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Question

Difficulty: Very hardEmphatic Stress

Examine the sentence below in which emphatic stress is placed on the capitalized word:

'The lead prosecutor UNQUESTIONABLY established the defendant's alibi during the cross-examination.'

Complete the contrastive question that would elicit this exact emphatic statement by filling in the missing contrasting adverb.

Answer:Did the lead prosecutor 【doubtfully】 establish the defendant's alibi during the cross-examination?

Answer

The blank must be filled with a contrasting adverb (such as 'doubtfully' or 'questionably') that directly opposes the stressed word UNQUESTIONABLY, while retaining every other syntactic element of the original sentence.
Emphatic stress on 'UNQUESTIONABLY' indicates that the speaker is asserting certainty against a prior doubt or contrary assumption. Therefore, the appropriate contrastive question must substitute an adverb implying uncertainty or doubt (such as 'doubtfully' or 'questionably') while keeping all other words in the sentence identical.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the word bearing emphatic stress in the target statement.
The word printed in full capital letters is 'UNQUESTIONABLY', which functions as an adverb of certainty/manner.
Emphatic stress serves to highlight contrastive focus on one specific item in a sentence.
2
Determine the necessary structure of the contrastive question.
The question must keep all uncapitalized elements (the subject 'the lead prosecutor', the verb 'establish', the object 'the defendant's alibi', and the adjunct 'during the cross-examination') constant while substituting an opposing term for the stressed word.
Contrastive focus dictates that only the emphasized information is challenged or contradicted by the preceding question.
3
Supply an appropriate antonymous or contrasting adverb for the blank.
Words such as 'doubtfully' or 'questionably' create the precise contrast required to elicit the emphatic correction 'UNQUESTIONABLY'.
Answering a question that asks if something was done doubtfully with an emphatic assertion of 'UNQUESTIONABLY' provides proper conversational logic and stress alignment.

Key Concept

Emphatic Stress and Contrastive Focus
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Topics

Emphatic Stress

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