Sentence Stress in English: A Complete Guide with Examples

What is Sentence Stress? English is a language that is not just spoken but almost sung. Why? Because English operates on stress patterns , making it sound natural and fluent. If all words in a sentence were stressed equally, it would sound robotic and unnatural. This is where the concept of sentence stress in phonetics and phonology comes into play. Types of Words Content Words: These are usually stressed and include: Nouns Adjectives Adverbs Main verbs Question words Negative auxiliary and modal verbs Negative words in general Function Words: These are typically unstressed and include: Articles Auxiliary verbs Modal verbs Forms of to be Pronouns Prepositions Conjunctions The Rule of Sentence Stress Content words are stressed , while function words are unstressed and shortened . Shortening Function Words Unstressing function words involves two key processes: Deletion of certain consonants Shortening of long vowels Characteristics of Stressed and Unstressed Words Stressed: High pitch, hig…