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Question

Difficulty: MediumEmphatic Stress

Select the question to which the following statement, containing emphatic stress on the word in FULL CAPITAL LETTERS, provides the appropriate answer:

The chief curator PRESERVED the rare manuscripts in the climate-controlled vault.

  1. A
    Did the senior archivist preserve the rare manuscripts in the climate-controlled vault?
  2. Did the chief curator discard the rare manuscripts in the climate-controlled vault?Answer
  3. C
    Did the chief curator preserve the ancient artifacts in the climate-controlled vault?
  4. D
    Did the chief curator preserve the rare manuscripts in the exhibition gallery?

Answer

The correct response is the question asking whether the chief curator discarded the rare manuscripts in the climate-controlled vault.
The verb 'PRESERVED' carries emphatic stress, indicating that the speaker is emphasizing the action taken rather than another action. The appropriate contrastive question must present a contradictory action (such as 'discard') while keeping the subject ('chief curator'), object ('rare manuscripts'), and location ('climate-controlled vault') completely unchanged.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the word carrying emphatic stress in the given sentence.
The word 'PRESERVED' is written in capital letters and carries emphatic stress.
Emphatic stress is used to highlight or contrast a specific piece of information in a sentence.
2
Determine the part of the sentence that must be questioned or contradicted.
The appropriate question must contradict the verb 'PRESERVED', while leaving the subject, object, and adjuncts unchanged.
In Oral English emphatic stress rules, the correct contrastive question replaces only the stressed element with a contrasting word.
3
Evaluate the options to find the question that contrasts only the verb.
The question substituting 'discard' for 'PRESERVED' is the only option that directly contrasts the stressed action.
The other options erroneously introduce contrasting terms for the subject, object, or location.

Key Concept

Emphatic Stress and Contrastive Focus
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Emphatic Stress

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