Words accented on the last syllable but one—An´chor, ar´gue, hásten, fáther, fóxes, smíting, húsband, márket, vápour, bárefoot, archángel, bespátter, disáble, terrífic.
Words accented on the last syllable but two—Régular, an´tidote, for´tify, suscéptible, incontrovértible.
Words accented on the last syllable but three (rare)—Réceptacle, régulating, tálkativeness, ábsolutely, lúminary, inévitable, &c.
A great number of words are distinguished by the accent alone. The following list is from Nares' Orthoepy, a work to which the reader is referred.
| An áttribute. | To attríbute. |
| The month Aúgust. | An augúst person. |
| A com´pact. | Compáct (close). |
| To con´jure (magically). | Conjúre (enjoin). |
| Des´ert, wilderness. | Desért, merit. |
| Inválid, not valid. | Invalíd, a sickly person. |
| Mínute, 60 seconds. | Minúte, small. |
| Súpine, part of speech. | Supíne, careless, &c. |
That class of words that by a change of accent are converted from nouns into verbs (súrvey, survéy, cóntrast, contrást, &c.) will be noticed more at large in the Chapter on Derivation.
[§ 236]. In words like thínking, fóxes, lon´ger, len´gthen, &c. we have two parts; first the original word, the root, or the radical part, as think, fox, long, length, &c.; and next, the inflectional, or the subordinate part, -ing, -es, -er, -en, &c.
To assert as a universal rule that the accent is always on the root, and never on the subordinate part of a word, is too much. Although in the English language such an assertion (with one exception) is found true; by the French and other languages it is invalidated.
In words like len´g-then-ing, we have a second inflectional or subordinate syllable; and the accent remains in its original place, absolutely, but not relatively. It is all the farther from the end of the word. Besides indicating the propriety of determining the place of the accent by counting from the end, rather than the beginning of a word, this circumstance indicates something else.