Word Stress: 1 Sentence, 7 Different Meanings!

48

My name's Ronnie, and I'm going to teach you

a really important lesson today, so stay glued

to your YouTube or your phone; probably already are.

This is sentence stress or emphasis of certain words in a sentence.

So depending on what word we stress or emphasize,

it's going to actually change the meaning

of the sentence.

So, the flow or the intonation of an English

sentence, you have to be careful about this

and learn how to do it.

If I take this sentence, for example, "I never said he ate my cookie."

I've said that with a very straight, flat intonation.

I don't give one or more words more emphasis or stress than the other.

So, generally, you get the idea that, yeah, okay,

well, the cookie, someone took Ronnie's cookie.

But if I say "I", if I emphasize the first subject, "I never said he ate my cookie",

so if I emphasize here, it means someone else said that he ate my cookie.

"I never said he ate my cookie", somebody else did.

Now, if I emphasize the word "never", "I never

said he ate my cookie", if I put the stress

or the emphasis on the word "never", it's

suggesting that that is not even in my style

to talk about things; that's not my vocabulary.

I would not say that.

I would never say that, so I'm telling you that it's a lie.

Next one, "said".

"I never said", sorry, let's try again, "I never said that he ate my cookie."

So, I didn't actually say it, okay?

Maybe I texted it to you, or I sent you an email about it, but I didn't verbalize it.

I didn't say directly to you.

So, if I emphasize the verb here, well, you can play with the verb.

"I never said that he ate my cookie."

I texted it to you.

This is how to be snarky with people and win arguments.

Lawyers, are you watching?

"He", if I put the emphasis on the person here, "I never said he ate my cookie."

I'm telling you that somebody else did it.

"I never said that she took my coffee."

Somebody else did it.

The next one is "ate".

"I never said that he ate my cookie."

Hmm, what did he do to your cookie, Ronnie?

Well, he definitely didn't...

I didn't say he ate it.

He could have took my cookie, or maybe touched

it, or took a little nibble, yum, yum, yum,

a little bite out of the cookie, but I didn't say he actually ate it.

Now, "I never said he ate my cookie."

So, he could be a dirty little cookie monster,

and he could have eaten someone else's cookie.

I'm saying that he ate a cookie, but I didn't say it was mine.

So I'm emphasizing, I don't know, whose cookie was it?

And the last word, "cookie".

"I never said he ate my cookie."

So he ate something else, but it definitely wasn't my cookie.

He ate something else of mine, maybe, but it definitely was not my cookie.

When you're learning the intonation of sentences,

be very careful where you put the stress on

each word, because you're going to convey different meanings with each emphasis...

With each stress on each word.

So, if you struggle with this, go down to the comments, leave me some examples, and

I'll let you know if you're on point with that or if you've got it.

Thanks for watching me.