Spelling Accent Example

The sign called tilde that is written as a small diagonal line and descends from right to left over a vowel in the stressed syllable of a word (´) is known as an orthographic accent.

The orthographic accent It is classified into four classes according to where the stressed syllable has within the word:

Sharp words or oxytons: the stressed syllable is the last syllable and they are stressed whenever they end in “n, s, vowel”.

Serious, plain or paroxitonic words: the stressed syllable is the penultimate syllable and they are stressed as long as they do not end in “n, s, vowel”.

Sdrugal words: the stressed syllable is the penultimate syllable and they are always stressed except those that come from a noun that does not carry orthographic accent, plus the adverb mind.

Words about esdrújulas: the stressed syllable is before the penultimate and follow the stress rules of the esdrújulas.

There is a type of orthographic accent which is called diacritical and is used to differentiate words that are written in the same way but have a different meaning.

Examples of accent spelling in sharp words:

1. Anise
2. Truck
3. Cancun 
4. Will eat 
5. Cuts 
6. Scorpion
7. French 
8. Will prevent 
9. English 
10. It rained
11. Marquis 
12. Paris 
13. Seraph 
14. Transformed
15. Fiddle

Examples of accent spelling in serious words:

1. Album
2. Alcazar
3. Ensign
4. Amber
5. Angel
6. Tree
7. Car
8. Chalice
9. Catheter
10. Hard
11. Gonzalez
12. Skilled
13. Martyr
14. Perez
15. Tactile

Examples of spelling accent in esdrújulas words:

1. Abacus
2. Antigone
3. Warlike
4. Decade
5. Fantastic
6. Geographical
7. Geometric
8. Graphic
9. Microphone
10. Naples
11. Orders
12. Oxygen
13. Soviet
14. Finished
15. Triangle

Examples of diacritical spelling accent:

1. De (preposition) - give (from the verb give).
2. Se (personal pronoun - se (from the verb to be).
3. Si (conditional conjunction) - yes (adverb of affirmation).
4. My (possessive) - me (personal pronoun).
5. El (article) - he (personal pronoun).
6. More (adversative conjunction) - more (adverb of quantity).
7. Te (personal pronoun) - tea (noun).
8. Tu (possessive) - tú (personal pronoun).