When you listen to Americans talking you might notice that they always stress some syllables more than others. That's because in English words one syllable is always pronounced with more emphasis than the other syllables in the word. The vowel in the stressed syllable is lengthened and has a very clear sound.

Pronunciation teachers call this emphasis "syllable stress". Learning to use syllable stress correctly is one of the very best ways to improve your English pronunciation and reduce your accent!

There are many rules you can use to decide which syllable to stress in an English word. Here are three of those rules

1. The first part of a a compound word is usually stressed. For example: NOTEbook, FOOTball, AIRport, BRIEFcase.

2. Stress is usually placed on the syllable that contains the ROOT or BASE word. That means that word prefixes are usually not stressed. Here are a few examples: unPAID, inVEST, preDICT, reWIND.

3. It also means that word suffixes are usually not stressed. Here are a few examples: SLOWly, FASTer, SLEEPing, THOUGHTful.

Exceptions to the suffix rule are words of French origin such as millionAIRE, volunTEER and picturESQUE. These words are stressed on the suffix itself.

If you haven't noticed the way Americans use syllable stress when they speak I want you to start to listen for it. Once you can recognize and use this key feature of spoken American English the rhythm of your speech will improve and people will be able to understand you much more easily!