Question

Which type of stress differentiates words in English, such as ‘import’ (noun) and ‘import’ (verb)?

• A. Sentence stress
• B. Word stress
• C. Emphatic stress
• D. Contrastive stress

Answer 1

Answer:

B. Word stress

The type of stress that differentiates words like ‘import’ (noun) and ‘import’ (verb) in English is called "word stress" or more specifically, "contrastive stress" in noun-verb pairs."

• In English, many two-syllable words change meaning based on stress placement.

• Nouns usually have stress on the first syllable → 'IMport (/ˈɪm.pɔːrt/) (a thing that is brought in)

• Verbs usually have stress on the second syllable → im'PORT (/ɪmˈpɔːrt/) (the action of bringing in goods)