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9.1.1.2 Stressed and unstressed words (content and function words)
English · Grade 8 · 2 lessons in the design
What this covers
- Content words carry meaning and take sentence stress: nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, question words, negatives
- Function words are usually unstressed: articles, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliaries, conjunctions, the infinitive to
- Emphatic stress can fall on a function word to show contrast
- Reciting a hero poem and marking loud versus weak beats
What you will be able to do
- apply stress on content words while leaving the function words unstressed
- acknowledge the importance of emphatic stress in communication
Key questions
“Why are some words said with greater force than others?”
“Why do we pronounce some words differently from others in a sentence?”
Lessons
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Content words take the beat
40 min · 1 practice tasks · quizSort content and function words. Stress the meaning words in a sentence about an African hero.
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Emphatic stress and a hero poem
40 min · 1 practice tasks · quizMove the loud beat to show contrast. Recite a short African-hero poem and mark stressed content words.