Which metrical foot consists of a long syllable followed by two short syllables?

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Multiple Choice

Which metrical foot consists of a long syllable followed by two short syllables?

In meter, a foot is defined by patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. A long syllable means a beat you hear as stronger or longer, and two short syllables are lighter. When you have one strong beat followed by two lighter beats, that unit is a dactyl. The rhythm sounds like a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones, often described as DA-da-da. This distinguishes it from other feet: a spondee has two stressed syllables in a row (heavy-heavy), an iamb moves from unstressed to stressed (unstressed-stressed), and anapest has two unstressed syllables before a stressed one (unstressed-unstressed-stressed). A familiar example to feel the pattern is the word elephant, spoken as EL-e-phant, where the first syllable carries the stress and the next two are lighter.

In meter, a foot is defined by patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. A long syllable means a beat you hear as stronger or longer, and two short syllables are lighter. When you have one strong beat followed by two lighter beats, that unit is a dactyl. The rhythm sounds like a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones, often described as DA-da-da. This distinguishes it from other feet: a spondee has two stressed syllables in a row (heavy-heavy), an iamb moves from unstressed to stressed (unstressed-stressed), and anapest has two unstressed syllables before a stressed one (unstressed-unstressed-stressed). A familiar example to feel the pattern is the word elephant, spoken as EL-e-phant, where the first syllable carries the stress and the next two are lighter.

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