sentence stress

[snickchap]

Hi,

I stumped. I'm trying to figure out where the MAIN stress is for each of the following sentences. I've underlined the 'content' words...the stressed words...but I'm also trying to figure out which word receives the MOST stress for the entire sentence.

underlined = stressed
blue = main stress

She teaches.
She teaches Spanish.
She teaches Spanish in an institute.

Here's the one I'm really having trouble with:

Which do you think is correct?

A: She teaches Spanish in an institute with over three hundred students.

B: She teaches Spanish in an institute with over three hundred students.

C: She teaches Spanish in an institute with over three hundred students.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

SC

[Casiopea]

My pick is A. Mind you, B and C are also possible. (Note, I've used italics)

B. three hundred students, not two!
C. three hundred students, not employees.

Where it goes depends on what you want to emphasize.

All the best.

[dihen]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

B. three hundred students, not two!

I would only use that to mean "three hundred students, not two (students)".

[BobK]

Originally Posted by dihen

I would only use that to mean "three hundred students, not two (students)".

If the stress was on 'three hundred', you'd be right.

But if the stress is on one element of the number, the meaning changes:
three hundred = not 200 or 400
three hundred = not 3,000

As Casiopeia said 'Where it goes depends on what you want to emphasize.'

b