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Algyptalian Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Sentence stresses

I'm trying to identify sentence stresses, and im not sure how you would go about it. I seem to identify them, but it seems to me that the stresses would be different depending on how you say the sentence.

For example, with the following sentences:

1) Would you mind closing the window?

What would you say the stresses are? I think its "would", "closing", and "window".

2) His name's on the tip of my tongue

what would the stresses be here? I would say "name's", "tip", and "tongue".

3) She's a generous person

What are the stresses here? I would say "generous", and "person".

Have i correctly identified the stresses in each of the sentences? And if not, what are the stresses and why?

I would appreciate the help.
  

Top answer

Stresses come on syllables. If a word has one syllable, then it can be stressed in a sentence. If it has more than one syllable, then one or more of these may be stressed.

  • Stresses come on syllables.
  • If a word has one syllable, then it can be stressed in a sentence.
  • If it has more than one syllable, then one or more of these may be stressed.
  • And, yes, we can say a sentence with unusual stress patterns to emphasize an element of that sentence.
  • The normal stresses are boldfaced: 1) Would you mind clos ing the win dow?
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2 Answers
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Stresses come on syllables. If a word has one syllable, then it can be stressed in a sentence. If it has more than one syllable, then one or more of these may be stressed.

And, yes, we can say a sentence with unusual stress patterns to emphasize an element of that sentence.

The normal stresses are boldfaced:

1) Would you mind closing the window?
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Thanks a lot for the reply. That was really helpful. However, after visiting:
http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/sentence-stress.htm

I read the following:
Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". You remember that word stress is accent on one

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