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Difficulty: HardEmphatic Stress

Read the statement below in which emphatic stress is placed on the word written in CAPITAL LETTERS. Identify and fill in the missing question that appropriately elicits this emphatic response.

Answer:Statement: The lead investigator DISCREETLY transferred the sensitive files before dawn.
Question: 【Did the lead investigator openly transfer the sensitive files before dawn?】

Answer

Did the lead investigator openly transfer the sensitive files before dawn?
In Oral English, emphatic stress signals contrastive focus. Because the adverb 'DISCREETLY' is emphasized, the speaker is specifically correcting or contrasting the manner of execution. The appropriate question must therefore ask whether the action was done in the opposite manner (such as 'openly' or 'publicly'), while retaining the exact same subject ('the lead investigator'), action ('transferred'), object ('the sensitive files'), and time adjunct ('before dawn').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the word carrying emphatic stress in the given statement.
The word 'DISCREETLY' is capitalized, indicating that emphatic stress is placed on the manner in which the action was performed.
Emphatic stress highlights the specific information being asserted or corrected in contrastive focus.
2
Determine the focus of the required contrastive question.
The contrastive question must challenge or inquire about the manner of transfer ('discreetly') using an opposing or contrasting adverb (e.g., 'openly' or 'publicly'), while keeping all other information in the statement unchanged.
An emphatic statement contradicts only the specific element questioned in the preceding query.
3
Formulate the correct question.
'Did the lead investigator openly transfer the sensitive files before dawn?'
This question directly contrasts 'openly' with 'DISCREETLY', making the statement a natural and precise response.

Key Concept

Emphatic Stress and Contrastive Focus
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Topics

Emphatic Stress

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