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Difficulty: EasyEmphatic Stress

Read the statement below in which the capitalized word carries emphatic stress, then fill in the blank to complete the contrastive question that elicits this specific emphasis.

Answer:Statement: The GOVERNOR signed the new education bill yesterday.
Question: Did the 【president】 sign the new education bill yesterday?

Answer

Any contrasting noun representing a public official, such as 'president', 'mayor', or 'senator'.
In Oral English, emphatic stress places contrastive focus on a specific word—here, the subject 'GOVERNOR'. To elicit this emphatic response, the question must contradict the subject by inserting an alternative noun (such as 'president' or 'mayor') while keeping all other details identical.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the word carrying emphatic stress in the given sentence.
The word 'GOVERNOR' (the sentence subject) is written in capital letters, indicating emphatic stress.
Emphatic stress highlights a specific word to correct a misconception or contrast it with alternative possibilities.
2
Formulate a question that contradicts only the stressed subject.
The question must keep all other components ('signed the new education bill yesterday') identical while replacing 'GOVERNOR' with a different subject.
A contrastive question for emphatic stress must question the highlighted element while leaving the remaining context unchanged.

Key Concept

Emphatic Stress
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Emphatic Stress

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