7 Word Stress: Compound Words and Adjective + Noun Combinations
Eric Dodson
by Eric Dodson
What is word stress?
Example: Portland Oregon
PORTland ORegon
Oo Ooo <– The capital O means stressed syllables. The small o means unstressed syllables.
not: portLAND oREgon
Stress is:
- Longer
- Louder
- Higher (in pitch, like music)
- Clearer (the vowel is easy to hear and full; it is NOT a schwa /ə/, usually)
- Bigger (easy to see!)
Practice by listening, repeating, and checking with a tutor or teacher:
Compound Nouns
The stress usually is on the first word or part:
- classmate
- homework
- football
- bathroom
- website
- keyboard
- writing teacher
- English class
- reading test
- due date
Normal Adjectives + Nouns
The stress will usually fall on the noun. The adjective may have some stress, but it will have less than the noun — usually!
If you change the stress patterns, you may be changing the meaning or the feeling of what you’re saying.
Can you practice these common phrases with stress on the nouns?
- a long walk
- a good grade
- a short speech
- a clear voice
- a hard quiz
- some organized notes
- a confident speaker
- an interesting person
Extra: Stress on numbers!
Numbers also almost always receive stress:
- example 1
- speech number 2
- exercise 3
- My group had 4 classmates
- I’m in level 5
- But I’m getting ready for communication 6
Listen and Repeat
One good resource for teachers or tutors: British Council Teaching English – Word Stress