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Often, dominant stress simply indicates a centering of attention or emotion.

Thus in it's incredible what that boy can eat dominant stress is likely to be on incredible, and eat will have strong stress also.

In she has it in for George dominant stress will ordinarily be on in, where the notion of stored-up antipathy seems to center.

In we're painting at our garage strong stress on at indicates that the job being done is not real painting but simply an effort at painting.

Where there is comparison or contrast, dominant stresses normally operate to center attention.

Thus in his friends are stranger than his sisters' strong stresses are normal for his and sisters', but in his friends are stranger than his sisters strong stresses are normal for friends and sisters.

In he's hurting himself more than he's hurting you both himself and you have stronger stress than they would ordinarily have if there were no contrast.

In is she Chinese or Japanese??

The desire to contrast the first parts of words which are alike in their last components produces an exceptional disregard of the normal patterns of stress of Chinese and Japanese.

Sometimes strong stress serves to focus an important secondary relationship.

Thus in Mary wrote an account of the trip first strong stress on Mary marks Mary as the first in a series of people who wrote accounts of the trip, strong stress on wrote marks the writing as the first of a series of actions of Mary's concerned with an account of her trip ( about which she may later have made speeches, for example ), and strong stress on trip makes the trip the first of a series of subjects about which Mary wrote accounts.

In hunger stimulates man too the situation is very similar.

Strong stress on hunger treats hunger as an additional stimulus, strong stress on stimulates treats stimulation as an additional effect of hunger, strong stress on man treats man as an additional creature who responds to the stimulation of hunger.

Here again, in the written language it is possible to help the reader get his stresses right by using underlining or italics, but much of the time there is simply reliance on his understanding in the light of context.