I’ve a job for you.

LESSON TEN

1. Auxiliary and modal verbs as well as the link verb to be are stressed in the following positions:

a)At the beginning of a sentence, that is to say, in general and alternative questions, e.g. Were you busy last night?

Do you like strong or weak tea?

b)When they stand for a notional verb as, for instance, in short answers to general questions, e.g. Have you seen him? Yes, I have.

Are you busy? Yes, I am.

c)In contracted negative forms, e.g. I shan’t be in time. He doesn’t know it.

d) The auxiliary verb to be is stressed when final and preceded by the subject which is unstressed. I don’t know where he was.

e) The auxiliary verb to do is stressed in emphatic sentences of the following type:

Do ring me up. I do hate him.

2. Prepositions are usually stressed if they consist of two or more syllables and are followed by an unstressed personal pronoun at the end of a sense-group, e.g.

The dog ran after him.

Note:Prepositions consisting of one syllable may be either stressed or unstressed if they are followed by an unstressed personal pronoun at the end of a sense-group. But even if they are unstressed in this position they usually have a full form.

I’ve a job for you.

or

I’ve a job for you.

3. Conjunctionsare usually stressed if they stand at the beginning of a sentence and are followed by an unstressed word, e.g. If he drives, he may be here at any moment.

Some words belonging to notional parts of speech are not stressed in certain cases. The most important of them are as follows:

1.When a word is repeated in a sense-group immediately following, the repetition is generally unstressed, e.g. How many books have you got? Two books.

2. The word-substitute one,as ingood one, black one, etc., is usually unstressed, e.g.

I don’t like this green fountain-pen. Show me a black one.

3. The word goodin the greetings good morning, good evening, good afternoonis usually not stressed when these greetings are said on meeting a person.

Good morning, Doctor Mason!

On leave-taking, however, the word good in good morning, good afternoon and good evening,as well as in good night and good-bye, is usually stressed and pronounced with a slight rise within it and with a low rising tone at the end.

Good morning! Good afternoon!

4.The pronoun each in each other is always unstressed, while the word other may be stressed or unstressed, e.g. They like each other.

5.The adverb so in do so, think so, etc. is not stressed, e.g. I think so.

6.The adverbs on and forth in the expressions and so on, and so forth are usually not stressed, e.g. There are some branches of summer sports: swimming, fishing, hunting and so on.

The indefinite pronoun some in the meaning of certain has always its strong form, even when it is unstressed. …that’s what it amounts to, only for some reason they call it the Circle.

7.The conjunction as in the construction of the type as well as, asbad as, as much as is not stressed, e.g. I was to blame there, Chris, as much as Ivory.

8. The word street in the names of streets is never stressed, e.g. Oxford street

However, the words road, square, lane, circus, gardens are always stressed: Hyde Park

Kensington Gardens

9.The word what in exclamations is not stressed. What a dreadful thing!

10. When such is followed by an emphatic word, it is generally unstressed, e.g. Such a curious shape!

11.Auxiliary and modal verbs as well as the link verb to be have their strong forms at the end of a sense-group or a sentence though they are unstressed: What is hanging on the wall? Pictures are.

Who is on duty today? I am.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1041