Sunday, 29 September 2013

Stress in Adjectives



(c)  Stress in Adjectives
(i)  Bi-syllabled adjectives
For bi-syllabled adjectives like nouns, the stress falls on the first syllable.

Examples:
'happy     'angry     'hungry     'thirsty     'ready     'naughty   
'nosey      'hazy      'greedy     'cloudy     'windy     'dusty

Exceptions
cor'rect      o'paque     po'lite        con'cise        pre'cise         na'ive    
on'line       on'side      ob'scene    pro'found     

(ii)  Poly-syllabled adjectives
        3 syllabled adjectives, the stress falls on the pen-ultimate.

Examples:
at'tractive      in'stinctive        or'ganic        inor'ganic       pro'ductive    
pre'carious    pre'scriptive     de'structive    con'structive    

Exceptions
'beautiful      'preferable         'probable     'sensitive       'confident
'innocent      'ignorant       

      -----  4 syllabled adjectives, the primary stress falls on the
             ante-pen-ultimate. 

Examples:
in'quisitive      pre'requisite       pre'cipitious       pro'fessional 
pre'liminary     pre'rogative       par'ticular           in'vincible

Exceptions
confi'dential    presi'dential       resi'dential         inju'dicious   
'innovative       bicen'tennial     
   -----  5 syllabled nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs,  the
           stress fall on the root of the word or on the syllable next to
           it. 
        (The stress usually falls on the second or third syllable.)

Examples:
di'scriminatory  (di'scriminate)     diˌscrimi'nation  
ˌinter'national ('nation)  ('national)   cate'gorical  ('category)
re'frigeˌrator      ˌdepart'mentally     (de'partment)     
ˌpossi'bility  ('possible)     ˌincon'veniently     (ˌincon'venient)    

The stress is always on ‘'~ation’ the pen-ultimate syllable.
inˌterpre'tation   (in'terpret)      incan'tation       transpor'tation

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