McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson Elocution · Part 1: Principles of Elocution

3. Principles of Elocution: Accent and Emphasis optional

Goal: Your student can place word accent correctly and use absolute and relative emphasis, and the emphatic pause, to bring out meaning.

⏱ About 30 minutes · 6 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, or the scan beside this guide
  • A notebook and pen
  • A mirror is handy, and a phone to record your student reading (optional)

What's in the book

Accent (the stressed syllable in a word, and words whose accent changes their meaning), then Emphasis, absolute and relative, with many examples, and the emphatic pause.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Accent

    Read the book's definition of accent: the syllable "uttered more forcibly than the others." The book adds:

    Common usage alone determines upon what syllable the accent should be placed.

    Try the book's word pairs where the accent changes the meaning, such as subject (a noun) and subject (a verb), and present and present. Your student makes up a sentence with each.

  2. Absolute emphasis

    The book calls emphasis absolute when a word is stressed for its own force, not in contrast with another word. Read two of its examples with strong, natural force.

  3. Relative emphasis

    Emphasis is relative when there is a contrast, stated or implied. Read the book's examples, stressing the two contrasted words:

    We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

    Hunting men, and not beasts, shall be his game.

  4. The emphatic pause

    The book says a short pause is often made before or after an emphatic word. Read one of the examples with the pause and once without. Ask which sounds better.

  5. Talk about it

    SayIn "against the truth, but for the truth," why must against and for get the stress?

    SayWhat happens when a reader stresses every word?

    SayChoose a sentence from yesterday's reading. Where does the emphasis belong, and why?

  6. Try it

    Take one sentence, for example "I did not say he took it." Read it six times, stressing a different word each time. Talk about how the meaning changes.

Tip

Emphasis comes from understanding. If your student stresses the wrong word, ask what the sentence means before correcting the voice.

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