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Implied Contrast Adjectives

Type 2 shows that in a typical adjective + noun combination, the noun is usually stressed more than the adjective. Normally, we do not refer to or think about what something is not when we use an adjective – the adjective is just used to describe the noun. That is, normally we don't think that something is not the opposite adjective. For example: "He bought a new car yesterday." In that statement, we normally stress the word, "car" because that is the key word, the key idea. Everybody knows that "new" means "not old" but in that statement, the speaker is just using the word "new" to describe the car, to add a bit of information about the car. The speaker is not focused on the idea that the car is not old.

However, sometimes an adjective is spoken with more stress than the noun. In this case, the meaning is that the adjective is not "something else", (where this "something else" is usually the opposite adjective, such as "young/old", "big/little", "good/bad" etc.). This is a situation of contrasting two adjectives. You can usually choose to do that with any adjective + noun combination.

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Here is an example of someone changing the usual stress pattern in order to express a contrast. Two people are talking. One is a Russian and the other is a Frenchman.

Russian: "My father used to be a diplomat in the former Soviet Union." (苏联)

Frenchman: "What a co-incidence! My father is a diplomat in the European Union".

Normally, "European Union" is spoken as European Union. But the Frenchman chooses to put extra stress on the word, "European" in this conversation in order to contrast it with the Soviet Union. (Both the words "European" and "Soviet" are adjectives.)

Listen to this example. "Big boys don't cry" Here, the speaker means, "Only little boys cry – you are a big boy now, so don't cry." Or: "You're not a little boy, so don't cry." Here, the contrast is implied (暗示的, 含蓄的) because the speaker does not actually say the words, "little boy" or "little boys".

Here's another example: "He's a bad guy." Here, the speaker means, "He's certainly not a good guy" but he does not actually say the words "good guy". (The recording of, 'good guy' also has an implied contrast stress pattern.) "Old guy" and "young guy" are similar.

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In addition to making your own contrasting adjectives to express contrast when you want to, English also has some adjective + noun combinations that are always (or usually) spoken with an implied contrast stress on the adjective. This is because those word combinations always or (usually) include the idea of focusing on what the thing or person is not. In other words, the standard way to say these is with the stress on the first word, the adjective. Some of these are listed below.

You can also think of these as a variety of Type 1, (composed of adjective + noun instead of the usual noun + noun) where the adjective does not describe but, instead, tells us which type of noun.

One example of this is young people. In this recording, the stress on the word, "young" implies, "not old" or "not middle-aged". Compare that with the usual use of the adjective "young" in this example: a young man. In the second recording, the word, "young" is simply used to describe the man, not to imply that he is "not an old man". Along with "young people" we have, old folk.

The Foreign Office . This is how the British name their 外交部. They pronounce it that way to contrast with "the Home Office", another British government department.

"a disabled person" and "a blind man". (No recordings yet). Both the words "disabled" and "blind" are spoken with stress to imply the meaning, "not normal".

An "approved school" is a term used in England. "Approved" is stressed to mean, "not an everyday school but one that has been especially approved for some purpose". Similarly, a comprehensive school  is a type of school in Britain, as opposed to a non-comprehensive school. You can also think of this and "an approved school" as belonging to the group: "a high school", "a middle school", "a secondary school" and "a primary school". These are all really Type 1, even though the first word is an adjective. The adjectives here all are used to mean a type of school; the meaning is not to describe a school, as adjectives normally do (even though the words, "approved", "comprehensive", "high", "middle", "secondary" and "primary" all do give information that describes the type of school).

a blind spot  (Normally, the person can see everywhere, but this particular spot, the "blind spot", is not visible to the viewer. This term is often used when referring to car drivers.)

a cold snap (a sudden change in the weather to much colder weather)

"in the long run" (The emphasis is on the word, "long" because we are conscious that it is not, "in the short term". It is possible to say, as the opposite of, "in the long run", "in the short run". But most English speakers say, "in the short term" because "short run" has another meaning.)

"jump into the deep end" and, "be thrown into the deep end"  (This originally referred to a swimming pool but it has evolved to mean, "the most difficult part of something". "Go off (at) the deep end" means to suddenly erupt into unreasonable anger, i.e., to react in an extreme way.

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This aspect of word stress is a little difficult for learners of English. The best way to learn this is: a) understand the explanations that are written on this page, b) mimic and learn the recorded examples on this page and, c) mimic as many recordings as you can of native English speakers speaking naturally. This aspect of pronunciation is one of the best examples of the fact that you can't fully learn to speak English by just reading books.

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The table below shows some examples of adjective + noun which have a standard (or usual) pronunciation with the stress on the first word, the adjective. You will notice that some adjectives such as "financial", "medical", "social" and "legal" are spoken with this stress very often, especially in set phrases (i.e., phrases that can be found in the dictionary). This table just shows some examples of this. There are quite a few other expressions or word combinations like these that always or almost always are spoken with stress on the adjective.

As mentioned above, most of these are also a variety of Type 1, except that the first word is an adjective instead of a noun. These adjectives specify the "what type of noun" more than they act as adjectives that give a description. In fact, the idea of implied contrast is actually included in all Type 1 combinations. For example, when we say, "apple juice", we are also saying, "not some other juice".

Remember: the stressed adjective before the noun means, "not another adjective", "not the opposite" or, "not another type". For example, "a bad guy" means, "not a good guy".

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