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6.1.2 Pronunciation and Syllabic Stress

English · Grade 10 · 4 lessons in the design

What this covers

  • Syllables and syllable division
  • Primary and secondary stress in longer words
  • Sentence stress: content and function words
  • Rhythm in spoken English
  • Weak forms and connected speech

What you will be able to do

  • divide words into syllables
  • identify primary and secondary stress in longer words
  • apply sentence stress to content words
  • recognise weak forms in connected speech

Key questions

“Why does English sound uneven rather than steady?”

Lessons

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  1. Syllables and stress patterns
    40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
    Counting the beats in a word, and finding the one that carries it.
  2. Sentence stress and rhythm
    40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
    Which words carry the beat in a sentence, and why English sounds uneven.
  3. Marking the beat in a sentence
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Finding content words, reducing the rest, and hearing why English sounds uneven.
  4. Reading a culture text with rhythm
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Putting word stress, sentence stress and weak forms onto a short passage so it sounds spoken, not recited.