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Question

Difficulty: MediumWord and Syllable Stress

Fill in the blank with the syllabified form of the word 'conduct'—with the primary stressed syllable written in UPPERCASE—that appropriately fits the sentence based on its grammatical function.

Answer:The principal warned that any student who fails to 【con-DUCT】 himself properly during the excursion will face immediate suspension.

Answer

con-DUCT
In Standard English phonology, many two-syllable words shift their primary accent according to their part of speech. When used as a noun, 'conduct' is stressed on the first syllable ('CON-duct'). When used as a verb (as in 'to conduct oneself'), the primary stress moves to the second syllable ('con-DUCT').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical role of the target word 'conduct' in the given sentence context.
In the verb phrase 'fails to conduct himself', the word functions as a verb.
The word follows the infinitive particle 'to', which demands a verb form.
2
Apply the English word stress rule governing disyllabic noun-verb pairs.
The primary stress falls on the second syllable: 'con-DUCT'.
Two-syllable words with identical noun and verb spellings typically take primary stress on the initial syllable when serving as nouns (CON-duct) and on the final syllable when serving as verbs (con-DUCT).

Key Concept

Grammatical category stress shift in two-syllable noun-verb pairs
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Topics

Word and Syllable Stress

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