• explanation
• compound nouns
• noun+noun compounds
• phrasal verbs
• homographs  (look-alikes)

All words of more than one syllable have what is called word stress.  This means that at least one of the syllables is
l o n g e r and louder
than the other syllables.

In the following examples, stressed syllables are in capital letters:
audio
 

Column A	Column B	Column C
PHOtograph	phoTOgraphy	photoGRAphic
PENcil	comMITtee	volunTEER
MARyland	soCIety	inforMAtion

In many cases, word stress must simply be learned as new volcabulary is acquired.  However, there are several rules for word stress which can make it easier to deal with.

I.  Compound Nouns:

Listen to the following compound nouns.  Can you hear the word stress?
audio

	bluebird
	blackboard
	notebook
	bookstore
	toothbrush
	keyboard

In each of these examples, the first part of the compound gets the stress.

II.  Noun+Noun Compounds (2-word compound nouns)

Listen to the following noun+noun compounds.  Can you hear which part of the compound gets more stress?
audio
 

	air conditioner
	computer programmer
	nail polish
	french fry
	Geiger counter
	doctor's office

Similar to the rule for compound nouns, the first part of the compound--here, the first word--gets the stress.  (Note: If the "unstressed" part of the noun+noun compound is more than one syllable, it will have some word stress.  However, the first part of the compound will get even more stress.)

III.  Phrasal Verbs versus Compound Nouns derived from phrasals

Phrasal verbs (a.k.a. two-word or two-part verbs) are generally made up of a verb and preposition.  For many of these, correct word stress is especially important as they have compound noun counterparts. In the following examples, the words on the left are phrasal verbs. The words on the right are nouns.

Listen to these examples.
audio

let down	letdown
shut out	shutout
print out	printout
turn off	turnoff
take over	takeover

In phrasal verbs, the preposition gets the word stress.  If they have a noun counterpart, however, it gets the stress on the first part.

IV.  Homographs
Homographs are words which are written the same way but which have different pronunciation.  In English, there are many words which have the same spelling, but whose part of speech changes with the word stress.  If you listen carefully, you will hear that the vowel sounds change depending on whether they are stressed or unstressed.

audio
 

VERB	NOUN
record	record
progress	progress
present	present
permit	permit

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