The stressed are written in capital letters departmental

Analyze the question: You're asked to find the correct stress pattern for the word "departmental" (de-part-MEN-tal). It has four syllables: de | part | men | tal.

Concept: In English, words ending in -al often take stress on the syllable before the suffix, and words with "-ment" inside often carry stress on the "men" syllable. The base word is "department" (de-PART-ment), stressed on "part". When we add -al, the suffix "-al" pulls the stress to the syllable just before it. This is also true for similar words such as:

• "governmental" → govern-MEN-tal
• "developmental" → develop-MEN-tal
• "instrumental" → instru-MEN-tal
• "fundamental" → funda-MEN-tal

Step-by-step solution:

1. Break the word into syllables: de-part-men-tal.
2. Pronounce it naturally: /ˌdiːpɑːtˈmentl/. The strongest beat falls on "men".
3. The syllable "de" (the first) has a secondary stress at most, and "part" has secondary stress. The primary stress is on "men".
4. Check the options: • A. DEpartmental: stress on the first syllable, which is wrong. • B. dePARTmental: this is the stress of "department", not "departmental". • C. departMENtal: stress on the third syllable, which is correct. • D. departmenTAL: stress on the last syllable, which is wrong.

Answer: The primary stress is on the third syllable: de-part-MEN-tal.

Tip: When a suffix like -al, -ic, -ion, or -ity is added, the stress often shifts to the syllable right before the suffix. So "department" is de-PART-ment, but "departmental" is depart-MEN-tal. Practise this with other words ending in -mental.