For this question, the words in capital letters have emphatic stress. Choose the option to which the given sentence relates. They came with me to the MEETING.

Analyze the question

Emphatic stress (also called contrastive or focus stress) puts weight on one word to show that it is the new or corrected information. The sentence "They came with me to the MEETING" stresses meeting. So the sentence is the answer to a question where the place or event is what's in doubt.

Concept

The stressed word answers the question being asked, often by correcting a wrong assumption.

• Stress on THEY answers "Who came?" (option D).
• Stress on CAME answers a question about the action.
• Stress on ME answers a question about who they came with.
• Stress on MEETING answers a question about where or what event they came to.

Working through the options

• A. "Did they come to a meeting with me?" The meeting is already assumed, so the focus isn't on the event.
• B. "Did they arrive with me to the meeting?" The doubt is about arrival, and the meeting is already assumed.
• C. "Did they come with me to the party?" Here the speaker wrongly assumes the event was a party. The reply "They came with me to the MEETING" corrects this, with stress on meeting in contrast to party. This fits.
• D. "Who came with me to the meeting?" This would need stress on THEY, and meeting is already known.

Answer

The only question where the event is the point of correction is C. The stressed word MEETING contrasts with party.

Tip

Find the stressed word, then ask which option has a different word in that same slot. The emphasised word is the correction, so the question usually contains the wrong version of it, such as party vs. meeting.