You say Massa_CHU_setts and Minne_AP_olis, you do not emphasize each syllable

alike, but hit the accented syllable with force and hurry over the unimportant

ones. Now why do you not apply this principle in speaking a sentence? To some

extent you do, in ordinary speech; but do you in public discourse? It is there

that monotony caused by lack of emphasis is so painfully apparent.

 

So far as emphasis is concerned, you may consider the average sentence as just

one big word, with the important word as the accented syllable. Note the

following:

 

"Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice."

 

You might as well say _MASS-A-CHU-SETTS_, emphasizing every syllable equally, as

to lay equal stress on each word in the foregoing sentences.

 

Speak it aloud and see. Of course you will want to emphasize _destiny_, for it

is the principal idea in your declaration, and you will put some emphasis on

_not_, else your hearers may think you are affirming that destiny _is_ a matter

of chance. By all means you must emphasize _chance_, for it is one of the two

big ideas in the statement.

 

Another reason why _chance_ takes emphasis is that it is contrasted with

_choice_ in the next sentence. Obviously, the author has contrasted these ideas

purposely, so that they might be more emphatic, and here we see that contrast is

one of the very first devices to gain emphasis.