Page 51 - Starting Strong: English Essentials

4. Speaking

Pause and Word Stress

Pause

Natural pauses in a sentence can improve clarity, rhythm, and understanding when speaking
English. If you pause in an awkward spot, it might confuse your listener, so using pauses correctly
is important.

A pause is a complete gap between words, or just a slowing down of speech. You can’t just pause
randomly; some words naturally belong together in what we call word groups. Pauses should
divide a sentence into meaningful parts. Each part should make sense on its own, usually following
grammar patterns like phrases or clauses. In writing, these chunks are often marked by
punctuation.

Locations of Pauses Examples
at the end of a clause ➔ The gym has a pool / so I sometimes swim
➔ On Monday and Tuesday / I do yoga
at the end of a sentence ➔ I don’t like to stay up late / I’m a morning person
➔ I can’t fall asleep before midnight / I usually go to bed
around 1 a.m.
before or after a conjunction ➔ For exercise / I jog in the park / or play soccer with
friends
➔ Then / I read the newspaper before bed
between words in a list ➔ Every morning / I wake up at 6 a.m. / brush my teeth /
take a shower / and eat breakfast
➔ After dinner / I wash the dishes / feed the cat / and
relax on the sofa
after a filler ➔ Well / I like jogging in the park
➔ Oh / I do yoga too

Word Stress

Word stress is the syllable in a word that is said more forcefully, which is louder, longer, and higher
in pitch than the other syllables. Word stress is important because mistakes in word stress are a
common cause of misunderstanding in English. The stressed syllable is marked with an apostrophe
(’).

While there are some common patterns in English word stress, it’s not always safe to treat them
as fixed rules because there are often exceptions. Still, these patterns can help you make better
guesses about where the stress usually falls.

➔ Words with Two Syllables
Two syllable nouns, adjectives, and adverbs tend to have stress on the first syllable.
Meanwhile, verbs tend to have stress on the second syllable.

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