Syllables and word stress

A syllable is a unit of sound that contains exactly one vowel sound, so we can count syllables by counting the vowel sounds we hear. For instance, "beautiful" has three syllables (beau-ti-ful) and "cat" has only one. Syllables come in two main types: an open syllable ends in a vowel sound and the vowel is often long, as in "go" and "he", while a closed syllable ends in a consonant sound and the vowel is usually short, as in "cat" and "sit". In words of more than one syllable, one syllable is said with more force and a slightly higher pitch; this is called word stress. We can show stress by writing the stressed syllable in capitals, for example ba-NA-na, where the second syllable is stressed. Stress is important because it can change a word's meaning or its part of speech. Many two-syllable words are nouns when the stress is on the first syllable but verbs when it is on the second syllable. For example: PREsent (a gift, noun) versus preSENT (to give, verb), and the same shift happens with REcord/reCORD and OBject/obJECT.