This document provides rules for stressing syllables in multisyllabic English words. It notes that the syllable before suffixes like -tion, -ic, -ity, -ient, -ious, -ia, -ual, and -ible are typically stressed. It also lists words that are stressed on the first syllable like analyze and specialize. Finally, it identifies some commonly mispronounced words like idea, economic, and democracy that are stressed on the first syllable.

1. Word Stress
“I told you to go”

2. “I told you to go”

3. Syllable Stress
“organization”

4. Syllable Stress
“organization”

5. Stress the syllable before -tion
organization institution possession
nationalization revolution information
civilization revolutionary intervention
international contribution supposition
nationalism introduction
rational production

6. Stress the syllable before -ic, -icist,
critic policy technological
criticism political economical
criticize (but: politics) optimistic
specific democratic pessimistic
realistic economic scientific
biological (but: economy) characteristic
psychological technical significant

7. Stress the syllable before -ity, -ety:
reality capacity inferiority
ability continuity superiority
anxiety possibility ambiguity
variety technicality quality
society necessity equality

8. Stress the syllable before -ient, -cient:
convenient efficient inefficiency
inconvenient inefficient insufficiency
sufficient experience
insufficient inexperience

9. Stress the syllable before -ious:
conscious obvious propitious
unconscious serious judicious
rebellious conscientious

10. Stress the syllable before -ia, -ial, -ialism:
specialized essential imperialism
politician potential industrialism
official impartial existentialism
Russian dictatorial materialism
especially superficial socialism

11. Stress the syllable before -ual, -uate:
habitual usual gradual
individual eventual graduate
intellectual eventually perpetuate

12. Stress the syllable before -ible:
incredible impossible responsible
sensible horrible perceptible
incompatible terrible

13. Stress the first syllable in the following words:
rationalize personalize jeopardize (pr. jep)
generalize organize analyze (analysis)
characterize nationalize capitalize
specialize realize capitalism
scandalize liberalize

14. And now for the words that give students the most difficulty:
idea economic industry
development economical industrial, -ize
to develop the economy interesting
democracy necessary America
democratic necessity Great Britain
probable controversy England
probably controversial psychiatrist (pr."sy")
adaptable comment psychiatry
acceptable commentary psychoanalyst
profitable to succeed psychoanalysis
final success to psychoanalyze
finally successful catastrophe
Europe advantage government
European disadvantage event