Page 63 - Spoken English Flourish Your Language

II StressinEnglishLanguage
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 structtl,re rPm-ds:
Content words
Words carrying the meaning main verbs
Nouns
adjectives
Adverbs
negative auxiliaries Structure words
Words for correct grammar pronouns
prepositions
.Articles
conjunctions
auxiliary verbs
'to be' as a main verb
Example
SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY
CAR, MUSIC, MARY
RED, BIG, INTERESTING QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T
Example
he, we, they
on, at, into
a, an, the
and, but, because
do, be, have, can, must IS, are, was
EXCEPTioNS
The above rules are for what is called 'neutral' or normal stress.