ABA Journal The digital English academy
Hey ABA family!
Today we are going to concentrate on an important pronunciation topic: where we put the stress on words where the noun and verb have the same spelling.
What is the rule?
The general rule in English when we have two words which are the same (one being the verb and the other the noun), is that the stress when saying the noun is on the first syllable and with the verb is on the second syllable.
Examples:
- Upset
- CONduct
- Object
- John is going to buy a new RECord
- Clare needs to finish a PROject
These are examples of the stress on the nouns as can be seen by the emphasised first syllable – try saying them aloud to practise!
Remember, however, that the verbs of these nouns will be pronounced differently.
Examples:
- To upSET
- To conDUCT
- To obJECT
- John’s band is going to recORD a new song
- Clare is unsure how to proJECT it to potential customers
What’s the best way?
This rule is very easy to remember: noun = first syllable, verb = second syllable. It is also important to mention that not every noun has a verb which is spelt the same and vice versa. If you learn these easy steps your pronunciation will improve.
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Hello again George,
I didn’t know that. I never took care of this issue.
From now I will take good care about it, hehehe. Thanks again.
Regards,
You’re very welcome Isidro.
Good luck with the studies 🙂
What about Face as a noun and as a verb?
Very good question.
This is an exception as both the noun and verb have the same pronunciation in this case 🙂
Keep up the good work
Hello George,
I wanted to ask you if there is any exception to the rule of the noun with the first syllable stressed and the verb with the last one stressed.
Many thanks!
What happens to when we have 3+ syllable verbs?