Video Text:

If you've watched the intro to word stress video, then you know that English is a language in which word stress is very important. Stressed words or syllables are higher in pitch and usually longer in duration. Reduced syllables are syllables that are lower in pitch and usually very, very quick. For example, in the sentence "Dad's at the bank." 'Dad's' and 'bank' are both higher in pitch. They are the stressed words in this sentence. Dad's at the bank. The words 'at' and 'the' are sounded very quickly: at the, at the, and they're also lower in pitch. Dad's at the bank.

So how do you know which words within a sentence should be stressed? Words that are usually stressed in a sentence are called content words. Words that are not usually stressed, sometimes reduced, are called function words. This video today will focus on content words, or, the words that are stressed. There are four categories: nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. We'll go over each one with an example.

A noun is a person, place, or thing. For example, Rachel, sister, glass, phone, beach, school. In the sample sentence given earlier, Dad's at the bank, both Dad and bank are nouns. A verb is the part of speech that depicts the action: to drive, to eat, to say. In the sentence "She went to the store," went is the verb, and you will notice that it is stressed. It is higher in pitch. She went to the store. Store is also higher in pitch, also stressed. It is a noun, which is also a content word.

An adverb is a word that describes a verb. It often though not always ends in -ly. Examples: quietly, quickly, often, usually. In the sample sentence "He'll be here soon", 'soon' is the adverb. He'll be here soon. It is stressed, higher in pitch. He'll be here soon. An adjective is a word that describes a noun. For example: boring, smart, funny. In the sample sentence "She took the red car," red is the adjective. It is stressed, higher in pitch. She took the red car.

So these are the four categories of content words, content words being what are usually stressed in a sentence. Let's look at some example sentences.

Sometimes it's hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. The sentence was, Sometimes it's hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. Which words did you hear as being stressed, higher in pitch? Sometimes it's hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. I heard three: hard, single, and shoes. So, two adjectives and one noun. Now, those were not the only content words in the sentence. 'Sometimes' is an adverb, that's a content word. Sometimes it's hard. But 'hard' was stressed at a higher level. Sometimes it's hard to walk. Walk is a verb, again a content word, but it wasn't brought out as high as the other ones. The word 'to' was reduced: tuh, tuh, to walk. Sometimes it's hard to walk. In a, those words were also reduced, in a, in a, single woman's. Woman, again, this is a noun, but it wasn't stressed as much as 'single' or 'shoes'. Single woman's shoes. So you can see in this sentence, all of the stressed words were content words, but not every one of the content words was stressed. Sometimes it's hard to walk in a single woman's shoes.

Bob and I finally received our wedding give from Michael. The sentence was: "Bob and I finally received our wedding give from Michael." Bob and I, Bob is stressed more than 'and I'. Bob and I finally. 'Finally' is given the most stress here. It's an adverb. Bob and I finally received. Received is a verb, but it's not as high as 'finally'. The stress is on 'finally', as if they've been waiting for it. Bob and I finally received our wedding gift, our wedding gift, wedding gift being a noun, from Michael, Michael also being a noun. Bob and I finally received our wedding gift from Michael. Bob and I finally received our wedding gift from Michael.

These content words are just to give you an idea of what might be stressed in a sentence. There are always exceptions, for example, in the following sentence. Now let the world come to you. The word 'you' was stressed in this sentence. Now let the world come to you. You is a pronoun, which is a function word, not a content word. So it is normally not stressed in a sentence, but they did stress it here for emphasis. And you will find that sometimes words that are not content words are stressed within a sentence, usually do draw attention and emphasis to that idea.

Now that you know what content words are, go out and stress them!