{"id":179972,"date":"2021-07-28T14:29:56","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T18:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/sentence-stress-2\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T01:34:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T06:34:56","slug":"sentence-stress-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/sentence-stress-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Sentence Stress to Speak English More Naturally"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you\u2019re absorbed in listening to a song, you naturally nod your head or move your body based on the rhythm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There\u2019s a certain rhythm to speaking English too. It may not be as noticeable as loud drumbeats, but <\/span><b>there are certain words in sentences that English speakers emphasize \u2013 while other words are said more quietly.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is called sentence stress. Although people don\u2019t think about it consciously when they\u2019re listening, sentence stress is essential for clear, fluent English, and stressing the wrong words can affect the meaning of your sentence or even make it sound strange.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this post, <\/span><b>we\u2019ll look at what sentence stress is all about, along with how to identify which words to stress in a sentence.\u00a0 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What is Sentence Stress?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sentence stress simply means that <\/span><b>when you speak English, you put more force or stress into specific words so they stand out.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> To stress a word, you say it more slowly and loudly, with a higher pitch. In contrast, unstressed words sound quieter and softer, as If you\u2019re drawing attention away from them.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The rhythm of English is created by this shifting from stressed to unstressed words and then back again. In fact, <\/span><b>English is a stress-timed language.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The stressed words act as a consistent beat, with the unstressed words smushed together in between them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In other words, the time between stressed words stays the same no matter how many unstressed words there are between them. Because of this, <\/span><b>how long it takes you to say a sentence in English depends on the number of stressed words.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here\u2019s how this would work in a sentence:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Therewerealotof <\/span><b>people<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> atthe <\/span><b>meeting today.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The bolded words are stressed, while the regular words are unstressed. Note that the unstressed words (&#8220;There were a lot of\u201d and &#8220;at the&#8221;) are smushed together to keep the beat in the phrases. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This pattern of stressed and unstressed words gives English a distinct melody and rhythm. When you can match the sentence stress of standard English, your speech will be much easier to understand. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>How to Identify Sentence Stress<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In standard English, <\/span><b>the most important words in a sentence are the ones that you stress<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This is actually pretty logical because it signals to the listener that you want them to focus on those words.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These words are called <\/span><b>content words. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They carry the meaning of the sentence. If you remove all of the other words and say only the content words, your speech will sound broken and your grammar incorrect, but the other person can still get a rough idea of what you\u2019re trying to say.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>I<\/b> <b>bought <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a <\/span><b>bottle<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of <\/span><b>water<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from the <\/span><b>store.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The content words are bolded here, so if you remove them, the sentence becomes: \u201cbought bottle water store.\u201d Even without half of the words in the sentence, you can still guess the meaning!<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this sentence, the other words are called <\/span><b>function<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or <\/span><b>grammar words<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, including \u201ca,\u201d \u201cof,\u201d \u201cfrom,\u201d and \u201cthe.\u201d These words are the glue that holds the sentence together and makes it grammatically correct, but they can\u2019t stand on their own.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When it comes to sentence stress, <\/span><b>content words are usually stressed, while function words are unstressed.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>Content Words vs. Function Words<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let\u2019s take a deeper look into what we can consider as content words or function words:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Content Words<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Content words are usually nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs.<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There isn\u2019t <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">anyone<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> around <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">here<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">need<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">use<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> my <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">laptop<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rainy mornings<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> can be <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">cozy<\/span>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He\u2019s <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">scared<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> about his <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">exam results<\/span>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">company<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">doing well<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> when I <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">checked<\/span>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Function Words<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Function words are usually articles, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grammarly.com\/blog\/prepositions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">prepositions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grammarly.com\/blog\/conjunctions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">conjunctions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, pronouns, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/grammar.collinsdictionary.com\/easy-learning\/be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">be verbs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We\u2019re<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> excited <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">about<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> watching <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">this<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> movie.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That\u2019s his<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> most important goal <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">for the<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Risk <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">is<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> inherent <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> everything.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> view <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">from <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">mountains <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">is<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> beautiful.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It might have to be <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">rescheduled.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A quick way to figure out whether a word is a content word or a function word is to ask: <\/span><b>if I remove this word, does the sentence still retain its message?<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>Expressing Yourself with Sentence Stress<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since sentence stress emphasizes the most important part of a sentence, it also gives you more room to be expressive when you speak English. <\/span><b>The words that you stress can add a new level of meaning to the sentence.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although English speakers generally stress content words and unstress function words, there are situations when this isn\u2019t followed. Here\u2019s what happens if we stress specific words compared to others in a sentence:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>We\u2019re <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">excited about watching the movie. -&gt; <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Focuses on who\u2019s excited to watch the movie (we, not other people)<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We\u2019re <\/span><b>excited<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> about watching the movie. -&gt;\u00a0 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Focuses on how we feel about watching the movie (excited, not uninterested or bored)<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We\u2019re excited about <\/span><b>watching<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the movie. -&gt; <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Focuses on the action that we\u2019re excited about (watching the movie, not going hiking or eating outside)<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We\u2019re excited about watching <\/span><b>the<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> movie. -&gt; <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Not as natural, but focuses on the fact that we\u2019re excited about watching a specific movie, not a random movie <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We\u2019re excited about watching the <\/span><b>movie.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> -&gt; <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Focuses on what we\u2019re excited to watch (the movie, not a TV series or a basketball game)<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s technically the same sentence, but <\/span><b>there are different implications based on which words you emphasize the most!<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u201cWe\u201d as a subject and \u201cthe\u201d usually aren\u2019t stressed, but it\u2019s possible to stress them if you want to make a point. This isn\u2019t done as often, though, so until sentence stress becomes more intuitive for you, you can stick with generally stressing content words.\u00a0 <\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>Practice Sentences<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We\u2019ve compiled some sentences for you to practice on! Try reading these out loud while putting stress on the bolded words:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I\u2019m <\/span><b>thirsty.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Is there any <\/span><b>water?<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <\/span><b>internet<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> isn\u2019t <\/span><b>working.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She <\/span><b>passed <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">me the <\/span><b>book<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> across the <\/span><b>table.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He didn\u2019t <\/span><b>make<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> it to his <\/span><b>job interview.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They <\/span><b>found<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> it <\/span><b>relaxing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to <\/span><b>live<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by the <\/span><b>beach.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There\u2019s a <\/span><b>gallery exhibit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that <\/span><b>features<\/b> <b>glass sculptures.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We <\/span><b>met<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at the <\/span><b>festival.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Everyone\u2019s happy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> because their <\/span><b>team won.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I <\/span><b>sent <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">you the <\/span><b>document <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">on our <\/span><b>group chat.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What\u2019s your <\/span><b>favorite spot<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the <\/span><b>city?<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If your native language doesn\u2019t have sentence stress the way English does, then you can get used to it by reading a diverse range of sentences out loud. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">English might not seem like an especially musical language, but <\/span><b>a key element of it is rhythm \u00ad\u2013 and part of this comes from sentence stress.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Aside from improving your speaking, becoming comfortable with sentence stress will also give you better listening comprehension. Ever get confused when someone speaks English fast? Knowing all about sentence stress can help you with that!<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pronunciation and vocabulary might be the building blocks of English, but beyond those, <\/span><b>mastering higher-level concepts such as sentence stress will fine-tune your English communication \u2013 both in terms of speaking and listening.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you\u2019re absorbed in listening to a song, you naturally nod your head or move your body based on the rhythm.\u00a0 There\u2019s a certain rhythm to speaking English too. It&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":739,"featured_media":249308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"description":"Sentence stress is part of English's unique rhythm. Read on to find out what sentence stress is all about and how to apply it on your own!","title":"How to Use Sentence Stress to Speak English More Naturally - FluentU"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[685,704],"tags":[],"coauthors":[208],"class_list":["post-179972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-parrot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/739"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179972"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249309,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179972\/revisions\/249309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179972"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=179972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}