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Sentence Meaning

britdam007

britdam007

India

“I don’t know.” , in this sentence, will the meaning change everytime  if I keep shifting my stress from the word “I” to “know” one by one? 



Best regards,


Abhishek 

05:29 PM Aug 29 2013 |

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Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

Certainly. If you stress the word “I,” you’re saying that someone else might know, but you don’t. If you stress the word “don’t,” you’re emphasizing that you really don’t know the answer. If you stress the word “know,” more often than not you are expressing frustration (perhaps because someone is asking you the same question over and over!).


Best,


Amy

09:17 PM Aug 30 2013 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

Thank you. Now my question to you is when you stress the word “don’t”, does the letter “o” become schwa as in the word “ago”  or a dipthong as in the word “home”?


Please advise?



Best regards,



Abhishek

06:01 AM Aug 31 2013 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

Could you please answer my question? I need it badly.



Best Regards,



Abhishek

04:45 AM Sep 04 2013 |

Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

The sound when you stress “don’t” is closest to the “o” sound in “home.”


Hope this helps.


Best,


Amy

04:17 PM Sep 04 2013 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

Than you ma’am. Now when you stress the word “know” the letter “o” in know  becomes a dipthong as in the word “home”. But does the   “o” in the word  ”don’t” become schwa as in the word “ago” or “agree”? Are you with me?


The Cambridge dictionary says in the sentence “I don’t know”; the first ‘o’ in the word “don’t” becomes a schwa and the letter “o” in the word “know” becomes a dipthong as in the word “home”. But the stress is on the word “know”. So what’s your take on it?





Best Regards,


Abhishek

04:50 PM Sep 04 2013 |

Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

Our focus here at Ebaby! is on building vocabulary, practicing grammar, and general fluency, rather than the technicalities of pronunciation. I encourage you to continue to explore these questions online or in our member forums.


Best,


Amy

06:00 PM Sep 05 2013 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

Yes I understand completely. But could you please give an answer to my last question for one last time. I need it badly ma’am. Please?



Best Regards,


Abhishek

04:15 AM Sep 06 2013 |

Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

I can’t give you an exact technical answer, but when you stress the word “know” in “I don’t know,” the vowel sound of the “o” in “don’t” is somewhere between a schwa and a diphthong sound. I would say it’s actually closer to a diphtong, but just said more quickly.


Hope this helps,


Amy

07:36 PM Sep 07 2013 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

Thanks a million!

08:20 AM Sep 10 2013 |