Stress Definition Of Stress By Merriamwebster The rule: when a verb (a word referring to an action, event or state of being) or a preposition (a word that comes before a noun, pronoun or the “-ing” form of a verb, and shows its relation to another word or part of the sentence) has two syllables, the stress is usually on the second syllable. Even if the speaker can be understood, mistakes with word stress can make the listener feel irritated, or perhaps even amused, and could prevent good communication from taking place. these three reasons tell me that word stress is an important part of the english language, and it is something i should help my students with. what word stress is. How to emphasize a word. emphasizing a word can be a way to make your point clearer or highlight key terms or phrases. whether you're emphasizing a word in writing or text, the process is fairly simple. in texts, things like bold and. Word stress rules. there are two very simple rules about word stre...