Lesson 29 · Lesson guide
Pronunciation: Word Stress in Academic Words
Hello, my dear student!
Hello! In every English word with two or more syllables, one syllable is stronger than the others: it is louder, longer and a little higher. This is word stress. HOS-pi-tal, im-POR-tant, ed-u-CA-tion.
Word stress matters more than a perfect accent. If you stress the wrong syllable, a listener may not recognise the word at all, even when every sound is correct. Pronunciation is a quarter of your IELTS Speaking score, and in Listening you need to recognise words like “economic” and “population” quickly.
The good news is that long academic words follow rules. In this lesson you will learn the rules for endings like -tion, -ic and -ity, see how stress moves in word families (PHO-to-graph, pho-TOG-ra-phy), tell nouns from verbs (an IN-crease, to in-CREASE) and hear the difference between thirteen and thirty.
See you in the exercises,Your teacher
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The rules
Endings
-tion, -sion, -ic
Stress the syllable just before the ending.
- in-for-MA-tion
- pol-LU-tion
- e-co-NOM-ic
Endings
-ity, -ical, -logy, -graphy
Count back: stress the third syllable from the end.
- u-ni-VER-si-ty
- po-LIT-i-cal
- tech-NOL-o-gy
Nouns and verbs
an IN-crease, to in-CREASE
Some two-syllable words: the noun is stressed on the first syllable, the verb on the second.
- There was an IN-crease.
- Prices will in-CREASE.
Remember!
-tion, -ic: stress the syllable before. -ity, -ical, -logy, -graphy: stress the third syllable from the end.
Word families
PHO-to-graph → pho-TOG-ra-phy → pho-to-GRAPH-ic
e-CON-o-my → e-co-NOM-ic
AN-a-lyse → a-NAL-y-sis
AL-ler-gy → al-LER-gic
de-VEL-op → de-VEL-op-ment (-ment does not move it)
A note from your teacher
The stress can move when the ending changes.
Common mistakes
Not: e-CO-no-MIC (two strong syllables)Say: e-co-NOM-ic
One main stress in each word.
Not: de-ve-lop-MENTSay: de-VEL-op-ment
-ment never takes the stress.
Not: THIR-teenSay: thir-TEEN
-teen numbers: stress -teen. -ty numbers: stress the first syllable.
Check yourself
Where is the stress in “population”?
An increase or to increase: which is stressed on IN?
Now it’s your turn!
8 short parts, each a little harder than the one before. Take your time: mistakes are how we learn.
— Your teacher