The next of the podium points is emphasis.
The idea behind emphasis is putting importance on the word you want to give the most 'weight to.
The cat is hungry. The cat, not the dog.
The cat is hungry. I'm telling the truth about this statement.
The cat is hungry. Hungry and not thirsty.
Emphasis turned out to be an important skill this week as we conducted out National Geographic Geography Bee. Machu Picchu = MAH-choo PEEK-choo and Portugal's Algarve = al-GAHR-vee. Getting it phonetically right required getting the emphasis in the right place. I had to read Snaefellsjokull (the ae is a grapheme and there is an umlaut above the o) three times to giggles. [Shockingly, the student got that Snaefellsjokull was in Iceland.
I've been looking for video to show each podium point off and this one had me stymied. There is a comedian, Bob Biggerstaff, who has one joke in his set about 'bad emphasis' but its bluer than I would have hoped.
One of the funniest things ever recorded.
I also thought about the old Abbot and Costello sketch, "Who's on First?" Alot of its humor is derived from misplaced emphasis. Besides, it is just plain funny!
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