Prosody and Sentence Stress in Grammar

Stress signals meaning.

Examples

• I didn't say he stole it.

Key rules

• Content words are stressed, function words are weak
• Stress shows focus or contrast
• Rising intonation: yes/no questions, falling: statements and wh-questions
• Contrastive stress changes meaning

Common mistakes

• I did NOT say that
• I SAW him vs I saw HIM