Speech Work: Word Stress

Back to: ENGLISH LANGUAGE JSS 2

 

Welcome to Class !!

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In today’s English Language class, We will be discussing Word Stress. We hope you enjoy the class!

 

TOPIC:

1. Speech Work: Word Stress
2. Grammar: Adverbial – Manner, Time and Place
3. Comprehension/Summary; Unit 8 P.124
4. Writing – Argumentative 

 

 

A. Speech Work

Content:  Word Stress

Stress is the quality or degree with which one pronounces a sound or a syllable. It is the force with which a sound is pronounced.

A stressed syllable is indicated by placing a stroke at the beginning of the syllable or written in capital letters. A stressed vowel is one that is said with more energy, is louder and more prominent.

Examples

BEtter                        GARden

HOTly                        STRONGly

SEcond                    MAnner

WANted                  COMfort

PAtience

However, a louder or higher tone does not always guarantee a stronger stressed syllable. By contrast, unstressed vowels are weak and not loud and sometimes not clearly heard.

Some Rules of Stress

1. Monosyllables are not stressed.

Examples: buy, hawk, tone, eat etc.

2. Disyllabic words, that is, words with two syllables are mostly stressed on the first syllables when they are nouns and stressed on the second syllable when they are verbs. Though there is an exception when a stressed syllable in a disyllabic word is weak, the stress falls or shifts to the next syllable.

Nouns                                    Verbs

CONtract                 conTRACT

OBject                       obJECT

CONtest                    conTEST

REfuse                        reFUSE

PROject                     proJECT

SUBject                      subJECT

REcord                      reCORD

PREsent                     preSENT

Adjective	Verb
ABsent	abSENT
PREsent	preSENT

 

Other nouns are BIScuit, BIble, PoLICE, POlish, poLITE(adj), MOney, MONkey etc.

3. The suffix ‘ion’ added to some words takes stress on the preceding syllables i.e the syllable immediately before ‘ion’ as in proMOtion, oCCAsion, persSUAsion, circuLAtion, calcuLAtion.
4. Syllables with central vowel /ә/ or schwa are stressed. E.g: aBOUT, TEAcher, FAther, BUtter, PASture etc.
5. Syllables that end with syllabic /l,m,n/ are not stressed. E.g: LIttle, BUtton, COtton, ABle, enJOY, CAstle, SUckle.
6. Polysyllabic words that end with these suffixes “-ic, -ian, -ial, -sive” are stressed on the penultimate syllable i.e, second to the last syllable. E.g: draMAtic, speCIfic, imPREssive, coLOnial.
7. If the words end with these suffixes “-ate, -ity, -iate, -ise, -fy”, stress the third syllable counting from the last syllable. cerTIficate, capTIvity, FORtunate, EXercise.
8. Most words ending with these suffixes “-sim, -ive, -ure, -ry, -ize” in four-syllable words are stressed on the 4^th syllable from the end. Capitalism, comfortable, profitable, legislative, agriculture, personalise, nationalize.
9. Words ending with these suffixes (-ogy, -phy, -cal, -ant, -ment) are stressed on 3^rd syllable from the end.

EVALUATION: Stress the following words: delicate, commission, distinction, fortunate, understand, delirium, presently, dramatic, refugee, strategic, occasion.

READING ASSIGNMENT:

 

 

B. Grammar: Adverbial

 

Content: Adverbials of Manner

An adverb is a word or a group of words that describes either the verb or the whole sentence. They tell us about how something is done, when or how often it is done, where it is done, etc. An adverbial that is just one word is usually called an adverb. An adverbial made up of several words is an adverbial phrase.

Adverbials have different kinds of meanings. An adverbial of manner describes the manner or way an action is performed. Adverbs of manner often end in –ly for example:

1. The people waited impatiently.
2. He shouted
3. They shouted

EVALUATION: Choose adverbs from the box to complete the sentences which follow:

Note: Well is the adverb form of good.

Patiently Hungrily Helpfully Thirstily

Suspiciously Angrily Softly Well

Obstinately beautifully Noisily Badly

1. Dieng waited ___________ in the queue.
2. The typewriter eyed Dieng ______________.
3. The fat woman ___________ left the Post Office.
4. The children ___________ waited for their supper.
5. The clerk ___________ refused to accept it.
6. My sister dresses ______________.

Adverbial of time and place

Adverbial of time and place answer the questions when? and where? E.g.

1. When did she arrive?
2. She arrived at twelve
3. Where did they go?
4. They went to Kano.

When all three types of adverbial occur in the same sentence, thy normally go in this order

                                             Manner                     Place             Time

She arrived                           safely                         in Jos              at two.

He walked                            slowly                         to school      yesterday.

EVALUATION: Make up 5 similar sentences.

 

 

C. Comprehension:

Content: To read, enjoy and act a scene from a play.

In this scene, the mother of a girl is asked if she will agree to let Henry Ajai marry her daughter. The asking has to be done in the traditional manner, and there has already been a long exchange of greeting and polite enquiries, crops and cattle.

EVALUATION: P.125 Practice. 2 (1-8) Effective English JSS 2.

 

 

D. Writing: Argumentative Essay

Content: Indiscipline among secondary schools students. Who should be responsible, parents or teachers? An argumentative essay is very much like a debate where two opposing views of the same issues are presented and defended as rigorously as possible. It is a controversial writing that suggests the bringing forth of facts to support or refute an argument. It involves ordered reasoning and is a process of organizing and stating objectively the fact and reasoning surrounding a particular stance or point of view.

EVALUATION: Write in support or against this proposition, Indiscipline among secondary school students: who should be responsible parents or teachers?

 

 

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the words in the bracket.

1. The man in dark glasses is behaving very _____ (suspicious).
2. The dog attacked the thief _____ (ferocious).
3. The accident victim was bleeding ______ (profuse).
4. My brother drives very ______ (reckless).
5. The little girl trembled ______ when she saw the huge dog (fear).

 

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

Choose the best options

1. They gave my friend and ____________ the money. (A) me (B) I  (C) we
2. Twenty years ___________ not enough for one to prepare for life. (A) was  (B) is    (C) should not be
3. He was treated __________ a delicious meal at the party. (A) with    (B) to    (C) for
4. I saw Bunmi, Shola and Ngozi when they were going to school ___________.  (A) Weren’t they?    (B) didn’t I?  (C) were they
5. The principal, as well as two of his staff ____________ travelling tonight. (A) are  (B) is    (C) were

 

THEORY

Complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the verbs in the brackets.

1. The boy ____________ the gates for the car to come in every morning (open)
2. My friends will ___________ this evening (travel)
3. My younger brother is ____________ an interview next week (attend)
4. Ajayi ______________ up at 5:50am every Sunday (wake)
5. We are not __________ to make a noise in the class (allow)

 

 

We have come to the end of this class. We do hope you enjoyed the class?

Should you have any further question, feel free to ask in the comment section below and trust us to respond as soon as possible.

In our next class, we will be talking about Consonants Clusters tr and str. We are very much eager to meet you there.

 

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