Speech Work: Pronunciation Practice with Shifting Stresses – Basic 6 English Lesson Note (Second Term)

What is Shifting Stress?

Shifting stress happens when we add suffixes to words and the stressed syllable changes position. This is important for correct pronunciation.

Common Stress Patterns:

Pattern 1: -ic/-ical endings Stress moves to the syllable before -ic/-ical

• hisTOry (stress on first syllable) → hisTORical (stress on second syllable)
• SCIence (stress on first syllable) → scienTIFic (stress on third syllable)
• eLECtric (stress on second syllable) → elecTRICal (stress on second syllable)
• BOTany (stress on first syllable) → boTANical (stress on second syllable)

Pattern 2: Other common shifts

• PRESent (noun) → preSENT (verb)
• REcord (noun) → reCORD (verb)
• CONtract (noun) → conTRACT (verb)

Exercise A – Mark the Stress

Mark the stressed syllable in each word pair:

1. photograph → photographic PHOto-graph → photoGRAPHic
2. geography → geographical
   geOGra-phy → geoGRAPHical
3. biology → biological biOLo-gy → bioLOGical
4. mathematics → mathematical matheMATics → matheMATical
5. music → musical MUsic → MUsical

Exercise B – Pronunciation Practice

Read these word pairs aloud with correct stress:

Group 1:

• ECOnomy → ecoNOMic
• phiLOSophy → philoSOPHical
• CHEMistry → CHEMical
• PHYSics → PHYSical

Group 2:

• ATHlete → athLETic
• draMATic → draMATical
• CLASSic → CLASSical
• REAList → reAListic

Exercise C – Choose the Correct Stress

Circle the correctly stressed word:

1. scientific: SCIentific / scienTIFic
2. historical: HIStorical / hisTORical
3. electrical: eLECtrical / Electrical
4. botanical: BOTanical / boTANical
5. mathematical: MATHematical / matheMATical

Exercise D – Stress Shifting Rules

Complete these rules:

1. When we add -ic to a noun, the stress usually moves to the syllable _______ -ic.
2. When we add -ical to a word, the stress usually moves to the syllable _______ -ical.

Some words like electric/electrical keep the same _______ pattern.