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SkimaTalk Official Course

Accent Reduction – Word Stress Lesson 1: Word Stress Tips

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Do you know how to pronounce the word?

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McDonald’s ü  In this course, you will learn which syllable to stress in a

word. (Called “word stress” or “syllable stress”)

ü Word stress is very important because even if you pronounce all the letters in a word correctly, people may still not understand you if you don’t use the correct stress.

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Tip #1

For most nouns and adjectives with 2 syllables, you should stress the FIRST syllable.

Pro-gress Pre-sent En-gine In-crease Re-cord

Jea-lous Cau-tious Awk-ward Plea-sant

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Tip #1: Exercise Practice saying the words below.

Pro-gress Pre-sent En-gine In-crease Re-cord

Jea-lous Cau-tious Awk-ward Plea-sant

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Tip #2

For most verbs with 2 syllables, you should stress the LAST syllable.

E-rase De-bate Ad-mit An-nouce Be-gin

Ar-range Im-press De-cide Of-fend Re-cord

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Tip #2: Exercise

Practice saying the words below.

E-rase De-bate Ad-mit An-nouce Be-gin

Ar-range Im-press De-cide Of-fend Re-cord

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Tip #3

For words ending in “ion”, the stress usually falls on the syllable just before “ion.”

O-pin-ion Con-di-tion Ex-pec-ta-tion Ques-tion De-ci-sion

Dis-cus-sion Ex-plo-sion Re-gion Re-li-gion Vi-sion

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Tip #3: Exercise

Practice saying the words below.

O-pin-ion Con-di-tion Ex-pec-ta-tion Ques-tion De-ci-sion

Dis-cus-sion Ex-plo-sion Re-gion Re-li-gion Vi-sion

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Tip #4

Stress usually falls on the syllable just before “ity / ety / ify / efy.”

A-bil-i-ty Re-spon-si-bil-i-ty Au-thor-i-ty An-xi-e-ty So-ci-e-ty

Class-i-fy Jus-ti-fy Qual-i-fy Rar-e-fy Pur-efy

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Tip #4: Exercise

Practice saying the words below.

A-bil-i-ty Re-spon-si-bil-i-ty Au-thor-i-ty An-xi-e-ty So-ci-e-ty

Class-i-fy Jus-ti-fy Qual-i-fy Rar-e-fy Pur-efy

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Other Recourses

word stress rules Search:

ü  There are many useful resources for word stress available on the internet. Search the internet for more rules and tips!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN-iBGNc6WM

ü Helpful YouTube Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVhtYq5zS7w&list=PLTex3zjAwn0B6VvN-_5nqv8BAIQLGNGjT&index=13