Locate a Written Stress Mark

Supplied materials

• Paper or a browser scratch area; no audio recording, account or private information is needed.
• The supplied syllable division is ca-fé. Which syllable contains its written stress mark? Candidate answers: (A) first unaccented syllable (B) fé (C) no syllable has an accent (D) the whole word as one syllable.
• The supplied syllable division is ár-bol. Which syllable contains its written stress mark? Candidate answers: (A) first unaccented syllable (B) no syllable has an accent (C) the whole word as one syllable (D) ár.

Learn the idea

Written Spanish gives useful clues to sounds and word boundaries. These text tasks introduce a few spelling and stress patterns; they do not evaluate anyone’s accent or listening ability. A written accent often tells the reader which supplied syllable carries stress. The accent belongs to a vowel; it does not add another syllable or simply make a word louder. Some accents distinguish meanings rather than change stress.

Use the supplied syllable division and identify the syllable containing the marked vowel. Read the accented vowel as part of that syllable. This lesson provides the divisions so it does not depend on guessing where vowel combinations divide.

Not every stressed syllable has a written accent. Unaccented Spanish words follow ordinary stress rules, and diacritic marks such as tú/tu have another role. Do not remove a mark merely because a word remains recognizable.

1. Copy the supplied example and underline its speaker, noun, time cue or evidence words.
2. Apply the shown language rule; keep any required ending, accent or paired punctuation.
3. Solve the changed independent check, then explain why one offered alternative fails.
4. Complete all three new practice cases and use the model to correct the precise word or meaning.

Check your reasoning

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Take it further

The supplied syllable division is mú-si-ca. Which syllable contains its written stress mark? Candidate answers: (A) first unaccented syllable (B) mú (C) no syllable has an accent (D) the whole word as one syllable. Expected result: mú. In mú-si-ca, the accent mark is on the vowel inside mú. The supplied division identifies the whole stressed syllable. This is not a claim that unaccented words lack stress.

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