Word Stress

What is Word Stress?
In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength.
In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable
very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other
syllables very quietly.
Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do

they sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress)
ONE syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So
the shape of each word is different.
stressed total Shape

syllable syllables
#1 3 PHO TO GRAPH
#2 4 PHO TO GRAPH ER
#3 4 PHO TO GRAPH IC
This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN,

CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND,
etCETera, etCETera, etCETera
The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Native
speakers of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak
syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and
automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension.
Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English -
on the radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and
recognise it. After that, you can USE it!
There are two very important rules about word stress:
1. One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if
you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)
2. The stress is always on a vowel.
Rules of Word Stress in English
There are two very simple rules about word stress:
1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If
you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one
word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But
a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is
only used in long words.)
2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants.
Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand
where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are
many exceptions. It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to
add the stress naturally.
1 Stress on first syllable
Example Rule
PRESent, EXport, CHIna, Table Most 2-syllable nouns
PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy Most 2-syllable adjectives
2 Stress on last syllable
Example rule
to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN Most 2-syllable verbs
There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change
with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word.
If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of
absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More
examples: the wordsexport, import, contract and object can all be nouns or
verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.
3 Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)
Example Rule
GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic Words ending in –ic
teleVIsion, revelation Words ending in -sion and -tion
For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" on where to put
the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others
say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy.
4 Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)
Example Rule
deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, Words ending in -cy, -ty, -

geology phy and –gy
CRItical, geoLOgical Words ending in –al
5 Compound words (words with two parts)
Example Rule
BLACKbird, GREENhouse For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part
bad-TEMpered, old- For compound adjectives, the stress is on

FASHioned the second part
to underSTAND, to For compound verbs, the stress is on

overflow the second part
Word Stress -
political politician politics
personality personal personnel
administrator administration administrative admin
competition competitive compete
demonstrative demonstration demonstrate demo
exploration exploratory explore
employee employer employ
productivity production product
industrialisation industrial industry

Word Stress

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What is Word Stress?

Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do

stressed total Shape

This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN,

There are two very important rules about word stress:

2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants.

1 Stress on first syllable

PRESent, EXport, CHIna, Table Most 2-syllable nouns

PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy Most 2-syllable adjectives

2 Stress on last syllable

to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN Most 2-syllable verbs

3 Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)

GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic Words ending in –ic

teleVIsion, revelation Words ending in -sion and -tion

deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, Words ending in -cy, -ty, -

CRItical, geoLOgical Words ending in –al

5 Compound words (words with two parts)

bad-TEMpered, old- For compound adjectives, the stress is on

to underSTAND, to For compound verbs, the stress is on

political politician politics

personality personal personnel

administrator administration administrative admin

competition competitive compete

demonstrative demonstration demonstrate demo

exploration exploratory explore

employee employer employ

productivity production product

industrialisation industrial industry

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