There are many longer word endings where the last letter is -y. Inwords with these endings, the stress is placed on the syllable two fromthe end. Listen to these examples.
Note: If we add the ending -ic to a word, the stress goes on the syllable before -ic(See Unit 30. ) Notice the change of stress, for example: photography photographic.
Note: In words for an expert in the subject, such as photographer or climatologist, the stress stays on the same syllable as in the word ending in -y: photography photographer climatology climatologist
Many words for school and university subjects have one of the -y endings in this unit or the ending -ics. Listen to the names of subjects in this text.
At school. I hated science subjects like physics, chemistry and biology, you know, and ehm... I wasn't very good at mathematics and things. I really liked subjects like history, geography, economics. Anyway, when I went to university, I wanted to do geology, but I couldn't 'cause I was no good at sciences, so in the end I did philosophy!
Note: Many English speakers do not pronounce the second syllable in history, so that it sounds like this: /'hιstrι/ Oo. The first part of the word geography may be pronounced as one or two syllables: /'d3ι:ogr∂fι/ Ooo or /d3ι:'ogr∂fι/oOoo. Many speakers do not pronounce the second syllable in mathematics, so it sounds like this: /mæθ'mætιks/ oOo.