Module 1 – Grammar

Strong/weak forms 
If the word is unstressed, the weak form of vowels may be used, e.g. I can (/ 
k n /) speak Italian, French, 
English and Spanish. The sound / / is called the schwa.
If a word is important, then the strong form is used, and the pronunciation changes, e.g. I can (/kaen/) speak 
a little Spanish in an emergency.
Word stress is the pronunciation of a syllable with more force than the surrounding syllables which are said 
to be unstressed, e.g. umbrella.
Sometimes, a word may have two stresses, in which case one syllable takes the main stress. In the word 
independent, for example ‘pen’ takes the main stress.  
Strong forms: see stress. 
Syllable 
A part of a word that usually contains a single vowel sound, e.g. pen = one syllable; teacher = two syllables – 
teach/er; umbrella = three syllables – um/bre/lla. 

---

______________________________________________________________________________________________
© 
UCLES 
Cambridge 
ESOL 
2005
8
Unvoiced sound: see voiced/unvoiced sound. 
Voiced sound/unvoiced sound 
A voiced sound is a way of pronouncing sounds with vibration (voiced) or without vibration (unvoiced) in the throat. In 
English, vowels are usually voiced. Many sounds differ only because they are either voiced, e.g. /b/ or unvoiced, e.g. 
/p/. 
 
Vowel 
One of the sounds shown by the letters a, e, i, o u and sometimes y. See consonant. 
Weak forms: see stress. 
 
Word stress: see stress.