stress is the extra force put on a syllable in a word or word in a sentence to make it sound more clearly than the surrounding syllable or word.
in this post, we are going to focus mainly on the topic “emphatic stress“.
before we continue, let’s see the example of stress, how a word is stressed and also how a sentence can be stress.
let’s look at five syllabic words with stress on the first syllable.
- CApitalism
- REgionalism
- FUNCtionalism.
let’s see a sentence that is stressed.
uche TOOK The orange from the basket
I cannot SEE the Book on the Table
looking at the examples above, you will notice that a stress word or syllable differ due to the fact that stress one were all capitalize.
meaning of Emphatic stress in English language.
Emphatic stress is a test used to examine a candidate’s ability to identify a particular word in a sentence that needs to be emphasised or pronounced with more force, energy or loudness, it is done by underlying or capitalizing the word or sentence. In a sentence,
when a particular word is UNDERLINED or all the letters of a word are CAPITALISED, then the aim is to draw attention to that particular word or sentence
An emphatic expression is one that is said with emphasis and stress to indicate importance. This type of expression is used to show you have strong feelings about what you are saying
Examples of emphatic stress.
Let’s look at some examples of Emphatic stress here.
1. John scrubs the floor every SATURDAY.
A Does Peter scrub the floor every Saturday?
B Does John sweep the floor every Saturday?
Does John scrub the wall every Saturday?
D Does John scrub the floor every Sunday?
2. The manager SACKED the typist last month.
A Did the manager employ the typist?
B Who sacked the typist?
CWas the typist sacked last week?
D Did the supervisor sack the typist?
3. MARY loves brown shoes.
A What colour of shoes does Mary love?
B Does Mary hate brown shoes?
C Who loves brown shoes?
D Does Mary love brown shoes?
4 The ROBBERS attacked the bus at night.
A Did the police attack the bus?
B Did the robbers attack the train
C Where did the robbers attack the bus?
D Did the robbers attack the bus during the day?
5. Mary stole the HISTORY teacher’s pen.
A Did Anne steal the History teacher’s pen?
B Did Mary borrow the History teacher’s pen
C Did Mary steal the Geography teacher’s pen
D did Mary stole the history teacher pen ?
how can one identify answer to the emphatic stress question.
emphatic stress is the easiest, sweetest and most simple topic in English language.
Identifying the answer to an emphatic stress is as simple as ABCD, you only have to take a good look at the question giving to you and find out the option that doesn’t contain the stressed word.
looking at the questions above, let’s continue with the answer to the question, this will explain better.
1 John scrub the floor every SATURDAY.
as I have told you before, the emphatic stress here is the one that is writing in capital letters.
looking at option A – D, the correct answer is D.
the reason is because option d is the only option that doesn’t contain the emphatic stress “saturday”
2 The manager SACKED the typist last month.
looking at the options above, the correct answer is option A, this is because option A doesn’t contain the emphatic stress “sacked”.
Now let’s look at Emphatic stress questions on WAEC, NECO and JAMB and see the easy way of solving it.
WAEC question on emphatic stress.
this is a question from West Africa examination council (WAEC ).
the question is from WASSCE June 2018 English language test of oral (objective question)
on the exam pepper, this question represents question 45 – 50.
check the question below and scroll down for solution on how to answer WAEC and JAmb questions on emphatic stress.
- 1 AYO asked Mary to come today.
A. Did Chike ask Mary to come today?
B. Did Ayo order Mary to come today?
C. Did Ayo ask Dad to come today?
D. Did Ayo ask Mary to come tomorrow?
- 2 Wood is cheap in the south THIS year.
A. Is cassava cheap in the south this year?
B. Is wood expensive in the south this year?
C. Is wood cheap in the north this year?
D. Is wood cheap in the south every year?
- 3 NEW students should pay tuition fees.
A. Should pupils pay tuition fees?
B. Should old students pay tuition fees?
C. Should new students pay hostel fees?
D. Can new students pay tuition fees?
- 4 Dad requested the DRIVER to open the door.
A. Did mum request the dirver to open the door?
B. Did dad order the dirver to open the door?2
C. Did dad request the gardener to open the door?
D. Did dad request the dirver to shut the door?
- 5 Ade’s BICYCLE is made of steel.
A. Is Bola’s bicycle made of steel?
B. Is Ade’s car made of plastic?
C. Was Aue’s bicycle made of stee1?
D. Is Ade’s bicycle made of steel?
Jamb question on Emphatic stress
this is jamb examination question on emphatic stress, this question is brought from Jamb examination on the use of English, 2018 jamb question
In each of questions 57 to 58, the word in capital letters has the emphatic stress. Choose the options
to which the given sentence relates.
- 1 Adamu is leaving a CAR behind.
A. what is Adamu leaving behind?
B. Is Adamu driving the car in front?
C. who is leaving a car behind?
D. where is Adamu leaving a car.
- 2. Lambusa TOOK OFF the wig.
A. who toolk off the wig?
B. what did Lambusa do?
C. did Lambusa take off a wig
D. did Lambusa take of the wig.
how to answer any questions related to emphatic stress in both WAEC, NECO and JAMB
Emphatic stress is an essay topic, one of the easiest topic in English language, to answer any questions related to emphatic stress in both WAEC, NECO and JAMB, look at the options that doesn’t contain the stressed word (ie the option that doesn’t contain the word in capital letters ) definitely, that’s the answer.
now see the answer to WAEC question on emphatic stress above.
1. A
2. D
3. B
4. C
5. C
see the answer to emphatic stress question on jamb examination question above
1. A. what is Adamu leaving behind ( note. it doesn’t contain the stressed word)
2.B. what did Lambusa did ( note. it doesn’t contain the emphatic stress)
Emphatic stress in English language.
Emphatic stress is a special stress that is given by the speaker to some word in a sentence, usually to single out, compare, correct, or clarify things.
rules of Emphatic stress.
In order to choose your answers correctly, it is very important you take note of the following rules,
here are the main rules of Emphatic stress.
1. Take note of the word that is emphasised in the question. The word that is emphasised is usually capitalised.
2. When choosing your answer, choose the option that does not have the capitalised word. All the options except one carry the capitalised word in the question. The one without the capitalised word is the correct option.
types of Emphatic stress.
There are four basic types of word stress that lead to proper intonation in English are:
- Tonic stress.
- Emphatic stress.
- Contrastive stress.
- New information stress.
functions of Emphatic stress in English language.
Emphatic stress is a test used to examine a candidate’s ability to identify a particular word in a sentence that needs to be emphasised or pronounced with more force, energy or loudness
the main function of Emphatic stress is for proper identification of a word in a sentence.
thank you for reading this topic on our site, please feel free to ask us any question using the comment box below. thank you
practical test on Emphatic stress.
if you have been reading this to this point, you should be able to answer this questions below.
test your level of understanding this topic by answering this questions below.
1. my UNCLE is never angry.
a) is your uncle always angry?
b) my friends uncle is never angry
c) is your father never angry?
d) is your uncle never Happy?
2. kemi’s watch is made of GOLD.
a) is bisi’s watch made of gold?
b) whose watch is made of gold
c) is kemi’s watch plated with pure gold?
d) whose watch is made of silver
3. the man likes COFFEE on Sunday morning.
a) does the man like coffee on Saturday morning?
b) who like tea on Sunday morning.
c) do you like coffee?
d) does the woman like coffee everyday?
4. Akpan is always late to school.
a) is akpan always late to school?
b) is akpan always late to bed?
c) who is always late to school?
d) is akpan seldom late to school?
if you followed the instructions above, you can answer this correctly.
use the comment section to send your answer.
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