Sentence Stress (句子重音)Sentence stress stressed words and unstressed words in a sentence: Sentence stress is the relative degree of force given to different words in a sentence.General rules for sentence stress what to stress in a sentence? *In an English utterance, content words / information words are generally stressed while function words are unstressed. *In general, stressed words give information to the listener and unstressed words join the information words together. *If you stress all the words in an utterance, you may sound unpleasant or even cause misunderstanding because you are giving too much information, and English speakers usually stress all words only when they are impatient, angry, or very serious. *Correct pronunciation of stressed and unstressed words is thus extremely important for effective communication in English.1Sentence Stress (句子重音)content words / information words: nouns verbs (full verbs instead of auxiliary verbs) adjectives and adverbs demonstratives: this, that, these, those interrogatives: who, when, why, etc. numerals: one, two, first, second, etc. function words: articles and prepositions personal pronouns: I, me, he, him, etc. possessive adjectives: my, his, your, etc. relative pronouns: who, that, which, etc. common conjunctions: and, but, that, as, if, etc. the word “one” used as a noun-substitute the verbs “be”, “have” and auxiliary verbs2Sentence Stress (句子重音)Three levels of stress in English sentences: 1. strongly stressed (focus words) 2. stressed (content words) 3. unstressed (function words)Special attention should be paid to the following: 1. The stressing of the noun “street”: stressed when used as a common noun; unstressed when used in names of streets: I saw him in the street. / I saw him in North Street. 2. The stressing of reflexive pronouns and emphatic pronouns: reflexive pronouns “oneself” are normally unstressed; emphatic pronoun “oneself” (meaning “alone, without anyone else”) are stressed: Ive cut myself. / I locked it myself.3Sentence Stress (句子重音) 3. The stressing of reciprocal pronoun “each other”: “each other” is generally not stressed: They like each other. 4. The stressing of compound pronouns: “somebody, someone, something, anybody, anyone, anything” are stressed when used as subjects, but unstressed when used as objects; “nobody, nothing” are normally stressed: Someone was pounding on the door. I often fish for hours without catching anything. I couldnt just stand by and do nothing. Nothing ever happens around here. I knocked on the door but nobody answered. I saw nobody there.4Sentence Stress (句子重音) 5. The stressing of auxiliary verbs (including “be” and “have”) in questions and negative forms: auxiliary verbs at the beginning of general questions or tag questions can be stressed; auxiliary verbs are usually stressed in contracted negative forms: Have you finished? / Have you finished? You havent finished, have you? / have you? She isnt a doctor, is she? / is she? He doesnt like it. You mustnt do it. 6. The stressing of “may” and “might”: stressed when used to express possibility; unstressed when used to express permission: I may be late, so dont wait for me. / May I leave now?5Sentence Stress (句子重音) 7. The stressing of the adverb “there”: unstressed in “there to be”: The house has many rooms and there is a lovely garden. 8. The stressing of conjunctions with an emphatic meaning: conjunctions with an emphatic meaning are usually stressed: Well, although I am very hungry, Ill wait another ten minutes, even if I die of hunger. 9. The stressing of repeated words: When an utterance contains a word which has just been used, the repeated word is generally not stressed: How many times have you been there? Three times. 6Sentence Stress (句子重音)Practice: Listening word stress for information Listen to the following conversations. Write the information in the appropriate box in the table. Conversation A serves as an example. Example: A Hi, Bob. Are you going to the library? I have to go to the bookstore. I need to get some books. When are you going? In an hour.7Sentence Stress (句子重音)Listen for informationconversationwhowhatwherewhenABobbuy booksbookstorein an hourBCDEPatfinish a reportin the labin a few minutesLindatake a vacationParisfrom Aug. 5 to Aug. 18Gloria have a partyat Glorias placetomorrow nightLucygo to an interviewat an school in the southern part of the citytomorrow8Sentence Stress (句子重音)B Im going to the library. Would you like to come too, Pat? Im sorry, but I have to work in the lab. I have to finish my report. Oh, I see. Are you going now? Ill be ready in a few minutes.C Are you taking a vacation this summer, Linda? Sure. Ill be away from August 5 to August 18. Where are you going? Paris.9Sentence Stress (句子重音)D Are you planning a big party, Gloria? Yes, Johns going-away party. Thats nice. Can I come too? Of course. Well have it at my place tomorrow night.E Have you got your teaching position, Lucy? No, but Im going to the interview tomorrow. Is the school far away? Well, its in the southern part of the city.10Sentence Stress (句子重音)Practice: Listening stress patterns Listen to the following talk and mark the stress patterns of the words and word groups.Giving a Man a Fish There is an old saying: “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime.” This saying, however, may no longer be true today. The reason is overfishing. The problem of overfishing is spreading. Since anyone can fish, many people do. Around the world, the number of fishermen and fish farmers is growing. The total has more than doubled in the past 25 years. When too many people fish, too many fish are caught. The days of teaching people to fish may be over. New solutions to this problem must be found, before there are no more fish to eat.11Sentence Stress (句子重音)Example: problem _ 1. an old saying _ 2. give a man a fish _ 3. for today _ 4. for a lifetime _ 5. no longer _ 6. be true today _ 7. overfishing _ 8. the problem of _ 9. around the world _ 10. the number of _ 12Sentence Stress (句子重音)11. fishermen _ 12. fish farmers _13. more than doubled _14. in the past 25 years _15. many people fish _16. teaching people to fish _17. be over _18. solutions to this problem _19. must be found _20. no more fish to eat _ 13