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Question

Difficulty: MediumWord and Syllable Stress

Match each polysyllabic English word on the left with its corresponding primary stress placement rule on the right.

  • biodiversityPrimary stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable governed by the suffix '-ity'
  • academicPrimary stress falls on the penultimate syllable governed by the suffix '-ic'
  • investigatePrimary stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable of a four-syllable verb ending in '-ate'
  • declarationPrimary stress falls on the penultimate syllable governed by the suffix '-ation'

Answer

The correct pairings match each word to its specific suffix-governed primary stress rule: 'biodiversity' matches the antepenultimate rule for '-ity'; 'academic' matches the penultimate rule for '-ic'; 'investigate' matches the antepenultimate rule for four-syllable '-ate' verbs; and 'declaration' matches the penultimate rule for '-ation'.
Each word follows a established morphological stress pattern: '-ity' forces antepenultimate stress ('bi-o-di-VER-si-ty'), '-ic' forces penultimate stress ('ac-a-DEM-ic'), four-syllable '-ate' verbs attract stress to the antepenultimate syllable ('in-VES-ti-gate'), and '-ation' forces penultimate stress ('dec-la-RA-tion').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the suffix and syllable count of each target word.
The words feature suffixes '-ity', '-ic', '-ate', and '-ation'.
English suffix patterns systematically dictate primary stress placement relative to the end of the word.
2
Locate the primary stressed syllable for each word.
bi-o-di-VER-si-ty (antepenultimate), ac-a-DEM-ic (penultimate), in-VES-ti-gate (antepenultimate), and dec-la-RA-tion (penultimate).
Applying syllable stress rules confirms the precise matching rule for each item.

Key Concept

Suffix-driven primary stress placement in polysyllabic English words
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Topics

Word and Syllable Stress

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