Stress in simple words

Nurul Shafieza & Oktovyanti Koh

Rules of Word Stress in English
One word has only one stress. (One word cannot
have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear
two words. It is true that there can be a "secondary"
stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much
smaller than the main (primary) stress, and is only
used in long words.)
We can only stress vowels, not consonants
Rule 1: Stress on the first syllable
Rule Example
Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, Table

Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer,

HAPpy
Rule 2: Stress on the last syllable
Rule Example

Most 2-syllable verbs to preSENT, to exPORT, to

deCIDE, to beGIN
There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning
and class change with a change in stress. For examples:

Two-syllable Verbs Noun / Adjectives

words
Present /przent/ /preznt/ (N) & (Adj)

Record /rk:d/ /rek:d/ (N)

Export /ksp:t /eksp:t (N)

Import /mp:t/ /mp:t/ (N)

Contract /kntrkt/ /kntrkt/ (N)

Object /bdekt/ /bdkt/ (N)

 Normally, when the words function as verbs, the
stress is on the second syllable and the stress is on
the first syllable for nouns. For certain words like
present, the stress is also on the first syllable when
it functions as an adjective