Pronunciation Help - Sentence Stress

Take a look at the following list of stressed and non-stressed word types.

Basically, stress words are considered CONTENT WORDS such as

Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter
(most) principle verbs e.g. visit, construct
Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting
Adverbs e.g. often, carefully

Non-stressed words are considered FUNCTION WORDS such as

Determiners e.g. the, a, some, a few
Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were
Prepositions e.g. before, next to, opposite
Conjunctions e.g. but, while, as
Pronouns e.g. they, she, us

Mark the stressed words in the following sentences. After you have found the stressed words, practice reading the sentences aloud.

John is coming over tonight. We are going to work on our homework together.
Ecstasy is an extremely dangerous drug.
We should have visited some more castles while we were traveling through the back roads of France.
Jack bought a new car last Friday.
They are looking forward to your visiting them next January.
Exciting discoveries lie in Tom's future.
Would you like to come over and play a game of chess?
They have been having to work hard these last few months on their challenging experiment.
Shakespeare wrote passionate, moving poetry.
As you might have expected, he has just thought of a new approach to the problem

Practicing

Task: Listen to the track and mark stress patterns, falling and rising intonation.

Actual Transcription:

Online shopping is really becoming popular around the world, and I have a friend that does all of her buying online. She says she can find whatever she needs from online stores and communities like Walmart, eBay, and Amazon. In many cases, traditional stores have a limited selection of products on display whereas an online store often has a wider selection of goods from which to choose. My friend also says she can also look up product reviews and compare prices much easier from her house than travel from store to store. Equally important, she can shop when it is convenient for her since online stores never close. This saves her time, and she doesn't have to deal with long lines.

Reduced Speech:

Online shopping's really becoming popular around thə world, ən' I have ə friend that does all əf ər buying online. She says she kn find whatever she needs from online stores ən' communities like Walmart, eBay, ən' Amazon. In many cases, traditional stores have ə limited selection əf products on display whereas ən online store often has ə wider selection əf goods from which tə choose. My friend also says she kn also look up product reviews ən' compare prices much easier from 'ər house thən travel from store tə store. Equally important, she kn shop when it's convenient fər ər since online stores never close. This saves ər time, ən' she doesn't have tə deal with long lines.

Teacher’s Notes

I. Content words / Function words

1. Before giving the SS this worksheet, ask them which words are usually stressed and non-stressed in an English sentence. Don’t confirm their answers at that stage.

2. Then give them the worksheet and let them compare their answers with factual information. (Pair work - feedback)

3. Now you need to make sure that SS know the difference between content and function words. So you say a word, e.g “have” and a student is supposed to say “It’s a function word” . Preapare the list of words in advance.

II. Marking the stressed words in a sentence.

1. If it’s a small group, I’d recommend you work on every sentence in turn. (First, I asked the SS to underline the stressed words individually, and then they compared their answers with the peers)

2. Ask them to read all the sentences in pairs. Monitor them closely.

III. Listening and Practicing.

1. Ask SS to listen to the track and underline all stressed words on the actual transcript. I also asked them to mark pauses and falling and rising intonation.

2. Ask SS to compare their transcript with the partner. Check it as a group. Ask an individual student to read the script to the group. Then they practice reading in pairs.

3. Ask the SS why the speaker on the track sounds more fluent then they do. Introduce the shwa sound. Ask them to listen to the track again reading the actual transcript. Then SS practice reading this passage in pairs again.

Home assignment: record this passage on voxopop.com

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