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 word in capitals is the one the speaker stresses to correct or highlight a particular piece of information. The sentence is the answer to a question, so the question must contain a wrong detail at the stressed word's position. The stressed word, DRIVER, is the new, correcting information.

Concept

Emphatic stress marks the part of the sentence that answers or corrects what was asked. If the answer is "Dad requested the DRIVER to open the door," the question must have been about who Dad asked, and the question must have named someone other than the driver.

Testing each option

• A. Did mum request the driver to open the door? The wrong detail is mum, so the stress would fall on DAD.
• B. Did dad order the driver to open the door? The wrong detail is order, so the stress would fall on REQUESTED.
• C. Did dad request the gardener to open the door? The wrong detail is gardener. The correction is "No, Dad requested the DRIVER to open the door." The stress falls on DRIVER, which matches.
• D. Did dad request the driver to shut the door? The wrong detail is shut, so the stress would fall on OPEN.

Answer

The stressed word DRIVER corrects "gardener," so the correct option is C.

Exam tip

Find the capitalised word, then look for the option that changes only that one word. The question with the different word in that position is the answer.