950 - Stress Shift With Do and Did - Speak Naturally in a Minute | Happy English

Hey there! It’s Michael here - and welcome back to Speak Naturally in a Minute from Happy English. I’m here every Sunday with a quick one-point lesson to help you improve your pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation.  And if you want to watch this lesson, just look for Happy English Podcast on YouTube.

Sometimes, in everyday spoken American English,  we use stress, to show meaning. That means saying certain words louder or stronger to give emphasis in a sentence. A great example of this is when we use do or did for emphasis. When we really want to strongly confirm something, we put the stress on do or did. 

• Like if someone says, how come you didn’t finish that report? You can say “I did finish the report.” And I sent it to you.
• Or if you got a bad grade on an exam, and someone accuses you of not studying. You can tell them, “I did study. That was just a really tough exam”
• Or maybe someone has the wrong idea about you. Like if your friend says, “we can’t go to that new sushi place, because Michael doesn’t like sushi. You can say, “I do like sushi.”

When you use do or did this way, the meaning becomes stronger and clearer. That’s how native speakers show emphasis.  So next time you want to correct someone or strongly confirm something, try saying things like, “I did do it.” OR “I do wanna do it.”  That’s the music of natural American English.

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