Sentence Stress 语句重音（一）语句重音指的是人们在朗读连贯的语句时哪些词要重读哪些词不重读的规则。
下面介绍的是有关语句重音的最一般的但却是最重要的规则：（一）在连贯的语句中需要重读的词有：名词、形容词、数词、实义动词、副词、某些代词（指示代词等）、疑问词、叹词等。
这条规则可以用四个词来总结：实词重读。
1)名词一般情况下名词在句中应重读。
例如：An elephant is an animal.(大象是一种动物)2)形容词一般都有语句重音。
如：Her shirt is blue and white.(她的裙子是蓝、白色)3)数词分为基数词和序数词，两者在句中都应重读。
例如：John is nine.(约翰9岁)My second brother is a doctor.(我的二哥是个医生)4)实义动词实义动词有完整的意义，能在句中作谓语，一般都有语句重音。
例如：Mary loves her dolls.(玛丽爱她的洋娃娃)She sings well.(她很会唱歌)5)副词大都在句中要重读。
如：speaks English slowly and carefully.(他说起英语来又慢又小心)（6）代词指具有语句重音的代词，如①指示代词：this, that, these, those ②返身代词：myself, yourself, himself 如：He himself hurt his own feet.(是他自己伤着了自己的脚)③不定代词：some, every, all, both, none, other, many, few, somebody, something等等。
如：Everybody was late.(每个人都迟到了)We are many, they are few. (我们人多，他们人少。
) Some are red, some are blue.(有一些是红色的，有些是蓝色的)④疑问代词：who, whom, whose, what, which等。
如：Who is that? (那是谁?) Whose bag can it be?(这能是谁的包呢?)What would you like to eat?(你想吃点什么?)Which is your sister? (哪位是你的姐妹?)7)叹词叹词在句中一般都要重读。
例如，Oh, it’s snowing!(啊，在下雪。
) Hey, that’s a nice shot!(嗨，那是个好球!) My, what a downpour!(哎呀，好大的雨啊!)Dear me!（表示惊讶：哎呀!）语句重音(二)(二)在连贯的语句中不重读的词有：1)冠词冠词有两种：①a(或an) ②the, 两者在句中一般都不重读。
2）代词指没有语句重音的代词。
如：①人称代词I, me, you, he, him, she, her等。
②物主代词 my, your, his, her, its, or, their 3）动词指非实义动词如:①助动词 be(am, is, are, were, was), shall(should), will(would)have(has, had), do(does, did) ②情态动词can(could), may(might), must, have to(has to, had to), shall(should), will(would), ought to, dare, need, used to等。
这些情态动词在语句中一般没有重音。
4）连词一般在句中不重读的连词有①等立连词，如：and, or, for, but；②比较连词，如：as, than ③从属连词，如:（if, when, while, since, now that, as if(though等。
5）介词介词（尤其是单音节介词）如出现在句子中间时一般不重读。
常见的单音节介词有：at, by, for, from, of, to, into等。
象。
根据说话时的不同心态、不同的着重点、不同的强调容、不同的语气等可以使原来在句中应重读的词失去重音，而原来不重读的词却又成了重读的词。
这些较为特殊、复杂的规则就无法在语音小常识中做详细的讲解，只能留到以后的学习阶段再来学习、探讨了。
Sentence StressSince speech is made up of words strung together, we must also look at these words in groups, in phrases or in sentences in order to observe what happens to the stress pattern. In natural connected speech, for various reasons, some words are stressed, others are not. The stress in a sentence is called sentence stress (句重音). Sentence stress can be classified into three types: sense stress (表意重音), logical stress (逻辑重音) and emotional stress ( 感情重音).I. Sense stressSense stress is a very common phenomenon in connected speech. The distribution of such stresses is subject to the meaning that the speaker wishes to convey. In normal speech we put stress on words semantically important. Such words are called content or lexical words (实词), such as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, notional verbs, numerals, interjections, demonstrative, interrogative pronouns and the absolute form of the possessive pronouns; the unimportant ones are called form or structural words (虚词或结构词),which are used to join together' the words that carry meaning. In unemphatic speech, such words are usually unstressed. They are articles, monosyllabic prepositions, monosyllabic conjunctions, personal pronouns, possessivepronouns, reciprocal pronouns, reflexives and relative pronouns, auxiliary and modal verbs and verb to BE.Examples for words with sentence stress:1. Nouns'John is a 'te acher from Aˋmerica n.2. AdjectivesWhat a 'beautiful ˋsight!3. AdverbsI've 'seldom 'met him ˋrecently.4. Notional verbsThey would 'die 'rather than ˋyield.5. Numerals'Two plus 'three 'equals ˋfive.His ad 'dress is 'forty-'six ˋLinden Street.6. Interjections'Oh, it's V wonderful!7. Demonstrative pronouns'This is our ˋcollege.8. Interrogative pronouns'Who was 'that on the ˋphone?9. The absolute form of possessive pronouns'This 'book is ˋmine.And 'yours is over ˋthereExamples for words with no sentence stress:1. ArticlesHe is a 'teacher of ˋEnglish.This is the 'book I ˋwant.2. Monosyllabic prepositionsHe was sur 'prised at her ˋattitude3. Monosyllabic conjunctions'John, 'Henry and 'Robert 'all ˋwent but 'Peter ˋdidn’t.4. Personal, possessive, reciprocal, reflexive and relative pronounsHe 'taught us ˋEnglishHis 'brother is my 'best ˋfriendLet's ˋlearn from each other.They 'help one another in their ˋwork.She 'thought herself 'better than 'anyone ˋelse.'Do you 'know the 'man who is 'sitting /there?5. Auxiliary and modal verbsThey have been in the 'countryside ˋrecently.You may ˋgo 'now.6. Link-verb to BEHe is a 'good ˋcomradeSpecial cases with no stress on content words:1. A content word which appears for the second time in a sentence or in a shortcontext is not stressed:'How 'many 'times have you been ˋthere?ˋThree times.He 'thinks of that as a ˋchild thinks.2. If a noun is preceded by another qualifying noun, the second one is often unstressed. And these two nouns are often connected by the sense, actually they may be considered as compound words, e.g.'That is our ˋclassroom building.I 'met her at the ˋrailway station.3. To avoid repetition we often use substitute words. These substitute wordsusually have no sentence stress:—'Which 'dictionary do you ˋwant?—That ˋsmall one.—'Will he 'come tomorrow?—ˋYes, I ˋthink so.4. When demonstrative pronouns this, that, these, those indicate very weakdemonstrativeness and are only the equivalent to the word "it" or the definite article “the”, they are unstressed:I can 'easily ˋdo this.It is 'necessary to 'take these pre ˋcautions.5. In phrases this morning, this afternoon, etc., the demonstrative pronoun this isnot stressed:We are 'rived this ˋmorning.6. In exclamatory sentences such words as what, how are usually unstressed:What a 'horrible ˋday!How 'thoughtful she ˋis!7. The word "street" never bears sentence stress in street names:ˋOxford Street ˋHigh StreetSpecial cases with stress on form words:1. Auxiliaries, modals and link-verb to BE bear sentence stress in the following cases:a. When they are in the in the initial position of a sentence, they are stressed:'Do you ˊlike it?'Can I ˊhelp you?'Are you a ˊfreshman?b. When they are in the final position, used as short answers to generalquestions, they are stressed:—'Do you ˊlike it?—ˋYes, I ˋdo.—`Can you `finish in ˊtime?—`Yes, I `can.—'Are you a ˊfreshman?—Yes, I `amc. If they are in contracted negative forms, they are stressed:It 'doesn't ˋmatter.He 'isn’t a ˋdoctor.I 'can’t ac ˋcrept it.2. Modal verbs may, can, must, ought to are usually stressed in the followingcases:a. When may expresses the meaning, of possibility, it bears sentence stress:They 'may 'come this ˋevening.b. When can expresses the meaning of astonishment, it bears sentence stress:'C an it be 'five alˊready?c. When must, ought to express the meaning of strong certainty andexpectation, they are stressed:He 'must be in the ˋroom.You 'ought to have 'been ˋthere.3. Prepositions may be stressed when they are at the beginning of a sentence andfollowed by an unstressed syllable:'In the ˊbox he 'found a ˋletter.4. Subordinate conjunctions are usually stressed when they are at the beginningof a sentence and followed by an unstressed word:'If you ˊwish, I'll ˋhelp you.'When he ˊcomes, I'll 'tell him aˋbout it.5. Reflexive pronouns in emphatic use are usually stressed:He 'couldn’t 'come hi m ˋself.Ⅱ. Logical StressApart from sense stress there is another kind of stress which is called logical stress. The distribution of such stresses is subject to the speaker's will. The speaker may put stress on any word he wishes to emphasize. So a word logically stressed may stand at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a sentence and it usually implies some idea of contrast. For example:We 'heard 'Mary 'singing ˋupstairs. (plain statement of fact)We "heard Mary singing upstairs. (But we didn't see her.)We heard "Mary singing upstairs. (But we didn't hear John.)We heard Mary "singing upstairs. (But we didn't hear Mary talking.)We heard Mary singing "upstairs. (But we didn't hear Mary singing downstairs.) "We heard Mary singing upstairs. (Not they heard.)Sometimes the idea of contrast is clearly pointed out. e.g.I bought it for ˋyou, not for ˋhim.ˋThey can’t do it, but we ˋcan.III. Emotional StressEmotional stress is a special kind of stress. In spoken English when the speaker wants to show emotion, he can put strong stress on the word he wishes to emphasize. But such kind of stress doesn’t imply any idea of contrast. The high-falling tone should be used in speaking or reading aloud such stressed words as:It’s "wonderful! We suc"ceeded!。