Sentence Level Stress Patterns: 1. Stress the last important word of the sentence. Most often, these will be nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. a. Example: “She went out to eat with me.” 2. Pronouns receive stress only when used as contrast. This is to emphasize a certain meaning. a. Example: “She went out to eat with me.” (Not him) 3. When applying stress in a sentence, stress the last word that brings new information to the sentence. a. Example: “I’m going to eat seafood.” vs. “I’m going to eat a lot of seafood.” 4. Do not stress two words next to each other. Practice: She got a new textbook for him. He was waiting for you. The big shot over there wants to see you. She’s too old‐fashioned for him. That’s not what she told me. He’s really nice to me. I’ve had enough of this. I can’t do it. The tiger‐shark bit him. This school day is boring me. You decide where the stress goes: I have to work long hours. Mr. Johns has taken vacation for three years. The report needed major revisions even after Sara worked on it for so long. Going to board meetings was Dean’s least favorite task to do. Janet’s resume spoke volumes about what was most important to her in life. Please pick up some more pens and a stapler at the office supply store. We will meet in 10 minutes to discuss your performance review. © ClearlySpeaking, LLC 2010‐2011 Contrastive Stress Drill • A: What is John doing? • B: John will meet us in the break room at 1:00. • A: Who is meeting us? • B: John will meet us in the break room at 1:00. • A: Who is John meeting? • B: John will meet us in the break room at 1:00. • A: What time is John meeting us? • B: John will meet us in the break room at 1:00. Reading: COMMA GETS A CURE Well, here's a story for you: Sarah Perry was a veterinary nurse who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the territory, so she was very happy to start a new job at a superb private practice in North Square near the Duke Street Tower. That area was much nearer for her and more to her liking. Even so, on her first morning, she felt stressed. She ate a bowl of porridge, checked herself in the mirror and washed her face in a hurry. Then she put on a plain yellow dress and a fleece jacket, picked up her kit and headed for work. When she got there, there was a woman with a goose waiting for her. The woman gave Sarah an official letter from the vet. The letter implied that the animal could be suffering from a rare form of foot and mouth disease, which was surprising, because normally you would only expect to see it in a dog or a goat. Sarah was sentimental, so this made her feel sorry for the beautiful bird. Before long, that itchy goose began to strut around the office like a lunatic, which made an unsanitary mess. The goose's owner, Mary Harrison, kept calling, "Comma, Comma," which Sarah thought was an odd choice for a name. Comma was strong and huge, so it would take some force to trap her, but Sarah had a different idea. First she tried gently stroking the goose's lower back with her palm, then singing a tune to her. Finally, she administered ether. Her efforts were not futile. In no time, the goose began to tire, so Sarah was able to hold onto Comma and give her a relaxing bath. Once Sarah had managed to bathe the goose, she wiped her off with a cloth and laid her on her right side. Then Sarah confirmed the vet’s diagnosis. Almost immediately, she remembered an effective treatment that required her to measure out a lot of medicine. Sarah warned that this course of treatment might be expensive—either five or six times the cost of penicillin. I can’t imagine paying so much, but Mrs. Harrison—a millionaire lawyer—thought it was a fair price for a cure. Comma Gets a Cure and derivative works may be used freely for any purpose without special permission, provided the present sentence and the following copyright notification accompany the passage in print, if reproduced in print, and in audio format in the case of a sound recording: Copyright 2000 Douglas N. Honorof, Jill McCullough & Barbara Somerville. All rights reserved. © ClearlySpeaking, LLC 2010‐2011 Homework: 1. Listen carefully this week for words that are being stressed by others. 2. Focus on readings by circling words in passages. Use the newspaper, memos you receive, other documents, etc. Then, read them out loud really exaggerating the stressed words. 3. Be aware of your speech in conversation. In order to place stress on words, you must be speaking slowly. Answers: I have to work long hours. Mr. Johns has not taken vacation for three years. The report needed major revisions even after Sara worked on it for so long. Going to board meetings was Dean’s least favorite task to do. Janet’s resume spoke volumes about what was most important to her in life. Please pick up some more pens and a stapler at the office supply store. We will meet in 10 minutes to discuss your performance review. *Note: Words at the beginning of these sentences also receive secondary stress. The longer the sentence, the more words are stressed. Contrastive Stress Drill Answers A: What is John doing? B: John will meet us in the break room at 1:00. A: Who is meeting us? B: John will meet us in the break room at 1:00. A: Who is John meeting? B: John will meet us in the break room at 1:00. A: What time is John meeting us? B: John will meet us in the break room at 1:00. “I cannot guarantee your results. I can only guarantee to deliver great information. ONLY YOU can be responsible for results stemming from action!” ‐‐Carrie Wilkerson
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