Archive for October 29th, 2024

Compound nouns and accent are very important in English

Tuesday, October 29th, 2024
Hi there guys! ????
Did you know that nouns in English can also be adjectives?
A strawberry is a very healthy fruit, it’s also a noun and it can also be an adjective in English!
If you say ‘a strawberry field’ it’s a compound noun which means a field planted with strawberries.
If you say ‘orange juice’, it means juice which tastes like an orange.
If you say ‘a carrot smoothie’, it means a smoothie which consists of carrots!????
etc..
The first element in compound nouns is often like an adjective because it describes the second noun.
From the linguistic standpoint, the first element describes the second element.
The accent in compound nouns is always on the first element. (strawberry, orange and carrot are pronounced louder)
There are many compound nouns in English!
Here is another example which shows the importance of accent in compound nouns:
‘The White House’ refers to the official residence of the president of the United States. In this case ‘white’ is louder.
‘A white house’ refers to a house which was painted white. In this case ‘house’ is louder.
Good luck ???? and hope this helps guys! ????
‘Strawberry fields forever…’
If you listen carefully to the famous Beatles’ song, you can close your eyes, enjoy the beautiful music and at the same time hear that ‘strawberry’ is pronounced louder than ‘fields’ while recognizing how the accent and intonation (the melody of the language) smoothly change. Enjoy practicing guys! ????????????
If you say: I want to learn English at Step by Step Proficiency, English school in Ottawa, the noun English is also louder than the noun school because the phrase English school is also a compound noun! lol :)