Pronunciation Tips
Sentence Stress
In a sentence, content words are stressed to give a sentence rhythm. Content words include nouns, main verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. For example, in the sentence “You’re hired for the job,” both hired and job are stressed while you’re and for the are not.
Listen and repeat. Pay attention to the words that are stressed.
I have to st
udy in the evening.
The project is too hard to complete.
Larry will give his friend a call tomorrow.
Listen to the following sentences and mark the words that are stressed. Then, read them aloud.
- Next Sunday, students get into the new art museum for free.
- The airport is easy to get to if you take the bus.
- We’re all going to Luke’s to watch the basketball game and play video games.
- I heard Sally made an amazing cheesecake in cooking class yesterday.