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Introduction to emphasis in a sentence
Click on the audio button to listen.
In English, we use stress to highlight important words in a thought group or in a sentence. A thought group is a group of words that expresses one idea. A thought group can be as short as "Yes" or much longer, as in, "While I was walking to the store the other day..."
Many languages use word order to highlight important information. In English, we sometimes use word order, but we frequently use stress to:
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highlight important or new information
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put special emphasis on a word
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show contrast
Listen!
Listen
Listen and pay attention to where the stress falls in the following sentence.
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What are you doing?
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I'm EATing.
The speaker stresses the syllable EAT. EAT is the important information in the thought group.
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Who is eating?
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I'M eating.
In the second example, the speaker wants to answer the question WHO? so he stresses I'M.
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Why aren't you eating?
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I AM eating.
In the third example, the speaker wants to emphasize that he is in fact eating, so he stresses the verb AM to contrast with the negative (Why AREN'T you eating?).
Listen!
Listen and Repeat
Listen and repeat the second line of dialog only.
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What are you doing?
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I'm READing.
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Who is reading?
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I'M reading.
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Why aren't you reading?
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I AM reading.
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What is he doing?
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He's LEAVing.
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Who is leaving?
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HE'S leaving.
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Why isn't he leaving?
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He IS leaving.
Listen!
Practice
Click on the question that elicited each answer.
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