Unit 8Stressed Syllables & Unstressed Syllables

Warm-up activities

What’s your most embarrassing moment in your life ?

Do you know? 1. What are the two essential elements in

spoken English? 2. Why is stress so important for spoken

English? 3. What are the three degrees of stress? 4. Are there more stressed syllables than

unstressed syllables in spoken English? 5. Which two vowels are the most frequently

used vowel sounds in spoken English?

Examples : the reduced vowels in unstressed syllables

1. fort comfort 2. lace necklace 3. romance Roman 4. localit localism 5. rite favourite 6. table comforta

ble 7. ward forward 8. fort effort 9. cable educable 10 late chocolate

11 progress production 12 profit pronounce 13 necessity necessary 14 protest (n.) protest (v.) 15 valid validity 16 label profitable 17 man Englishman 18 prefer preference 19 photo

photography 20 full handful

Have a try: read them with proper stress 1. daylight flashlight bookcase

2. New York Long Island New Jersey

3. Handle the object carefully. Do you object to the change?

4. I play music. I am a musician.

Listening Exercise – the stress in compound nouns

bathroom daylight baseball classroom popcorn drugstore notebook airport flashlight chalkboard

bookcase toothpaste bus stop newspaper sun glasses grandfather teenager tennis court traffic light basketball

Pronunciation tip 1

Compound nouns: stress the first word.

The stress in compound proper nouns

Good Friday Easter Sunday Long Island New Jersey United States Atlantic Ocean New York New York City United Nations Forest Road Third Avenue Beach Hotel

Pronunciation tip 2

Compound proper nouns normally have a primary stress on the second element, except the names of streets, like Forest Street.

Speaking ----work in pairs

Word stress for information Shift of stress

Student A Student B

a . present (n.)

b . present (v.)

He gave me a Japanese fan as a present.

The manage presented him with the award for best sales.

a . record (n.)

b . record (v.)

The secretary records all personal details on a computer.

There are original records about his data.

a . object (n.)

b . object (v.)

The secret luminous object was found in the sky.

I object to the proposal.

a . experiment (n.)

b . experiment (v.)

A physics experiment was performed in the lab.

Human beings usually experiment on animals.

Pronunciation tip 3

Some nouns and verbs are spelled alike but pronounced differently: the stress falls on different syllables.

Shift of stress

Student A I play music I study grammar …..

Student B Musician Grammarian …..

Listen & Imitate (1) G: I hear that your team won last Saturday’s football match.

J: Oh yes, we did. 3-1.

G: Oh, I can’t believe it. Congratulations!

J: Thank you.

G: A pity I didn’t manage to come and see it. I had intended to, you know.

J: Yes, I know.

G: It was a good game, wasn’t it?

J: Well, not bad, I think. We were in pretty good form.

Listen & Imitate (2) G: Hello, John. When did you get back? J: Last night. G: Where did you go? J: We went all over the place. G: What do you mean "all over the place"? J: I mean Guilin, Xishuanbanna, Zhangjiajie, Huangshan and Huashan. G: You people sure covered a lot of places. J: You're not kidding. Five provinces in fifteen days. G: How many miles did you travel? J: Almost four thousand miles. G: You must be exhausted. J: No. We're fit as a fiddle and ready to go back to work.

Pronunciation in communication: Expressing excitement & surprise

Route 1Fujian

Zhejiang

Jiangxi

Hunan

Hubei

Route 2Jiangsu

Anhui

Shandong

Henan

Shanxi

Route 3Guangxi

Yunnan

Guizhou

Sichuan

Qinghai

Route 4Heilongjiang

Jilin

Liaoning

Inner Mongolia

Gansu

Student A = a Chinese student; Student B = a teacher who is from England

Situation:Take turns to be Student A. Student B is playing the role of a teacher who is just back from a trip to quite a few places.

Possible steps:Student A greets the teacher.Student A asks about the trip.Student B talks about the excitement of the trip.…

Unit 9

English Sentence Stress

Stressed Words & Unstressed Words

In a Sentence

Do the following exercises online, paying special attention to the word stress in a sentence.

Schwa (2)Information/words Information/stressListen for stressGet stress rightGet stress right (2)Watch your stress

Stressed syllables vs. unstressed syllables

Stressed syllables: long, have a pitch change and have full vowel sounds

Unstressed syllables: short and often have a reduced vowel sound.

eg. banana

A reduced vowel: a short, unclear vowel sound, very often the sound / ə /

Any English vowel letter can be pr

onounced with the schwa /ə/

/ ə /

allow

firemen

possible

command

support

A Syllable

ba NAAAA na

(short) (long) (short)

Stressed words vs. unstressed words

Stressed words give information to the listener.

Unstressed words join the information words together.

Information words vs. function words

Information words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbsgiving information about who, what, when, where, why, howexpressing the main idea or content of the phrase or sentence

Function words:articles, pronouns, possessives, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, and conjunctionsconnecting the information words to form grammatical sentences.

Information words

Information about

who

what

when

where

why

how

Information words

Nouns

Verbs

Adjectives

adverbs

Function words

Function words

articles

prepositions

auxiliary verbs

conjunctions

possessives

pronouns Function words:

Connecting the information words to form grammatical sentences

A blue print or a blueprint?

a. I’m interested in the blue print. b. I’m interested in the blueprint.

What is the difference between them?

the blue print: a print which is blue (the colour)the blueprint: an architect’s plan for a building;

a plan or idea e.g. a blueprint for a better world

A bluebottle is not a bottle!

A blue bell A blue bird A blue bottle A blue cap A blue coat

A bluebell ( 圆叶风铃草 )

A bluebird ( 蓝色鸣鸟 )

A bluebottle （反吐丽蝇）

A bluecap （青山雀）

A blue coat （警察）

a. What is he doing in the darkroom? b. What is he doing in the dark room?

a. He is developing films.b. He is sleeping.

Student A Student B

1.a. What are you doing with the blackboard? b. What are you doing with the black board?

Writing on with a chalk.Making a bookcase.

2.a. What is a freeway? b. What is a free way?

It’s a fast highway.There’s no charge.

3.a. What are you doing with that hotdog? b. What are you doing with that hot dog?

Eating it for lunch.Giving him a drink.

4.a. Did you see the yellow jacket? b. Did you see the yellow jacket?

No, but I saw a bee.No, but I saw a blue jacket.

5.a. They are building a greenhouse. b. They are building a green house.

What will they grow in the greenhouse?Why are they so keen on green?

6.a. Can you show me the blueprint? b. Can you show me the blue print?

We are still working on it.Would you care for some red ones?

7.a. What do you think of the redcoat? b. What do you think of the red coat?

You mean the British soldier in the film?You know red is not my favourite colour.

8.a. What is he doing in the darkroom? b. What is he doing in the dark room?

He is developing films.He is sleeping.

9.a. Who is living in the Whitehouse? b. Who is living in the white house?

The president of U.S.A., of course.I don’t know, but a big family, I can see.

10. a. Tell us about the head hunter. b. Tell us about the headhunter.

He’s a very good foxhunter.He’s always interested in capable young people.

Identify the information words in the following:U09分练习录音\02.mp3

Would you like tea or coffee? I'll have coffee, please. Milk and sugar? No milk. I have it black, with one sugar.

Thanks.

Identify the information words in the following:

Would you like some more salad? Yes, please. I'd love some. Is there anything else I can get you? No, thanks. It was delicious, but I've already

eaten too much.

Identify the information words in the following:

Would you care for anything to drink? I'll have tea, please. Do you want hot tea or iced tea? Iced lemon tea, then.

Identify the information words in the following:

Shall I bring you coffee now? Not right now, thank you. Do you care for anything else? Yes, Could you bring me a piece of apple

pie?

Reading aloud – Identify words that are stressed first. Pay special attention to the sentence stress.

Giving a Man a Fish

There is an old saying: “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime.” This saying, however, may no longer be true today. The reason is overfishing.

The problem of overfishing is spreading. Since anyone can fish, many people do. Around the world, the number of fishermen and fish farmers is growing. The total has more than doubled in the past 25 years.

When too many people fish, too many fish are caught. The days of teaching people to fish may be over. New solutions to this problem must be found, before there are no more fish to eat.

Reading aloud – Identify words that are stressed first. Pay special attention to the sentence stress.

There is an old saying. Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime. This saying may no longer be true today. The reason is overfishing. The problem of overfishing is spreading. Since anyone can fish, many people do. Around the world, the number of fishermen is growing. The number of fish farmers is growing. The total has more than doubled in the past 25 years. Too many people fish. Too many fish are caught. The days of teaching people to fish may be over. New solutions to this problem must be found. There are no more fish to eat.

Reading aloud – Identify words that are stressed first. Pay special attention to the sentence stress.

There is an old saying. Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime. This saying may no longer be true today. The reason is overfishing. The problem of overfishing is spreading. Since anyone can fish, many people do. Around the world, the number of fishermen is growing. The number of fish farmers is growing. The total has more than doubled in the past 25 years. Too many people fish. Too many fish are caught. The days of teaching people to fish may be over. New solutions to this problem must be found. There are no more fish to eat.

Listening for information

从 1:10 开始

Conversation Who What Where When

A Bob Buy books Bookstore In an hour

B

C

D

E

Listen to the following conversations and write the information in the appropriate box.

Reading aloud – Identify words that are stressed. Pay special attention to the sentence stress.

Work

Work generally refers to regular paid employment. While we still speak of "working" in the garden, an active woman, running a home and bringing up children, is distinguished from a woman who "works", that is, takes paid employment. But to add to the confusion, the following conversation is also quite common:

“Do you work?” “No, my husband works. I'm just a housewife. I do the housewor

k.” Domestic work is often very time-consuming and makes a vital co

ntribution to the working of the economy, but is rarely acknowledged as such.

Reading aloud – Identify words that are stressed. Pay special attention to the sentence stress.

Work generally refers to regular paid employment. We still speak of "working" in the garden. She is running a home and bringing up children. She is distinguished from a woman who "works". She takes paid employment. The following conversation is also quite common. Do you work? No, my husband works. I'm just a housewife. I do the housework. Domestic work is often very time-consuming. It makes a vital contribution to the working of the economy.

Listening for information (1)

(G = Gloria S = Stranger)

S: Hi, there! You are new in town? G: Uh, yes, I am. S: Can I help you find a hotel or something? G: That’s okay. I’ll be staying with my sister. S: She's picking you up? G: I’ll take a bus out to her place. She doesn’t know I’m here now. S: Oh, really? Well, maybe I can give you some directions. G: Oh, that’d be great. Do you know the city well? S: Do I know the city? Well, I know it like the back of my hand. You got her address? G: Yeah. She’s at the Sixth, Garden Street. S: Oh, yeah! You know, I’m just going out that way. G: Oh, yeah? S: Yeah. Maybe I could show you that way. G: Well, I’m sure it’d be okay if you could just tell me which bus to take. S: Well, all right. First, you walk four blocks. Then take the Number Thirty- one Bus. It will take you there. G: Thank you! Bye! S: Bye!

Food offered

Shrimp salad

Accepted

NotAccepted

AnyReasons

Allergic to

seafood

Listening for information (2)

Gloria offered John six kinds of food. Complete the following table. An example is done for you.

(G = Gloria J = John)

G: Would you like to try some shrimp salad, John? J: I'm sorry. I'm allergic to seafood. G: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that. I have some roast

chicken in the refrigerator, and I think there's a little ham, too. Which would you prefer?

J: The cold chicken would be fine, thanks G: How about some of the sugar cookies I've just baked? J: How can I refuse! I know I shouldn't eat them, but

they look so good! G: Would you care for a glass of wine? J: No, thank you. I don't drink wine. G: Well, may I bring you some beer then? J: That would be nice. Thank you, Gloria.

Assignment

1. On-line exercises http://felc.gdufs.edu.cn/pronunciation/

2. Presentations1. Reading aloud the passage on pp. 101-2

2. A one-minute mini-talk: (p.106)Pronunciation in communication: Offering Help/Things

gzwang@mail.gdufs.edu.cn

Thank you