Am I stressing correct words? March 21

Question

Hi,The bold words in the following text represent stressed words. The sentences are from a TV news story. Would native speakers stress these words if they read the text? Nick Watt tells us what happened…Look at that guy, walking past like there is nothing happening…"I don’t know what happened next”, Supergran told the paper, “I just kept swinging”... Like any good superhero, she is shunning the limelight.Thanks,MG.

Philip · Accepted Answer

I see only a few words that would likely be stressed in normal reporting, that is beyond normal speech patterns:

Look at that guy

like any good...

CalifJim · Answer

Nick

Watt tells us what happened

…Look at that

guy, walking

past like there is nothing

happening…"I don’t know what happened next”, Supergran told the paper, “I just kept swinging”... Like any good

superhero, she is shunning the limelight.

Here's a rough idea of how I would read it:

Nick Watt tells us what happened…Look at that guy, walking past like there is nothing happening…"I don’t know what happened next”, Supergran told the paper, “I just kept swinging”... Like any good superhero, she is shunning the limelight.

CJ

Musicgold · Answer

Thanks Philip and CJ.

A few follow up questions, if I may.

Philip, are those your suggestions or those are mistakes in my sentences?

CalifJim Nick Watt tells us what happened..."I don’t know what happened next”, Supergran told the paper

Why did you stress 'what' in the second sentence but not in the first?

CalifJim · Answer

Musicgold
CalifJimNick Watt tells us what happened..."I don’t know what happened next”, Supergran told the paper
Why did you stress 'what' in the second sentence but not in the first?

Argh! I was afraid you would ask that! I was foolishly hoping against hope that you would understand it intuitively.

The first 'what' is neutral. There is no "exclamation-quality" involved. (My characterization -- not a technical grammatical term.)

He told us what happened. She told us who went. They discovered who did it. We decided what to do. I watched what they were doing. He saw where they went.
_________

The second 'what' has "exclamation-quality". Imagine Supergran with her hands pressed against the sides of her face and moving her head from side to side in a gesture of false confusion. "Oh, my goodness! It all happened so fast, I have no idea what happened." Its being in the first person (I) also helps us to interpret the statement this way, as does the fact that the story seems to be about a situation unusually heroic enough to be chronicled in a newspaper.

I don't know what happened next. I have no idea how I saved the children from that disaster.
I can't imagine who might have stolen it. I don't know where I could have put it.
___

That said, you can also read that statement in the neutral pattern:

I don't know what happened (next).

In fact, there are often two or three different stress patterns that can be used for any given utterance. It all depends on the emotional emphasis that the speaker wants to put on certain words. The social and emotional context is important.
___

You will have to take into account that I may have over-dramatized what Supergran said, and that's why I chose that stress pattern!

___

Note also that there are four recognized levels of stress in English, so we are generalizing a bit by just dividing the syllables into stressed and unstressed for the purposes of this discussion.

CJ

Musicgold · Answer

Appreciate it CJ.

Am I stressing correct words? March 21

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