Understanding SyllablesTo understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables. Every word is made from syllables. Each word has one, two, three or more syllables. | word | number of syllables | | dog | dog | 1 | | green | green | 1 | | quite | quite | 1 | | quiet | qui-et | 2 | | orange | or-ange | 2 | | table | ta-ble | 2 | | expensive | ex-pen-sive | 3 | | interesting | in-ter-est-ing | 4 | | unrealistic | un-rea-lis-tic | 4 | | unexceptional | un-ex-cep-tio-nal | 5 |
Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or u) or vowel sound. What is Word Stress? > |