EnglishArocity

INSTRUCTION 8 To communicate clearly in spoken English, it’s of paramount importance that we stress the correct syllable in every word. This is called "word stress", which means pronouncing a syllable of a multisyllabic word with greater force or emphasis (stress) than the other syllable in the word. Some words you might be pronouncing wrongly are listed below. You can download the audio recording to listen to the sound of each word, as well as note how it is used in a sentence.  Remember, you can get full audio instructions (in volumes) containing hundreds of words, stress rules explained in detail and several examples when you place an order. Here are our words for this week. EXCHANGE/ɪksˈtʃeɪn d  ʒ/ INSTEAD/ɪnˈsted/ MORTGAGE /ˈmɔː.gɪdʒ/ I worked for my neighbor in exchange for my monthly mortgage payment instead of begging. LETTUCE /lətɪs/ COMPARATIVE /kəmˈpær.ə.tɪv/ INITIATE /ɪ ˈ nɪʃ.i.eɪt/ ShopRite has initiated a new way of preserving lettuc...

INSTRUCTION 7 ‘Stress’, especially word stress, is a very important aspect of spoken English. Like using wrong grammar syntax or having a badly-punctuated writing, stressing the wrong syllable in a word can give the word a rather different meaning, or encumber your listener’s comprehension, thereby creating interference to effective communication. Unfortunately, there are no straitjacketed rules for word stress in English. While some rules are consistent, others are not; they come with lots exceptions. For instance, words that end in –ic (as in ‘Dramatic’ or ‘Authentic’), and words that end in -sion, -tion (as in ‘commission’ or ‘accommodation’) usually have their stress on the second-to-last syllable – no matter the length of the word. On the other hand, it is a general rule that for two-syllable words, nouns  and   adjectives have their stress on the first syllable, but  verbs  have the stress on the second syllable. But some words can both be verbs and...