ملخص الدرس / الثآنية ثانوي/اللغة الإنجليزية/Grammar/Compound words

Having said all that we can, finally, conclude the following rules for the Primary stress:

Stress on first syllable:

Most two-syllable nouns and adjectives have stress on the first syllable.

Stress on last syllable:

Most two-syllable verbs have stress on the last syllable.

Stress on penultimate syllable (second from the end):

Words ending in ‘ic’, ‘tion’, and ‘sion

Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (third from the end):

Words ending in ‘cy’, ‘ty’, ‘phy’; ‘gy’

Polysyllabic words (words with many syllables) :

These usually have more than one stress, i.e., primary and secondary stress. Often such words contain a prefix (as with ‘inter’ and ‘anti’ in international and antibiotic). This is common with many long technical words.

6.

If the compound is a noun, the stress goes on the first part: eg; greenhouse, blackbird. If the compound is an adjective, the stress goes on the second part; e.g., bad-tempered, old-fashioned

If the compound is a verb, the stress goes on the second part, e.g., understand, overlook.

Some English words have the same pronunciation but different meanings and spellings. e.g.: /nəu/ => no, know /rait => right, write

Compound adjectives:

A compound adjective is an adjective which is made of two parts and is usually written with a hyphen (-).

He is a well-mannered person.

Isn't he rather short-sighted man?

She is wearing high-heeled shoes.

She is an open minded woman.