stress patterns can sometimes be used to identify the part of speech of some two-syllable nouns and verbs that have the same spelling. Normally, the primary stress falls on the first syllable of a noun and on the second syllable of a verb. Some examples of these disyllabic words are present (n.) present desert (n.)-desert (v.). record (n.). record (y.). For more examples, please see Chapter 2, pages 3 Besides, stress patterns may be used to distinguish between a compound noun and a noun phrase as in a blue print (a compound noun) and a blue print (a noun phrase) You may notice that in a blieprint. the primary stress falls on blue, which is the first element of this compound noon, and print gets the secondary stress: whereas in a blue print, the primary stress falls on the noun print, which is the last content word of this noun phrase, and the secondary stress falls on the adjective blue which modifies print