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Difficulty: HardEmphatic Stress

In the statement below, emphatic stress is placed on the word printed in CAPITAL LETTERS:

'The chief accountant SECURELY stored the confidential audit files in the vault.'

Which of the following questions is the appropriate context for this statement?

  1. Did the chief accountant carelessly store the confidential audit files in the vault?Answer
  2. B
    Did the forensic auditor securely store the confidential audit files in the vault?
  3. C
    Did the chief accountant securely destroy the confidential audit files in the vault?
  4. D
    Did the chief accountant securely store the confidential audit files in the cabinet?

Answer

Did the chief accountant carelessly store the confidential audit files in the vault?
The sentence places emphatic stress on the adverb 'SECURELY'. In English phonology and discourse analysis, emphatic stress indicates contrastive focus on the stressed word. Therefore, the statement serves as a direct response to a question that poses a contrasting condition to 'SECURELY' (i.e., 'carelessly'), while keeping all other information in the sentence constant.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the word carrying emphatic stress in the given statement.
The word 'SECURELY' (an adverb of manner) is capitalized and receives emphatic stress.
Emphatic stress highlights a specific item in a sentence to contrast it with alternative or opposing information.
2
Determine the contrastive focus required for the corresponding question.
The correct question must keep every part of the original sentence identical except for the stressed word, replacing 'SECURELY' with an opposite or alternative modifier.
An emphatic stress response directly answers a question that contradicts only the stressed element.
3
Evaluate the options to locate the question that contrasts only the stressed word.
The question asking if the accountant 'carelessly' stored the files contrasts only 'SECURELY' while leaving the subject, main verb, object, and prepositional phrase intact.
Contrasting 'carelessly' with 'SECURELY' provides the precise pragmatic context for the emphatic stress.

Key Concept

Emphatic Stress and Contrastive Focus
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Topics

Emphatic Stress

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