Stress and Intonation is important to speak like a native speaker. This presentation shares understanding, best practices and examples of Stress and Intonation.

1. Business English
Stress and Intonation in English
To Speak Like a Native Speaker
by
Ash Vyas

2. Stress
• Stress falls on only one syllable of a word with two or more syllables. When we
emphasize a syllable, it is usually louder, the vowel sound is longer, and the pitch
(tone) is higher.
•In English, there are 2 types of stress:
1. Word Stress
2. Sentence Stress

3. Word Stress
•In English, we stress just one syllable in every word.
•We say that one syllable more loudly, higher and we make it last longer.
Examples:
Strengthen Chicago
Technology University
January Grandfather

4. Sentence Stress
•English is a musical language. When we speak in English, we speak in rhythmic
way. Some words are spoken on high pitch and some on normal note.
•We differentiate some keywords with a different tone and pitch by giving stress
on the word. One sentence can have multiple keywords.
•To understand the art of speaking, we need to understand, there are 2 types of
words in any sentence:
1. Content Words
2. Structure Words

5. Content Words
The important words in a sentence are called content words. We always stress
them with higher, louder or longer pitch.
Content words are:
•Action verbs (Ex: read, write, dance, talk)
•Nouns (Ex: Ash, Gujarat, etc.)
•Adjectives (Ex: Red, Tall, Boring)
•Adverbs (Ex: Slowly, Always, Loudly)
•WH Questions Words (Ex: Who, What, Where, etc.)
•Negatives (Ex: Never, No, Don't, Shouldn't, etc.)

6. Structure Words
The rest of the words in the sentence are called Structure word. We don't stress
'Structure Words'.
Structure words are:
•To be verbs (Ex: am, were, was, will, etc.)
•Pronouns (Ex: I, She, They, etc.)
•Helping Verbs (Ex: Be, Have, Do, etc.)
•Modal Verbs (Ex: Shall, Would, May, etc.)
•Articles (A, An, The)

7. Difference between Content and Structure Words
If you take ‘content words’ out, the sentence don’t make sense at all. Speak it
louder and longer.
If you take ‘structure words’ out, sentence is incomplete and grammatically
incorrect, but still it makes sense. Speak it soft and Short.
Example:
She bought a pair of jeans.
Content Words: Bought pair jeans
Structure Words: She a of

8. Examples of Sentences with Highlighted Content Words :
• I’m going to the bank.
•Let’s go to Park.
• Thanks for the birthday gift.
•I’m leaving on Monday for my Business Trip.
•The farewell party is today.
•Tell her I’ll be there in an hour.

9. Intonation
• It's the way your voice rises when you ask a question that gets yes or no for an
answer.
• It's the way your voice rises and falls when you make a statement or ask an
information question.
•Your voice rises and falls on the last important words of the sentence.
•Rising intonation tells your listener you're asking a question and want yes or no
for an answer.

10. Intonation Examples (Questions):
•Are you going to take a trip next year?
•Is your friend going to drive with us?
•Will the homework assignment take a lot of time?
•Can the consulate help you with your visa problem?
•Could you please give me your cell phone number?
•Do you have any plans for the weekend?

11. Intonation Examples (Sentences):
• We’re planning a vacation in Florida.
•My friend is going to drive to New York with us.
•The homework assignment won’t take much time.
•The weather in my country is hot and humid.
•My family hasn’t done much traveling.

12. Resources To Practice
http://rachelsenglish.com/video-categories/#intonation
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/

13. Any Questions?
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