When it comes to spoken English, all words are not equal.☝

What I mean is this: In spoken American English some words are stressed or emphasized. ✔

Other words are not!!

That’s why we say that spoken American English is Stress Timed.

Pronunciation textbooks refer to stressed words as content words & focus words.

These content & focus words are typically important
1. nouns
2. verbs
3. adjectives

These words are critical to the meaning of the sentence.☆

Unstressed words are often referred to as function words. Function words are typically articles, conjunctions and prepositions.

When you are speaking American English, the combination of stressed content & focus words + unstressed function words creates a rhythm or melody that American born people like to hear. ♬

Using sentence stress correctly will help you speak English with a better melody!

I teach you how to say English sentences clearly in my iBook, American Accent Fundamentals.

This iPad book will teach YOU how to speak English more clearly in a fun & engaging way using dialogs with real native speakers.

Download the first chapter for free from the iBookstore and start speaking clear English with your friends or in your workplace.

To read even MORE information on how to improve your American English pronunciation click on the links below.