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Question

Difficulty: HardWord and Syllable Stress

Complete the sentence below by entering the correctly syllabified forms with primary stress indicated in UPPERCASE letters for the target disyllabic word according to its grammatical function in context.

Answer:The border authority will not 【per-MIT】 entry to any traveler who fails to present a valid entry 【PER-mit】.

Answer

The first blank requires the verb form with stress on the second syllable (per-MIT), and the second blank requires the noun form with stress on the first syllable (PER-mit).
In English phonology, many disyllabic words undergo accentual shift depending on syntactic category. When used as a verb ('will not permit'), the primary stress falls on the second syllable (per-MIT). When used as a noun ('entry permit'), primary accentuation moves to the first syllable (PER-mit).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine the part of speech required for the first blank.
In 'will not {{blank_1}} entry', the word functions as a main verb following the auxiliary 'will not'.
English disyllabic word pairs operating as verbs take primary stress on the final (second) syllable: per-MIT.
2
Determine the part of speech required for the second blank.
In 'a valid entry {{blank_2}}', the word functions as a head noun in a noun phrase.
English disyllabic word pairs operating as nouns take primary stress on the initial (first) syllable: PER-mit.

Key Concept

Grammatical Category Stress Shift in Disyllabic Noun-Verb Pairs
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Word and Syllable Stress

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