Developing an Ear for Grammar

What with all the rules and exceptions to the rules they are obliged to memorize in English courses from first grade through college, students often fail to learn one fundamental rule of grammar: You can usually hear the difference.

For instance, every student knows how to pronounce the word subject. But what if I tell him that I mean the verb, not the noun? He knows how to pronounce that, too, for he knows that the verb subJECT sounds different from the noun SUBject. (for example: Teachers subJECT their students to grammar tests when the SUBject is English.) The same difference distinguishes the verb susPECT from the noun SUSpect, and the verb obJECT from the noun OBject.

Every student distinguishes between the noun and verb forms of these words when speaking. But ask him to tell you which syllables of these words receive the stress, or accent, and the invariable response is that he doesn't know anything about accents. But he does make a distinction between the noun and verb forms of the word subject when speaking and, at gunpoint, will concede that he hears the difference in sound.

The difference is one of stress. In the noun form of the word subject, the stress, or accent, falls on the first syllable: SUB-ject. In the verb form, the emphasis is on the second syllable: sub-JECT.

Overcoming Stress
Having learned that the difference in sound between the verb and noun forms of the words subject, suspect, and object is one of stress, the student can use this knowledge to avoid the misspellings that frequently result when a student adds -ed or -ing to a two-syllable verb. What is the difference in sound between the verbs suffer, offer and conquer and the verbs refer, occur and concur? Which ones double the final consonant before adding -ed or -ing? Which ones don't? What makes conquer sound different from concur?

In the verbs suffer, offer and conquer, the stress falls on the first syllable: SUF-fer, OF-fer, CON-quer. In the verbs refer, occur and concur, the accent falls on the second syllable: re-FER, oc-CUR, con-CUR.