stress and unstress

[hakaya]

hii all
what's up ?
i have problem in distinguishing between stressed and unstressed syllables ..
could any one give me characteristics of the stressed syllables ..
for the word attract the stressed syllable could be /at/ and could be /rakt/ am i right ??
another question , when putting the stress mark , where i have to put it ?
for example, in the word open / 'open / or / op'en /
thanks all for being here ..

[lauralie2]

Stressed syllables may sound longer and/or louder than unstressed syllables. The word 'attract' is stressed on the second syllable: əˈtrækt. Putting the symbol (') before a syllable marks it as stressed. Notice also that the vowel of an unstressed syllable can often be reduced: in our example, 'a' of attract is pronounced as schwa [ə].

Learn more about syllable stress: see page 93 here