Sentence Stress: Quick Practice! Try This Quote......

The.One.Autumn

Even its only 1% a day, always do something for continuous improvement.

Your 1% for today: Pronounciation - Sentence Stress

 
 
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What’s the number one, most important thing about spoken communication in another language?

Being understood. Communicating your message clearly. Pronunciation.
 
It’s more than just being able to create the general 45 sounds of English, and how they sound within a word.

It’s how you say the word itself. It’s how you say a sentence. It’s how the sounds from different words flow together, either smoothly or roughly, to create the rhythmns of the language.

Let's look at one part of pronunciation: sentence stress.
 
English is a stress-timed language. Correct stress in your sentences is important in being able to have effective communication skills. Sentence stress highlights words.

Let’s look at the following quote:

“Believe you can and your halfway there”.

It means:
When you think, and then know, that you can do something, you have already completed half of your goal, what you are trying to do, accomplish.  

So, where would you put the stress in the quote to best communicate the meaning?

What words have the most meaning in this quote?

  • Believe – what you need to do
  • Can – the energy you put into doing the “believing” 
  • Halfway – the result of “believe” + “can”
These are the words you stress.

BELIEVE you CAN, and your HALFWAY there. Try saying it!
 
 
**Also notice the coma. Coma = a pause. When you pause, pause for just a moment as you say this out loud.

**Depending on context, for example, a motivational graphic, you can also write it just like this for emphasis, or bolded, as it is in the picture above.
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How was your 1% for today?
This column was published by the author in their personal capacity.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author's own and do not reflect the view of Cafetalk.

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