to call see her can go

for Dan get him have seen

Exercise 1.Read the following phrases and sentences correctly,blending and stressing the appropriate words.

a. Determiners

a book this road his book their land

an article these roads our group her fan

the report those bags its tail that store

b. Personal Pronouns

sing it bring him invite her tell him

get it paint her like her write her

play it read them love him have it

c. Prepositions

to market on top from the teacher with Tom

at home in time of the class for the guest

d. Conjunctions

bread and butter slow but sure red or blue

skirt and blouse honey or lemon stop and shop

rain or shine here nor there come and go

e. Auxiliary Verbs

is coming has left will leave were told

are going has seen should listen can go

f. Reduced Forms

you have you've You've been called.

They are they're They're nice.

he is he's He's tall.

I would I'd I'd like it.

should have should've He should've come.

could have could've She could've won

g. Negative Contractions

Read each contraction as one syllable and stress the main verb.

can not can't You can't go.

are not aren't They aren't playing.

were not weren't You weren't seen.

do not don't I don't know.

Pronounce each contraction with a syllabic -nt and stress the content word.

is not isn't It isn't moving.

was not wasn't It wasn't good.

does not doesn't He doesn't know.

did not didn't She didn't come.

Exercise 2. Read the following sentences blending the appropriate words correctly.

1. Take the bus or the train.

2. He can't read nor write.

3. He's as good as his father.

4. We are home.

5. Call Betty and Tess.

Rules for Sentence Stress in English

The basic rules of sentence stress are:

1. content words are stressed
2. structure words are unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is always the same

The following tables can help you decide which words are content words and which words are structure words:

Content words - stressed

Structure words - unstressed

Exceptions

The above rules are for for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be only a structure word, for example to correct information. Look at the following dialogue:

"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?"

"No, THEY haven't, but WE have.

Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though in this case it is a content word).

Let's practice

Instructions: Read the following excerpt correctly.Be guided by the pause lines.

What is science? // How did it originate? // How did it developed? // You may

be surprised to learn / that the origin of science / lies in the supernatural.// Several

thousand years ago / man lacked the knowledge necessary / to explain the

universe and its workings / in "scientific" terms.// Many primitive cultures / believed

that events / beneficial to man's welfare / were controlled / by benevolent spirits./

Other spirits / such as those bringing sickness / were evil and malicious.//

Still / others appeared unexceedingly unpredictable;// friendly one moment, / hostile

the next.//

The impulsive character of these beings / explained why a gentle rain / eventually

developed / into a disastrous flood.// Such / is the origin of myths.

Say this sentence aloud and count how many seconds it takes.

1. The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.

2. He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.

They can come on Friday. (stressed words underlined)

They can't come on Friday.

The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance. (14 syllables)

He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening. (22 syllables)

1. I called Robert. // (Speaker sent for Robert)

I called,/ Robert.// ( Speaker addressing Robert)

2. She hasn't forgotten Peter.// ( She remembers Peter)

She hasn't forgotten,/ Peter.// (Speaker addressing Peter)

3. Swimming / jogging / and biking / develop good coordination.//

4. The swimming team won five gold medals;// consequently/ it was declared overall champion.//

Practice more

What I have Lived For

Three passions,simple but overwhelming strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge,and

unbearrable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish,reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love,first, because it brings ecstasy -- ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life

for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness -- that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss.I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature,the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought,and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what -- at least I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway against the flux. At little of this, but not much, have I achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people as hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot and I, too, suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living and would gladly live it again if the chance were offred to me.

from The Autobiography

of Bertrand Russell