accent

Everyday

1. An accent is the way people from a place or country pronounce a language: a Scottish accent, an American accent. tree →
2. An accent is extra force on one part of a word when you say it, called stress. tree →
3. An accent is a small mark above or below a letter that changes its sound, as in café. tree →
4. An accent is a small detail that stands out, like an accent colour. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life everyone has an accent, and accents tell where people grew up; making fun of an accent is unkind. In English lessons, knowing where the accent (stress) falls helps pronunciation: PRE-sent (a gift) and pre-SENT (to show). In music an accent is a note played louder. Phrases: a strong accent, put the accent on, accent mark.

Examples

• She speaks with an Irish accent. tree →
• My cousin from Texas has a different accent. tree →
• Café has an accent on the e. tree →
• Everybody has an accent. tree →
• The accent is on the first part of «table». tree →
• He copied the teacher's accent and everyone laughed. tree →
• The room is white with red accents. tree →
• Learning a new language, you might keep your own accent. tree →
• The accent falls on the second syllable of Ivan, on the first of Popyalof. tree →

Note

Countable. An accent is not the same as a dialect: an accent is only about sounds; a dialect also uses different words and grammar. English rarely uses accent marks, but words borrowed from French or Spanish keep them (café, piñata).