In the following sentence, the word that receives the emphatic stress is written in capital letters. From the…

Analyze the question: This tests emphatic stress (contrastive stress). The word in capitals is the one that carries the new or corrective information. The sentence is the answer to a question that contains a contrasting idea at that word.

Concept: When "ALWAYS" is stressed, the speaker is correcting or contrasting the idea of frequency. So the question being answered must suggest a different frequency, such as "seldom," "sometimes," or "rarely."

Check each option against the statement "Mr. Jones ALWAYS locks the back door."

• A. "...lock the front door?" The contrast is between front and back, so the stressed word would be BACK. ✗
• B. "Does Mr. Jones seldom lock the back door?" The question suggests a low frequency, and the reply corrects it with "ALWAYS." The stress falls on the frequency word. ✓
• C. "Does Mr. John...?" The contrast is in the name, so the stressed word would be JONES. ✗
• D. "...open the back door?" The contrast is between open and lock, so the stressed word would be LOCKS. ✗

Answer: Option B is correct. "ALWAYS" directly answers and corrects "seldom."

Tip: In emphatic stress questions, find the word in capitals, then pick the option in which that same idea is replaced by its opposite or an alternative. The other three options each change a different word, so they would need stress on a different word.