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Stress-2

britdam007

britdam007

India

“He was a shy young man named Ben Johnson.”


In the above sentence there are 2 adjectives and they are shy and young. What I want to know is, in the phrase shy young man should we stress the 1st adjective shy and leave out the 2nd adjective unstressed and then again stress the 3rd noun which is man? I think you are the best person to answer this question as you are a native speaker of English. So please advise.



Best regards,


Abhishek

04:52 PM Feb 02 2014 |

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Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

In the above sentence, “shy” would be slightly more stressedd than both “young” and “man.” When I read this sentence out loud, neither “young” nor “man” is stressed.


Best,


Amy

12:38 AM Feb 04 2014 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

Thank you. I’d like to know that the rule/pattern that you mentioned, does it follow any rules as such? Like how should I know that I should stress the word “shy” and leave “young” and “man” unstressed? Please help me out on this?



Best regards,


Abhishek

04:10 AM Feb 04 2014 |

Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

Oftentimes in English, when there is a one syllable adjective followed by a noun, we stress the adjective rather than the noun. In this case, since “shy” and “young” carry equal weight, we simply move the stress to the first adjective.


Best,


Amy

06:35 PM Feb 06 2014 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

Thank you. Will the noun “man” be stressed as well? Also I’d like to know what if there’s a 2 syllable adjective followed by a noun. Would you stress the bi-syllabic adjective or the noun?



Best regards,


Abhishek

03:33 AM Feb 07 2014 |

Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

The word “man” is not stressed. The next stressed word in this sentence is the verb “named.” Any time you have a single adjective-noun combination, the adjective is stressed, regardless of the number of syllables.


Best,


Amy

09:51 PM Feb 10 2014 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

Yes, but I’d like to know why( what is the reason?) the verb “named” is stressed? Just becuse it follows a noun which is not stressed? Or is it becuase In Ben Johnson, Johnson is stressed?



Best regards,


Abhishek

05:37 PM Feb 11 2014 |

Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

“Named” is stressed because it is the word that introduces new, relevant information, i.e. this man’s actual name: “Ben Johnson.”


I am not sure if there is a concrete rule that will provide you with the absolute patterns you are wanting.


Best,


Amy

01:19 AM Feb 14 2014 |