Syllables
To 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 |
| realistic |
re-al-is-tic |
4 |
| unexceptional |
un-ex-cep-tion-al |
5 |
Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable
contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or u) or vowel
sound. |