Stress
The prominence given to a syllable or word in speech through increased volume, higher pitch, and longer duration. Stress can be lexical (fixed within a word) or phrasal (varies with meaning and emphasis).
Real World
In a BBC News interview, a politician saying 'I did NOT authorise that payment' places contrastive stress on 'not' to firmly deny the accusation, whereas shifting stress to 'I' — 'I did not authorise that payment' — implies someone else did.
Exam Focus
Always explain the effect of stress placement on meaning — don't just identify which word is stressed.
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