Stress and Intonation | fun-with-english

Stress and Intonation in Speaking

Stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. In English, stressed syllables are louder than non-stressed syllables. Also, they are longer and have a higher pitch.

There is no rule, however, about which syllable is stressed in a word with more than one syllable. You will need to learn the stress of words by heart.

Source from Learning English online

Stress gives different meaning for every stressed word :

For example:

Aminah is very talkaktive. (Aminah = It is only Aminah, not someone else.)
Aminah is very talkaktive. (Is = Currently)
Aminah is very talkaktive. (Very = Extremely)
Aminah is very talkaktive. (Talkative = Talking a lot; not doing other actions such as reading, eating and so on)

I hate to eat Durian. (I= It is only me, not someone else)
I hate to eat Durian. (Hate= dislike)
I hate to eat Durian. (To eat= the action of eating, not other action like drinking or swimming)
I hate to eat Durian. (Durian= the type of fruit, not vegetables or other items.)