Talking Tip #12: Make sure to stress the important word in your message.

 

We’ve already talked about stress in words making sure we stress the correct syllable in long words so that others understand us.  But did you know that stressing the correct word in your overall message is just as important?  When we think about the stress in our message, we are considering how the overall content of what we say impacts our listener.

 

 

In North American English, we don’t typically stress the first word in our message.  Many times, the stressed word comes later.  In fact, often it is the last content word of our message.

 

Content word

What is a content word?  Think of it as being a word that is important.  If you consider the parts of speech, the important words are the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.  The lesser important words are the function words like articles, prepositions, and linking verbs (is, are, etc.).  If I have lots of important or content words in my sentence, I’ll probably save the primary stress for the last of those.

 

Match the stress to the message

However, that is not a hard and fast rule.  We also need to consider that the message matches the situation.  In other words, if we are asked a question, the word we stress in our response is the word that most answers that question.  Consider this example.  Let’s say I’m giving the response “I think she took the blue marker”.  The word I stress is directly related to the question I’m asked.  For instance, if I’m asked “Do you know who took the blue marker?”, I will stress “she” in my response “I think she took the blue marker”.  If I’m asked, “Did she take the blue pen?”, the word I stress changes to “I think she took the blue marker”.  Likewise, if I’m asked “Did Sam think she took the blue marker?”, my response will now become “I think she took the blue marker.”

 

In each of these examples, we see that the stressed word changes depending on the question we are asked, and it is in varying positions within the sentence.  The messages matched the situation.

 

Knowing the importance of using stress to emphasize a point within your message, and knowing that the response we give needs to match the situation in terms of the word we stress, we will become more natural in the way we communicate and more effective in getting our point heard and understood.

Talking Tip #12: Make sure to stress the important word in your message.

 

We’ve already talked about stress in words, that is making sure we stress the correct syllable in long words so that others understand us. But did you know that stressing the correct word in your overall message is just as important? When we think about using stress in our messages, we are considering how the overall content of what we say impacts our listener.

In North American English, we don’t typically stress the first word in our message. Many times, the stressed word comes later. In fact, often it is the last content word of our message.

What is a content word? Think of it as being a word that is important. If you consider the parts of speech, the important words are the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The lesser important words are the function words like articles, prepositions, and linking verbs (is, are, etc.). If I have lots of important or content words in my sentence, I’ll probably save the primary stress for the last of those.

But that’s not a hard and fast rule. We also need to consider that the message matches the situation. In other words, if we are asked a question, the word we stress in our response is the word that most answers that question. Consider this example. Let’s say I’m giving the response “I think she took the blue marker”. The word I stress is directly related to the question I’m asked. For instance, if I’m asked “Do you know who took the blue marker?”, I will stress “she” in my response “I think she took the blue marker”. If I’m asked, “Did she take the blue pen?”, the word I stress changes to “I think she took the blue marker”. Likewise, if I’m asked “Did Sam think she took the blue marker?”, my response will now become “I think she took the blue marker.”

In each of these examples, we see that the stressed word changes depending on the question we are asked, and it is in varying positions within the sentence. The messages matched the situation.

Therefore, knowing the importance of using stress to emphasize a point within your message, and knowing that the response we give needs to match the situation in terms of the word we stress, we will become more natural in the way we communicate and more effective in getting our point heard and understood.