Speaking skills · Lesson 13 of 15
Pronunciation 1: Stress, chunking and rhythm
Stress the right syllables and the important words, speak in clear chunks, and find a natural rhythm.
In this lesson you will
- understand what the examiner listens for in Pronunciation
- stress the correct syllable in common words
- stress the important words in a sentence
- speak in chunks with a natural rhythm
Why it matters
Pronunciation is a quarter of your score
Pronunciation is one of the four Speaking criteria, so it counts as much as vocabulary or grammar. This is what the official band descriptors say about stress, rhythm and chunking:
| Band | Band descriptor |
|---|---|
| 8 | “Can sustain appropriate rhythm. Flexible use of stress and intonation across long utterances, despite occasional lapses.” |
| 6 | “Chunking is generally appropriate, but rhythm may be affected by a lack of stress-timing and/or a rapid speech rate.” |
| 4 | “Produces some acceptable chunking, but there are frequent lapses in overall rhythm.” |
You do not need a British or American accent. At Band 8, “accent has minimal effect on intelligibility”. The examiner is listening for how easy you are to understand, so aim to be clear, not to sound like someone else.
About the Listen buttons: they play a recording when one is available. If there is no recording yet, they use your browser's built-in voice, which is useful but not perfect. Follow the rules in the lesson, and record yourself so that you can hear the difference.
Part A
Word stress
Every word with two or more syllables has one syllable that is stronger, longer and clearer than the others. If you stress the wrong syllable, a word can be very hard to understand, even when each sound is correct.
- Words ending in -tion, -sion and -ic usually stress the syllable just before the ending: eduCAtion, ecoNOMic.
- Word stress can move when the word changes: PHOtograph, phoTOGrapher, photoGRAPHic.
- Many two-syllable words stress the first syllable as a noun and the second as a verb: an INcrease, to inCREASE.
Which syllable is stressed?
Listen, say each word, then choose the stressed syllable.
- photograph
- photographer
- photographic
- economy
- economic
- environment
- technology
- comfortable
- government
- education
Noun or verb?
Decide how the word in bold is used, then choose the stressed syllable.
- There has been an increase in prices.
- Prices will increase next year.
- I want to record a podcast.
- She broke the world record.
- They will present the results.
- He gave me a birthday present.
Part B
Sentence stress and rhythm
English has a beat. The words that carry the meaning are stressed: nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Small grammar words such as a, the, to, of, at, in, my are usually short and quiet. This pattern is the “stress-timing” mentioned in the band descriptors.
Many of these small words use a weak vowel, the schwa /ə/:
| Written | Sounds like | Listen |
|---|---|---|
| a cup of tea | a cup /əv/ tea | |
| fish and chips | fish /ən/ chips | |
| I want to go | I want /tə/ go | |
| I can swim | I /kən/ swim |
Find the stressed words
Click only the nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
My brother works in a large hospital.
I usually walk to work in the morning.
The city built beautiful new parks.
She bought some fresh bread at the market.
Stress for contrast
Put extra stress on the word that shows new or different information: “Did you go by bus?” “No, I went by TRAIN.”
Which word needs extra stress?
- “Do you like coffee?” “Not really, I prefer tea.”
- “Is your hometown in the north?” “No, it's in the south.”
- “Did your sister teach you?” “No, my brother taught me.”
- “You didn't enjoy the film?” “I did enjoy it, but it was too long.”
Part C
Speaking in chunks
A chunk is a group of words that belong together. Pause between chunks, not in the middle of them. Clear chunks help the listener and give you time to think.
- Pause after a clause: When I'm stuck in traffic, / I put on a podcast.
- Never separate words that belong together: the / city, a lot / of.
Faster is not better. Band 6 mentions “a rapid speech rate” as a problem for rhythm. Speak at a steady speed that lets you stress the important words.
Which is chunked better?
These sentences come from our model answers.
Mark the chunks
Copy each sentence and add a slash ( / ) where you would pause. Then read it aloud.
- Although children get restless easily, childhood is much more carefree on the whole.
- I feel calmer when my room is organised, and it means that I don't waste time looking for things.
- Although children get restless easily, / childhood is much more carefree / on the whole.
- I feel calmer / when my room is organised, / and it means that I don't waste time / looking for things.
Speaking practice
Put it together
Shadowing: press Listen, then repeat at the same time or straight afterwards. Copy the beat, not the accent.
- I prefer one-to-one, because people tend to open up more when it's just the two of you.
- For big action films, I prefer the big screen, because the sound and picture are so much better.
- Very much, because it's where I grew up.
Now take a frequently reported Part 1 question, answer it and record yourself. Listen back and ask yourself:
- Did I stress the important words?
- Did I pause between chunks, and not inside them?
- Was my speed steady?
Press Record, answer out loud, then listen back.
Lesson written for Tips4IELTS. Examples come from our Speaking and Writing model answers.