Accent in the word "quarter" - how to put it correctly

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

Nowadays, more and more people strive for a beautiful and competent speech. This helps not only to look like an educated person and an interesting conversationalist in the eyes of other people, but also to get a good job. Often one of the important criteria in the modern world is the ability to communicate with the customer, conduct business negotiations, and represent the company with dignity. One of the rules that traditionally cause difficulty for many Russian speakers is how to correctly stress the word “quarter”.

Meaning of the word

There is an opinion that in the word "quarter" two ways of stressing are admissible. This is because the meaning of "part of the city" obliges the speaker to emphasize the last letter "a", while the definition of "quarter of the year" implies the emphasis on the first syllable. However, this cannot be considered a complete rule. "Quartal" is a professional jargon sometimes used by accountants, but it is not recorded in any dictionary.

"Quarter" meaning "the fourth part of the year" comes from the German quartal with an intonation accent on the last "a", but, probably, accountants pronounce "kvartal", focusing not on the German meaning, but on the Latin term quarta, meaning "fourth part" and assuming the stress on the first vowel.

Such special stresses can be found in other professionalisms:

• "Compás" - say the sailors;
• "Convicted" - employees of the structures of law and order;
• "Mining" - miners.

Interesting! "Awkwardly" - as it is written, together or separately

How to stress

The rule says that the word "quarter" sounds the same in any meaning and case forms of the noun, and the stress always falls on the second syllable: "quarters", "quarters", "quarters". There are no exceptions.

People often notice that remembering the stress in a word becomes a difficult task for them. It is for this that many teachers or linguists compose small poems and rhymes that help not to get confused about which syllable should be emphasized.

Despite the fact that most often such rhymes are intended for children, adults can also try to train stress on them. The most popular examples of these phrases are:

• In the accounting department, an emergency - the quarter ends.
• We walked a lot - two whole blocks.
• The reporting day has come - it's time to close the quarter.
• I was very tired, I walked around the block.

Interesting! "On time" - as it is written, together or separately

These little rules should help you remember how to stress the word "quarter" correctly. It is better to memorize such words, because it is almost impossible to check the correctness of their pronunciation. There are many similar words, but there are no fewer people who are able to competently use them in their speech.