Mark the anapests in the following line by placing the accent mark (") over stressed syllables and the breve () over

unstressed syllables.

Question:

It was many and many a year ago

Stressed syllables: many many year ago

Unstressed syllables: It was and a

It was "MANy" and "MANy" a "YEAR" "aGO".

The capital letters indicate the stress on each word

U U " U " U " U

It was many and many a year ago

Explanation:

Always remember that vowels in a word are stressed or unstressed syllables. Stressed syllables are the ones which we stress upon while speaking the word. Unstressed syllables are the ones we do not put stress on. These "stressed and unstressed syllables" produce a meter in the poem. In the given lines,

Stressed syllables are: many, many, year

Unstressed syllables are: It, was, and, a, ago