emphasis
emphasis — noun
1. special attention or importance given to something, making it stand out as more
special attention or importance given to something, making it stand out as more significant than other related things.
Tendai's training programme puts great emphasis on building core strength and flexibility.
collocation: put + emphasis + on + gerund
Lakshmi placed strong emphasis on teamwork when she led the community garden project.
collocation: place + emphasis + on + noun
The new history course places particular emphasis on analysing primary sources rather than textbooks.
Many parents put too much emphasis on exam scores, forgetting their children's overall well-being.
In her report, Beatrix laid special emphasis on the need for better public transport.
- stress
more direct and interchangeable with 'emphasis' in sense 1; 'stress' also carries a connotation of urgency.
- importance
broader term; 'emphasis' specifically implies highlighting something as important, while 'importance' is the general state of being significant.
- priority
focuses on the order of attention rather than the degree of importance given.
- prominence
suggests something is easily noticed or stands out, often due to position rather than deliberate choice.
- understatement
when something is deliberately presented as less important than it really is.
文法句型
place/put/lay + emphasis + on + noun/gerund
用法筆記
The most common verb patterns with this sense are 'place emphasis on', 'put emphasis on', and (somewhat more formal) 'lay emphasis on'. This sense is uncountable — it does not take an indefinite article or a plural form.
常見錯誤
2. the greater loudness or prominence with which a speaker says a particular syllab
the greater loudness or prominence with which a speaker says a particular syllable or word.
In the word 'photograph', the emphasis falls on the first syllable.
pattern: emphasis + falls on + syllable
Daichi used strong emphasis on 'never' to show he would not change his mind.
Iris's first language is Spanish, so she often puts emphasis on the wrong English syllable.
Élise placed particular emphasis on 'sorry' so that her apology sounded sincere.
Adisa's teacher showed him that the noun 'record' takes emphasis on the first syllable and the verb on the second.
- stress
the more common, everyday term for this linguistic concept; 'stress' is preferred in language teaching contexts.
- accent
can mean emphasis on a syllable but more often refers to a way of pronouncing words associated with a region or social group.
- prominence
a broader term that includes emphasis plus other features such as intonation and length.
文法句型
emphasis + falls on + syllable/word
emphasis + is on + syllable/word
用法筆記
In this sense 'emphasis' can be either countable or uncountable. The plural form 'emphases' is occasionally used when comparing the stress patterns of different words or syllables: 'Compare the emphases on the first syllable of "photograph" and "photography".'