Finding Schwa in Words

Let’s work on finding schwa in words as part of my schwa mini-series.

First, we’ll review a few of the things we’ve talked about in this series. Then, we’ll use this information to help us locate the unstressed syllable and schwa in a few words together.

First, schwa is found in unstressed syllables. These syllables are spoken quieter and quicker.

Second, schwa is a relaxed, quick sound. Because schwa is found in unstressed syllables, its sound is quick and almost unnoticed.

Third, there are often word or spelling patterns for schwa. We talked about shorter words like the and of. We also talked about several patterns such as the a in away, and unaccented final syllables such as the ble in table.

I have a free schwa word list for 2-syllable words with lots of patterns where schwa can be found in two syllable words.

Fourth, the placement of stress and schwa can be affected by parts of speech. Think about the word record (as in, “Let’s record ourselves,” vs. “The record says you lied,”). They are spelled the same, but have the stress on different syllables because of their part of speech.

Let’s use what we’ve learned to find schwa in three words.
Disclaimer: Finding schwa in words is not always neat and easy, but these examples can give you a place to start.

Watch my video now.

Finding Schwa in Words

Word 1: total.

Schwa is found in the unaccented or unstressed part of the word, so we must locate that first. When looking for schwa in words, we’ll often have cues we can see and cues we can hear to help us find stress and schwa.

If you remember the final syllables we discussed in my last blog post/ video, you’ll remember that al was one of them. But let’s say we forgot about that pattern. We could use the trick we talked about in our second video to exaggerate the syllables using “ba.”

Let’s try it with the first syllable as stressed: BA-ba – TOtal. Sounds about right to my ears. {The video makes this part easier to understand.} Let’s also try it with the second syllable as stressed just to be certain: ba-BA – toTAL. That one doesn’t sound correct.

So, total has a stressed first syllable and a schwa as the vowel in the second syllable. If you looked total up in the dictionary, this is what you would find.

Word 2: option

Schwa is found in the unaccented or unstressed part of the word, so we must locate that first.

First, let’s use the spelling patterns we see. If you use the schwa word list, you might spot the spelling pattern that is a dead giveaway where the unstressed part of the word is and where schwa is hiding. It’s the ion. When ion is at the end of words, it is nearly always unstressed and pronounced with schwa.

But let’s say we’re still not sure or we don’t know the spelling patterns. We could use our trick to exaggerate the syllables using “ba.”

Let’s try it with the first syllable as stressed: BA-ba – OPtion. Sounds about right to my ears. {The video makes this part easier to understand.} Let’s also try it with the second syllable as stressed just to be certain: ba-BA – opTION. That one doesn’t sound correct.

So, option has a stressed first syllable and a schwa as the vowel in the second syllable. If you looked option up in the dictionary, this is what you would find. Option is a noun, and most 2-syllable nouns are stressed on the first syllable.

Word 3: around

Let’s look at our patterns and listen as we say it. If you remember one of the patterns we spoke about in my last blog post/ video, you might be able to spot the pattern that gives away the schwa. Yep! It’s the a in around. Often, an a in the first-syllable position is pronounced with schwa.

But let’s say we’re still not sure or we don’t remember the spelling patterns. We could use our trick to exaggerate the syllables using “ba.”

Let’s try it by accenting the first syllable. BA-ba – Around. Sounds a little odd, right? {Again, the video makes this part easier to understand.} We’ll switch and try stressing the second syllable: ba-BA – aROUND. That sounds more natural to our ears.

We can see that around has schwa in the first syllable and the stress falls on the second syllable . If you looked around up in the dictionary, this is what you would find.

I’ll quickly mention again parts of speech can affect stress. Around is a preposition, and most 2-syllable prepositions are stressed on the second syllable.

I hope that these four videos and other resources on my blog have been helpful to you in teaching or learning about stress and schwa. Be sure to check out all the blog posts, free printables, and videos about schwa below!

More About Schwa

Enjoy teaching!
~Becky