Stress.

Each syllable contains a vowel and some syllables are often ‘stressed’ – i.e. spoken with emphasis. For example:

• Apple: /app/le/ - in this word the ‘a’ in ‘apple’ is stressed (‘apple’);
• Degenerate: /de/gen/er/ate – in this word, the ‘e’ in ‘de-‘ is stressed (as well as the ‘e’ in ‘gen’ and the 'a' in 'ate' – degenerate);
• Bar: /bar/ - in this word, the ‘a’ in ‘bar’ is stressed (bar);
• Degenerately: the same rules apply as with 'degenerate', but, in this example, the 'y' in '-ly' is stressed because it's pronounced as an 'e' - /dee/gen/er/ate/lee/.
  

The alphabet.

In the English alphabet, there are 26 written letters (characters or symbols):

Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz.

These characters are divided into five vowels and twenty-one consonants:

Vowels: A, E, I, O, U;

Consonants: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z.

Every single word contains a vowel (or a vowel-like consonant (such as ‘y’ - which I’ll explain later) and is comprised of syllables. A syllable is a unit of sound. For instance, look at the following words:

Restaurant: /res/taur/ant/ – this word contains three syllables;

Medallion: /med/al/li/on/ – this word contains four syllables;

Hungry: /hun/gry/ – this word contains two syllables;

Hat: /hat/ - this word is comprised of only one syllable.

Note: the act of writing out a word syllable by syllable is known as writing it ‘phonetically’ – i.e. by sound.