SENTENCE STRESS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE S.S.S2 THIRD TERM

WEEK FOUR

THEME: SPEECH WORK

SENTENCE STRESS

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE

Students should be able to;

1. Explain what emphatic stress is
2. Make sentences using emphatic stress

CONTENT

Emphatic stress may be used in a sentence to compare, connect, or clarify things. Usually, emphatic stress singles out the word that the speaker considers the most important, and in this case, even a function word may become stressed.

Emphatic stress is the placement of articulatory prominence or emphasis on a word in a sentence. In responding to questions on emphatic stress in examinations, interrogative sentences will be provided as options. The interrogative sentence that contradicts the emphasised word is the correct option.

See this example:

1. John’s watch is made…