and grammatical roles.
1. SUBject — noun
Pronunciation: /ˈsʌbdʒɪkt/
Stress: first syllable
Meaning: a topic, area of study, or school course.
Examples:
English is my favorite subject.
We were discussing an interesting subject.
What subject are you studying?
👉 Think: SUBject = topic / school course
2. subJECT — verb
Pronunciation: /səbˈdʒɛkt/
Stress: second syllable
Meaning: to make someone or something experience or undergo something, usually something difficult, unpleasant, or controlled.
Examples:
The workers were subjected to difficult conditions.
The experiment subjected the material to extreme heat.
No one should be subjected to unfair treatment.
👉 Think: subJECT = make someone/something undergo something
🔊 Pronunciation contrast
SUBject → noun → SUB is stressed
subJECT → verb → JECT is stressed
A useful pair to practice:
The SUBject was interesting.
They subJECTed the material to testing.
The change in stress signals the change in meaning and grammatical function.
Audio transcript
These two words are spelled the same, but they have different meanings, pronunciations, and grammatical roles.
Number 1. Noun.
Stress the first syllable.
Meaning: a topic, an area of study, or a school course.
Examples:
English is my favorite SUBJECT.
We were discussing an interesting SUBJECT.
What SUBJECT are you studying?
Number 2. Verb.
Stress the second syllable.
Meaning: to make someone or something experience or undergo something, usually something difficult, unpleasant, or controlled.
Examples:
The workers were subjected to difficult conditions.
The test subjected the material to extreme heat.
No one should be subjected to unfair treatment.
