give English its rhythm,

but it also helps native speakers to identify words.

If you use the wrong word stress in English, you could

be pronouncing a completely different word

than the one you mean to.

And that can be pretty confusing

for someone listening to you.

And when you're listening to a native English speaker,

recognising what words are stressed will help

you to understand the meaning more easily too.

So if you've been telling yourself that word stress

doesn't matter, think again.

As I said, there are some simple rules that I'll teach you

in this lesson today to help you to correctly

and confidently stress words in English.

So let's get our words back on screen.

So you'll notice that all of these words have

two syllables.

Now as a general rule most two-syllable English nouns

are stressed on the first syllable.

It's a general rule but it's true most of the time.

By the way, that's also true for adjectives,

most two-syllable adjectives are stressed

on the first syllable too.

And most two-syllable verbs

are stressed on the second syllable.

There are exceptions but this is true most of the time

and that my friends, is a really useful pronunciation tip.

Nouns. Verbs.

Easy!

Let's look a little more closely at the first word.

As a noun, the stress is on the first syllable.

As a verb, the stress is on the second syllable.

So listen.

Can you hear the difference there?

Say it with me. See if you can pronounce the difference.

Now specifically,

word stress affects the vowels in English.

It's the vowel sounds that are different

when you are stressing and unstressing syllables.

Stress syllables have a stronger vowel sound

while unstressed syllables reduce down.

And you'll notice this through all of the examples

that I teach in this lesson.

So while you master the pronunciation of

stressed syllables today,

you'll also practise vowel reductions

for all the unstressed syllables too.

As the value of the stock decreased,

we noticed a decrease in revenue.

The same stress pattern is used for 'increase' as well.

One really great way to practise the correct

pronunciation of English words

is by listening to audiobooks while you're reading

the actual physical book.

You'll learn lots of new words in context

and hear the correct pronunciation too.

You've heard me talk about Audible before

because I love listening to books.

I can do it anywhere, while I'm running, while I'm driving,

I'm on the train.

Or I'm doing really mundane tasks like grocery shopping

And listening to your favourite English books is such a

great way to improve your listening

and your speaking skills.

So sign up to Audible using the link in the description

below and you'll get your first audiobook absolutely free!

I've recommended a few books in the description

as well so make sure you check them out

and let me know what you think.

Next example.

The vowel sound is strong in the stressed syllable,

remember?

And then the vowel sound

in the unstressed syllable reduces.

We forgot to bring her birthday present.

We will present the findings to the professor tomorrow.

There was a strange glowing object above the stage.

If you object to our decisions,

you need to suggest alternatives.

Our football players are all rejects from other teams.

My boss will probably reject our suggestion

to have our monthly meeting at the pub.

Probably, but it's worth the shot.

They signed the contract yesterday.

The villages may contract the virus

by drinking water from the river.

Do you have any idea what's causing the conflict?

The neighbour's story conflicts

with the story that Paul gave us.

There's lots of fresh produce available at the market.

Can you produce any evidence that proves

you're innocent?

Now some native English speakers pronounce the

stressed vowel there slightly differently

but it's always stressed.

Do you know if they've received government

funding for that project?

During the celebrations, the community projected

historical photos on the church building.

Do you keep a record of the number of tourists

that visit this place each year?

You need to visit the police station

so that they can record your details.

Peter runs a business that collects refuse

from local cafes and businesses.

'Refuse' is a more formal way of saying

rubbish or garbage.

The protesters are refusing to exit the building.

Okay we've been through plenty of examples here

but there are many more examples

of these types of words

where the noun and the verb are

spelled exactly the same

but pronounced differently.

Can you think of any others?

Gosh I'm thinking of so many already like

If you can think of any others, then please

add them into the comments under this video.

Try to write a sentence with these words.

If you do that and everyone else does that,

we'll end up with hundreds of sentences

to practise with together.

So write your sentence and then practise saying it

out loud.

You have to practise out loud because

stress is only important in spoken English.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson. If you did,

make sure you tell me, give it a like

and subscribe to my channel.

Come and join me and my mmmEnglish learners.

We practise here together every week.

Keep practising your spoken English in

either of these two videos here and

I'll see you in the next lesson!