Understanding Syllables
To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables.
Every word is made from syllables.
Each word has one, two, three or more syllables.
Each word has one, two, three or more syllables.
| word | number of syllables | |
| dog | dog | 1 |
| green | green | 1 |
| quite | quite | 1 |
| quiet | qui-et | 2 |
| orange | or-ange | 2 |
| table | ta-ble | 2 |
| expensive | ex-pen-sive | 3 |
| interesting | in-ter-est-ing | 4 |
| realistic | re-al-is-tic | 4 |
| unexceptional | un-ex-cep-tion-al | 5 |
Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or u) orvowel sound