Serendipity

Unit 9, Activity 2

Index Activity 3

Sentence Stress

The concept of sentence stress is important in English. Examine the following sentence:

The people on the train are Dutch.

Try saying it with the following words stressed (voiced a little louder and longer):

The people on the train are Dutch.

Now try saying it with these words stressed:

The people on the train are Dutch.

Which version sounded better?

The first version sounds better because the important words are stressed.

We always add stress to the important words in a sentence. When giving a presentation, we amplify this stress to really get our message across. The ability to do this is one of the hallmarks of a good speaker.