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Kooyeen Posted 19 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
My car - stress
Hi,
I remeber I once read (in Amercan Accent Training) that when you say what your name is, like "My name is Earl", you should stress "my", not "name". I'd never heard that... and I was surprised, since here in Italy every teacher makes you say "My name ease Earl", stress on name and Earl, lol.
I have to say I've never read the part about sentence stress very carefully... it was a mess. I prefer to pick up "the rules" while listening. So I never know where to put the stress in a sentence... I just hope it sounds good and say it the way it sounds best to me.
But now I'd like to ask about this: in sentences like...
-My name is Earl, and I live in Santa Monica
-My car is over there
-Your dog is so ugly
-Our sister just sold our old car
...is the stess on the possessive adjective or on the following word?
I think I always stress the following word, unless there's a good reason to emphasize the possessive adjective, and unless the possessive adjective is at the beginning of a sentence.
If it's at the beginning, I think I stress either the adjective or the noun, without following any apparent rules. Maybe I tend to stress the adjective more often, but I'm not sure.
Any comments? Thanks in advance
I remeber I once read (in Amercan Accent Training) that when you say what your name is, like "My name is Earl", you should stress "my", not "name". I'd never heard that... and I was surprised, since here in Italy every teacher makes you say "My name ease Earl", stress on name and Earl, lol.
I have to say I've never read the part about sentence stress very carefully... it was a mess. I prefer to pick up "the rules" while listening. So I never know where to put the stress in a sentence... I just hope it sounds good and say it the way it sounds best to me.
But now I'd like to ask about this: in sentences like...
-My name is Earl, and I live in Santa Monica
-My car is over there
-Your dog is so ugly
-Our sister just sold our old car
...is the stess on the possessive adjective or on the following word?
I think I always stress the following word, unless there's a good reason to emphasize the possessive adjective, and unless the possessive adjective is at the beginning of a sentence.
If it's at the beginning, I think I stress either the adjective or the noun, without following any apparent rules. Maybe I tend to stress the adjective more often, but I'm not sure.
Any comments? Thanks in advance
Top answer
I think I always stress the following word, unless there's a good reason to emphasize the possessive adjective This is correct. And being sentence initial is not a good reason to emphasize the possessive adjective. Stress the adjective only if it's contrastive or it's the topic of discussion.
- I think I always stress the following word, unless there's a good reason to emphasize the possessive adjective This is correct.
- And being sentence initial is not a good reason to emphasize the possessive adjective.
- Stress the adjective only if it's contrastive or it's the topic of discussion.
- -- Somebody just ran into your car .
- -- That's not my car.
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4 Answers
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I think I always stress the following word, unless there's a good reason to emphasize the possessive adjectiveThis is correct. And being sentence initial is not a good reason to emphasize the possessive adjective. Stress the adjective only if it's contrastive or it's the topic of discussion.
-- Somebody just ran into your car.
-- That's not
00
Thanks, I see...
Does that mean that you would stress "name" if you had to say:
"My name is Jim"
??? I think I hear it both ways, either "my" or "name".
Does that mean that you would stress "name" if you had to say:
"My name is Jim"
??? I think I hear it both ways, either "my" or "name".
00
Does that mean that you would stress "name" if you had to say:Yes.
"My name is Jim"
CJ
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Hmm, how strange. I think I hear it both ways, I wonder why, LOL.
Anyway, thanks a lot... If I hear something related to this question and I have time, maybe I might remember to post some audio clips. Then we would have something specific to comment on.
Anyway, thanks a lot... If I hear something related to this question and I have time, maybe I might remember to post some audio clips. Then we would have something specific to comment on.
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