The president rewarded some of the OFFICERS.

Analyze the question

This is an emphatic stress question (Oral English). The word in capital letters, OFFICERS, carries the stress. The stressed word is the new or contrasting information, so it is the part that answers the question. Everything else in the sentence is already known from the question.

Concept

The sentence "The president rewarded some of the OFFICERS" would be a natural reply to a question that gets one thing wrong, namely the group of people. The question would have named a different group, and the stressed word corrects it.

Test each option

• A. Did the president reward all the officers? This questions the quantity (all vs. some). The stress would fall on SOME, not OFFICERS. ✗
• B. Did the senator reward some of the officers? This questions who did the rewarding. The stress would fall on PRESIDENT. ✗
• C. Did the president reward some of the students? This questions who received the reward. "Students" is replaced by the stressed word OFFICERS. ✓
• D. Did the president censure some of the officers? This questions the action (censure vs. reward). The stress would fall on REWARDED. ✗

Answer

The correct option is C. Only in option C is the changed item the group of people, "students" against "officers", and that is exactly where the stress falls.

Tip

Find the word that differs between the question and the answer sentence. The emphatic stress always sits on that word. Here the question has "students" and the answer has OFFICERS, so the stress marks the correction.