The syllables are written in capital letters. meditative?

Analyze the question: You are asked to identify where the primary stress falls in the word "meditative."

Explain the concept: Many English words ending in -ative keep the stress away from the suffix. Their stress depends on the root word. Some words fall into two groups:

• Words like cumulative and meditative follow the stress pattern of the verb they come from.
• Words like talkative have the stress on the first syllable.

Look at the word: The word has four syllables: med-i-ta-tive.

The verb is MEDitate, with stress on the first syllable. The adjective meditative is a different case. The dictionary pronunciation of meditative is /ˈmedɪtətɪv/ in British English, with stress on the first syllable. American English often has /ˈmɛdɪteɪtɪv/, also with the primary stress on the first syllable.

Solution:

• Option A, meDItative: stress on the second syllable. This is wrong.
• Option B, mediTAtive: stress on the third syllable. This is wrong. (Some people say this, but dictionaries do not give it as standard.)
• Option C, MEditative: stress on the first syllable. This is correct.
• Option D, meditaTIVE: stress on the last syllable. This is wrong, because the suffix -ive is almost never stressed.

Answer: The correct option is C. MEditative.

Tip: For words in -ative that come from verbs ending in -ate (meditate, cultivate, operate), the stress usually stays at the front, as in the verb: MEDitate → MEDitative, CULtivate → CULtivative. A suffix like -ive almost never takes the main stress, so you can quickly eliminate option D.