stress exercises

[Nessie]

Hi, please help me with those stress exercises:

Odd one out

Stress

A. automatically B. international
C. particular D. Malaysia

Odd one out:

Stress

A. Australia B. New Zealand
C. themselves D. regard

Odd one out

Sound

1. factors 2. works 3. strikes 4. steps
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Yankee]

Stress

A. automatically B. international (stress is on the third syllable in both)
C. particular D. Malaysia (stress is on the second syllable in both)

Odd one out:

Stress

A. Australia B. New Zealand
C. themselves D. regard
(stress is on the second syllable in all four (assuming that you treat 'Zea' as a sort of 'second syllable', that is.)

Odd one out

Sound

1. factors 2. works 3. strikes 4. steps The final S sound is different in 'factors'

I'm not sure what they're expecting in the first two questions, Nessie. In the second question, perhaps it's just that 'New Zealand' is two words and the others are single words.
.

[Nessie]

Hi Amy,
As far as i am concerned, if the word ends in k,p,t,f, it should be pronounced /s/. If it has hissing sound, it is pronounced /iz/, and as for other cases, it is pronouced /z/
according to that, the two options "works" and "steps" may be pronouced /s/, and the other two should be pronounced /z/

=> :O
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Yankee]

Hi Nessie

It is the final sound at the end of a singular noun that dictates how the S is pronounced in the plural.

The word 'strike' ends with a silent E, so the final sound in the the word 'strike' is K. When you add an S to form the plural, the pronunciation of the S is the same as the S in 'works'.

By the way, if a singular noun ends with a TH which is pronounced the same way as the TH in the word 'think' (for example, the word 'wreath'), then the plural of that word will also usually end with the /s/ sound.
.