Mastering the American Accent » General Rules for Stress Placement

General Rules for Stress Placement

This section will give you some general guidelines and patterns of American English syllable stress. Keep in mind that there are many exceptions to these rules and that English syllable stress can be quite irregular. Get into the habit of using your dictionary or asking native speakers to pronounce new or confusing words for you.

Two-Syllable Words
NOUNSVERBS
Stress the first syllableStress the second syllable.
1.actionproduce
2.paperachieve
3.buildingapply
4.concertsucceed
5.teacherattach
6.fatheremploy
7.windowinclude
8.gardendestroy

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