⏰ Day 17 Warm-Up — Stress & Rhythm

4 items · auto-graded

The 2026 rubric rewards natural rhythm and intonation. These four habits move the needle.

Item 1 · Content-word stress

In "I went to Tokyo with my sister to visit our grandparents," which words carry the natural stress?

A) Tokyo, sister, visit, grandparents (the content words) B) to, with, my, our (the small words) C) every syllable, equally

Stress content words (nouns, main verbs); swallow function words. Equal stress on every syllable is the robotic tell.

Item 2 · Pausing

Where should a natural speaker pause?

A) Every 3–4 words B) At commas and periods — where punctuation would go C) Before every noun

Pause at punctuation, not before it. Pausing every few words sounds mechanical.

Item 3 · Pitch

Words like really, actually, enjoyed, push back should…

A) Be said completely flat B) Be skipped to save time C) Rise in pitch to convey your opinion

Flat opinion words signal memorization. Let pitch rise on them to sound like you mean it.

Item 4 · Overall

Which delivery sounds natural rather than recited?

A) "I really ENJOYED it — the FOOD was amazing." B) "I-RE-A-LLY-EN-JOYED-IT-THE-FOOD-WAS-A-MA-ZING." C) "I. Really. Enjoyed. It." (pause after every word)

Natural speech groups words into phrases and stresses the important ones — not every syllable, and not a pause after each word.