A. Stress patterns - use of weak forms, stress placement and timing First, You need to understand which words are generally stressed and which are not stressed.
| Content Words | Function Words |
|---|---|
| Basically, stress words are considered content words. | Non-stressed words are considered function words. |
| Examples: ·Nouns e.g. kitchen, Ali ·(most) verbs e.g. visit, construct ·Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting ·Adverbs e.g. often, carefully | Examples: ·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 |
The same sentence can take on different meanings depending on where the speaker chooses to place the primary stress.
Example: "I'm not going".
B. Make pairs and practise the following dialogue following appropriate stress and intonation.
A: Will you look at this form?
B: Are you having problems with it?
A: I don't understand some things.
B: Let me help you.