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

Analyze the question

This is an emphatic stress question (Oral English). The capitalized word, NEW, carries the main stress. Emphatic stress is used to highlight the new or contrasting information in an answer. So the question being answered must have been about who should pay, with "old students" (or some other group) as the contrast.

Explain the concept

The stressed word in the answer corrects or fills in the information the question left open or got wrong. For example:

• "NEW students should pay tuition fees." answers a question that asked about a different group of students (such as old students).
• If the stress were on "tuition", the question would have been about a different type of fee (such as hostel fees).
• If the stress were on "should", the question would have been about ability or permission (such as "Can...").

Solve step by step

1. The stressed word is NEW, so the focus is on the group of students.
2. Look for the question that mentions a different group from "new students", so that the answer corrects it.
3. Check each option: • A. "Should new students pay tuition fees?" The group is already new students, so there is no contrast and no reason to stress NEW. • B. "Should old students pay tuition fees?" The group asked about is old students. The reply, "NEW students should pay tuition fees," corrects this by stressing NEW. This fits. • C. "Should new students pay hostel fees?" The contrast is in the fee type, so the stress would fall on tuition. • D. "Can new students pay tuition fees?" The contrast is in the verb, so the stress would fall on should.

Answer

The correct option is B.

Tip

Find the one word that differs between the question and the answer. That word is the one that gets the emphatic stress. In reverse, when you see a stressed word, look for the option that changes exactly that word.