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Difficulty: HardEmphatic Stress

Read the statement below in which one word carries emphatic stress, then complete the contrastive question that correctly elicits it.

Answer:Statement: The lead INVESTIGATOR meticulously examined the crime scene at midnight.
Question: Did the lead 【prosecutor】 meticulously examine the crime scene at midnight?

Answer

The correct contrastive question must substitute a contrasting noun (such as 'prosecutor') for the emphasized subject noun 'INVESTIGATOR', while leaving all other elements of the statement unchanged.
Emphatic stress is used to highlight a specific piece of information in contrast to another possibility. Because 'INVESTIGATOR' is the capitalized word, the eliciting question must propose an alternative subject (such as prosecutor) while preserving the verb, manner, object, and temporal adjunct exactly as stated.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the word carrying emphatic stress in the given statement.
The word 'INVESTIGATOR' is printed in full capital letters, indicating emphatic stress.
In Oral English, capital letters designate the focus of contrastive emphasis within a sentence.
2
Determine how emphatic stress dictates the corresponding question.
The correct eliciting question must disagree with or query ONLY the capitalized word ('INVESTIGATOR'), keeping the rest of the sentence ('meticulously examined the crime scene at midnight') identical.
Emphatic stress corrects an implicit or explicit misstatement specifically regarding the stressed element.
3
Complete the blank in the contrastive question.
Inserting a contrasting role such as 'prosecutor' forms a valid contrastive question: 'Did the lead prosecutor meticulously examine the crime scene at midnight?'
This question directly prompts the response: 'No, the lead INVESTIGATOR meticulously examined the crime scene at midnight.'

Key Concept

Emphatic Stress and Contrastive Focus
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Topics

Emphatic Stress

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