Do you sometimes find English pronunciation stressful?

The words below change stress when you say them depending on the way they are used.

Example

–>Record – noun – She beat the world record for making the biggest omelette.

–>Record – verb – Can we record your voice because it is beautiful?

Now practise the words below

The nouns have the word stress on the first syllable and verbs on the second

Now say these sentences, using the stress in the correct place  :

1.  You will need to rewrite the letter as it sounds too impolite.
2. You can get free refills at the coffee shop.
3. There has been a decrease in people staying in hotels.
4. I cannot access the data because the site is encrypted.
5. Would you object to me sitting next to you?
6. You may be able to get a refund on your holiday.
7. You need a traffic permit to park in the city centre.
8. Can you update me when you get the test results?

Answer key

1 rewrite      2 refills     decrease     4 access     5 object     6 refund       7 permit       8 update

If you are interested with learning English pronunciation, take a look at this old post about baffling spelling.