Every word in English has a particular stress, and when a foreigner gets it wrong we notice, and we snigger. There’s an old joke with many variations, all of which involve a Frenchman in pursuit of a penis, rather than happiness. That’s partially because the French don’t pronounce their Hs, but mainly because HAPpiness and a PEnis are stressed differently. Some words even get two stresses. Antidote goes TUM-te-TUM. UNDerSTANDing goes TUM-te-TUM-te. And sometimes the stress is optional. You usually say HAPPiness, but you can, if you like, say HAPpiNESS. Also, even when a sentence is made out of
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