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Thought Groups/Pause Structure, Focus Words, and Sentence Level Stress

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Irna Azizah

Thought groups are breaks in sentences indicated by short pauses that aid listening comprehension. They are often marked by commas and have unique intonation patterns. Sentence stress emphasizes certain syllables through louder volume, clearer pronunciation, and slower speed to add rhythm. Content words like verbs and nouns usually receive stress while grammar words are often unstressed. Focus words are the most important words in a thought group, usually the last content word, and are pronounced louder and higher in pitch to guide the conversation topic. Proper use of thought groups, stress, and focus words helps enhance spoken English clarity and flow.

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Thought Groups/Pause Structure, Focus Words, and Sentence Level Stress

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Irna Azizah
200 views17 pages
Thought groups are breaks in sentences indicated by short pauses that aid listening comprehension. They are often marked by commas and have unique intonation patterns. Sentence stress emphasizes certain syllables through louder volume, clearer pronunciation, and slower speed to add rhythm. Content words like verbs and nouns usually receive stress while grammar words are often unstressed. Focus words are the most important words in a thought group, usually the last content word, and are pronounced louder and higher in pitch to guide the conversation topic. Proper use of thought groups, stress, and focus words helps enhance spoken English clarity and flow.

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Thought groups are breaks in sentences indicated by short pauses that aid listening comprehension. They are often marked by commas and have unique intonation patterns. Sentence stress emphasizes certain syllables through louder volume, clearer pronunciation, and slower speed to add rhythm. Content words like verbs and nouns usually receive stress while grammar words are often unstressed. Focus words are the most important words in a thought group, usually the last content word, and are pronounced louder and higher in pitch to guide the conversation topic. Proper use of thought groups, stress, and focus words helps enhance spoken English clarity and flow.

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200 views17 pages

Thought Groups/Pause Structure, Focus Words, and Sentence Level Stress

Uploaded by

Irna Azizah
Thought groups are breaks in sentences indicated by short pauses that aid listening comprehension. They are often marked by commas and have unique intonation patterns. Sentence stress emphasizes certain syllables through louder volume, clearer pronunciation, and slower speed to add rhythm. Content words like verbs and nouns usually receive stress while grammar words are often unstressed. Focus words are the most important words in a thought group, usually the last content word, and are pronounced louder and higher in pitch to guide the conversation topic. Proper use of thought groups, stress, and focus words helps enhance spoken English clarity and flow.

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Thought Groups/Pause Structure, Focus

Words, and Sentence Level Stress


Disusun oleh:
1. Irna Widana Azizah 11180140000032
2. Virda Rizki Ananda 11180140000026
3. Fadlan Chairudin Lubis 11180140000010
4. Nur Ambaria Jannah 11180140000017
5. Wirdayana 11180140000001
6. Neng Dillah Mar’atu S. 11170140000024
Thought Groups/Pause Structure

What are Thought Groups?


In the simplest term, thought groups occur when
you break down a long sentence with a short
pause for easier listening. They’re often
grammatically accompanied by commas, though
not always.
How to Identify Thought Groups

To identify a thought group, simply listen for the speaker to pause


before and after them, but not within. Look at the example below.

"Sometimes / when I go to bed / I’d like to read beforehand. / This


allows my brain to calm down / and prepare itself for sleep. / It also
helps me because I always overthink before I go to bed / and I stress
about the details of the next day. /"
Thought groups also have their own intonation contours. The rhythm
within a thought group is unique. There is often a change in pitch at
the end of the thought group (often falling), and a lengthened last
syllable. Try it out with the sentence below.

The teacher said, / “That student is really smart!”


Sentence Level Stress
What is Sentence Stress?
• Stressing means pronouncing some syllables stronger than
others. Stronger means we pronounce this syllables louder,
clearer, and slower. In other words, sentence stress can be
described as the rhythm of spoken language. Like words or
syllable stress, sentence stress can help us to understand
spoken English.
Why ‘Stress’ is Important in Pronunciation

Stress is important because it adds rhythm when we speak. If we stress


all the words in an utterance, we may sound unpleasant or even cause
misunderstanding because

• We are giving too much information,


• English native speakers usually stress all the words only when they are
impatient or angry.
Stressed and Unstressed Words
Dealing with sentence stress, we have to know which
words that should be stressed and which should be
unstressed. According to the function, words in a
language are normally classified into two types:
content words and grammar words.
Content words, are the key words of a sentence. They are
important words that carry the meaning or sense. The
following table will help you to decide which words are
content words.
Words carrying the meaning Example

VERBS SELL, GIVE, BUY, RENT

NOUNS CHAIR, MUSIC, ARMAND

nt
ADJECTIVES PINK, SMALL, INTERESTING
te Wo
n rds
Co
ADVERBS SLOWLY, LOUDLY, NEVER

NEGATIVE AUXILLARIES DON’T, AREN’T, CAN’T


Grammar words/structure words, are not very important words. They
are small, simple words that make the sentence correct grammatically.
They give the sentence its correct form or structure. The following table
will help you to decide which words are grammar words.

Words for correct grammar Example

PRONOUNS he, we, they


PREPOSITIONS on, at, into

a r ARTICLES a, an, the

m m CONJUNCTIONS and, but, because W


ra or
G AUXILLARIE VERBS do, be, have, can, must ds
• The rules above are called “neutral” or normal stress. But native
speakers often stress a word that would normally be a structure word
for some reasons, for example, to correct information. Read the
following dialogue:

• A : “They have been to Mongolia, haven’t they?”


• B : “No, THEY haven’t, but WE have.”

The difference between content words and grammar words is a


foundation of sentence stress. Content words are usually stressed, and
grammar words are usually unstressed.
More Examples :
• “How about we go for a coffee this afternoon?”
The grammar words are “how”, “about”, “we”, “for”, and “a”.
The content words are “go”, “coffee”, and “this afternoon”.

• “My phone’s broken, so I’m going to buy a new one.”


The grammar words are “My”, “so”, “I’m”, “to”, and “a”.
The content words are “phone’s”, “broken”, “going”, “buy”, and “new
one”.
Focus Words
What are Focus Words?
• Focus words are the most important words in English
sentences. Every thought group in English also has a
single focus word, which is usually the last content word in
the thought group. The focus word usually has greater stress
relative to the other words in the sentence. Focus words are
pronounced louder and with a higher pitch than the other
words in a sentence.
Examples:
• “SUSAN is HAPPY in her new POSITION.”

• A : “Would you like CAKE or ICE CREAM?”


B: “I’d like cake AND ice cream!”
Focus words may change as we move
through a conversation. It's common to
choose focus words that provide the
next topic for discussion. Take a look at
this short conversation, notice how the
focus word (marked in bold) changes to
move the conversation forward.
Bob : “We're flying to Las Vegas next week.”
Alice : “Why are you going there?”
Bob : “I'm going to win a fortune!”
Alice : “You need to get real. Nobody wins a fortune in Las Vegas.”
Bob : “That's not true. Jack won a fortune there last year.”
Alice : “No, Jack got married. He didn't win a fortune.”
Bob : “That's what I call winning a fortune. I don't need to gamble to win a fortune.”
Alice : “Looking for love in Las Vegas is definitely not the answer.”
Bob : “OK. What is the answer in your opinion?”
Alice : “I think you need to start dating girls from here.”
Bob : “Don't get me started on girls from here. They're all out of my league!”
Alice : “Come on Bob, you're a nice guy. You will find someone.”
Bob : “I hope so...”
Stressing these key words helps change the topic from a vacation in Las Vegas to finding
someone to marry to solving Bob's love life issues.
DAFTAR PUSTAKA

• http
://www.accentreductionclassroom.com/content-focus-function-words-in-americ
an-english-sentences/
(diakses 10 April 2019)
• https://everydayesl.com/blog/2017/11/7/pronunciation-thought-groups (diakses
9 April 2019)
• https://tfcs.baruch.cuny.edu/thought-groups/ (diakses 9 April 2019)
• https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/sentence-stress-rules.htm (diakses
10 April 2019)
• https://www.thoughtco.com/using-a-focus-word-to-help-with-pronunciation-12
11978
(diakses 9 April 2019)
• https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rnJCKda4oWU (diakses 25 Maret)
THANK YOU VERY MUCH

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