Pronunciation · lesson 18 of 24 · free

Stress in long words — English pronunciation practice

Long words follow helpful rules. Endings like -tion, -sion, -ic and -ity pull the stress to the syllable just before them: ed-u-CA-tion, sci-en-TIF-ic, pos-si-BIL-i-ty. That is also why the stress moves in PHO-to-graph, pho-TOG-ra-phy and pho-to-GRAPH-ic.

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How to say it

Look at the ending — “with -tion, -sion and -ic the stress is just before the ending; with -ity, just before -ity”

  1. -tion / -sion: stress the syllable just before — in-for-MA-tion, de-CI-sion.
  2. -ic: stress the syllable just before -ic — fan-TAS-tic, PUB-lic.
  3. -ity: stress the syllable just before -ity — ac-TIV-i-ty, QUAL-i-ty.

Use it for: Science, maths and social studies words, presentations and interviews.

Worked example: Which syllable is stressed in “photography”? → pho-TOG-ra-phy (2nd)

  1. Split it: pho-tog-ra-phy.
  2. Adding -graphy moves the stress to the 2nd syllable: pho-TOG-ra-phy.

Check: PHO-to-graph → pho-TOG-ra-phy ✓

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🏁 Lesson 18 test

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🖨️ Word Stress Long Words Worksheet

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