Sleeping Quarters or Sleeping Quarters?
by Candice M. Coleman, Ph.D.
If I were to say to you “She’s an Italian professor,” with no stress on any particular word, would you know what I mean? Is she a professor of Italian (instead of French, for instance) or, a professor (instead of some other occupation) who happens to be Italian? Actually, it could be either, if I haven’t given you any vocal clues.
To give our listeners the needed clues when we read aloud, we have to look at the meaning and the implied contrasts to determine which is the most logical word to emphasize in a particular context.
Lamar discusses this concept which she calls “The Relative Emphasis of Nouns and Adjectives,” in the textbook of Analytical Reading, Giving the Sense: How to Read Aloud With Meaning (p. 40). She states,
… whenever you stress one and subdue the other, you are generally implying a contrast or comparison with the stressed idea. You need to ask yourself whether that contrast or comparison is logical.
For a Bible example, let’s look at Ephesians 2:6,
… and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
In the adjective/noun combination “heavenly places” you want to determine if you should stress “heavenly” or “places” to make the meaning clear. Let’s ask some questions to find the implied contrasts.
If you stress places and subdue heavenly, don’t you imply a possible contrast with heavenly people and heavenly something else?
If you stress heavenly and subdue places, aren’t you implying that we should sit together not in earthly places, but in heavenly ones?
Which reading is more logical and meaningful? In this case, you would probably decide to stress “heavenly,” the adjective.
… and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
But sometimes stressing the noun might be more appropriate. Look at John 10:28,
… they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
At the end of the verse is the adjective/noun combination “my hand.” Asking our questions again, look for the implied contrast.
Is my hand an implied contrast with your hand or Sarah’s hand?
Or, is the writer stating simply that “no one is going to take them out of my grasp”? If you agree that’s the meaning, wouldn’t you want to stress hand?
… they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
This reading isn’t just meaningful, but also conversational. For a further discussion, see Giving the Sense, (p.40).
Let’s take another example. Have you noticed how frequently we find Bible verses and phrases that contain the word “thing” with a preceding adjective – “good thing,” “all things,” “creeping thing”? There are over 500 of them! Because “thing” is a word that generally has little meaning of its own, in conversation we usually stress the adjective (good, all, creeping).
Read these phrases out loud and emphasize “thing.” You’ll hear how awkward it sounds.
Something, everything, nothing, creeping thing.
(Unless you’re talking about the old Sci-Fi movie, The Thing, it not only sounds awkward it doesn’t even make much sense.)
The exception is when “thing” indicates an object, “I like having my things around me,” or is in contrast (stated or implied) with a “thought” or “idea.” “It’s not a thing, but an idea.”
Sometimes, choosing to emphasize either the noun or adjective still doesn’t make the meaning as clear as it could be. In this kind of situation, there is an option of stressing both words fairly equally.
In Ps. 51:10, aren’t both “clean” and “heart” new ideas?
Create in me a clean heart, O God; …
If you read, “Create in me a clean heart,” aren’t you’re implying a contrast with some other kind of heart? If you read, “Create in me a clean heart,” do you mean to imply a contrast with a clean stomach or clean lungs? Of course not! In this case, try stressing “clean” and “heart” fairly evenly with a fraction more stress on “heart.”
Create in me a clean heart, O God; …
Here’s another implied contrast in Matt. 26:40.
… could ye not watch with me one hour?
Isn’t Jesus saying to Peter, “I didn’t ask you to stay awake and pray for two days! Couldn’t you do it for even one hour?”
Be alert! Sometimes an entire noun/adjective combination is an old idea, so you would subdue both words. For example, if you’ve just finished reading Acts 10:38 about how Jesus:
went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil;
and then read Acts 10:39,
And we are witnesses of all things which he did …
Can you see that “doing good,” and “healing” are some of those the “all things” which he did in verse 39? Then, “all things” is an old idea. What might be the new idea in this case – “witnesses”?
And we are witnesses of all things which he did …
So, which is it, sleeping quarters or sleeping quarters? For me, determining the logical emphasis of nouns and adjectives is really fun and fairly easy to work out … when I ask myself the proper questions.
Oh, yes, my friend is an Italian professor; she teaches Italian.
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