Sentence Rhythm in English

The Emphasis Pattern of English

Basically words can be divided into two categories: content words and structure words. Content words are those which carry the basic meaning of a sentence, such as nouns and verbs. Structure words, also called function words, show grammatical relationship, such as pronouns and prepositions. In general, content words need to emphasized, while structure words are usually de-emphasized and reduced. 

In the table bellow you can find parts of the sentence that are considered content and structure words. Give your own examples of content and structure words.  

Content and Structure Words

So, while reading you should remember to make the stressed syllables in the emphasized words louder, longer, clearer, and high-pitched.

Exercise for practice.

Read the text bellow. Find content and structure words in the text. Read the text out loud with the right stress pattern.

Why is America called "America"

Why did European geographers give the name America to the lands that Columbus discovered? Why did they not name them instead after Columbus? 

The reason is that to the end of his life Columbus believed that his discoveries were part of Asia. The man who did most to correct this mistaken idea was Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was an Italian sailor from the city of Florence. During the late 1490s he wrote some letters in which he described two voyages of exploration that he had made along the coasts of South America. He was sure, he wrote, that these coasts were part of a new continent. 

Some years later Vespucci's letters were read by a German scholar who was revising an old geography of the world. The letters convinced the scholar that Vespucci was correct, and that the lands beyond the Atlantic were a new continent. To honor Vespucci the scholar named them America, using the feminine form of Vespucci's first name as the other continents had female names.