Which metrical foot is long-short-short?

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Multiple Choice

Which metrical foot is long-short-short?

In meter, a foot groups syllables by stress: a “long” syllable corresponds to a stressed beat, while a “short” syllable is unstressed. A pattern that is long-short-short means a single stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones. That arrangement is called a dactyl. You can hear it in a word like happiness: HAP-pi-ness, with the strong beat on HAP and lighter sounds on pi and ness. This differs from a spondee, which has two stressed syllables (long-long); an iamb, which is unstressed-stressed (short-long); and anapest, which is two unstressed followed by a stressed syllable (short-short-long). So the long-short-short pattern points to a dactyl.

In meter, a foot groups syllables by stress: a “long” syllable corresponds to a stressed beat, while a “short” syllable is unstressed. A pattern that is long-short-short means a single stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones. That arrangement is called a dactyl. You can hear it in a word like happiness: HAP-pi-ness, with the strong beat on HAP and lighter sounds on pi and ness.

This differs from a spondee, which has two stressed syllables (long-long); an iamb, which is unstressed-stressed (short-long); and anapest, which is two unstressed followed by a stressed syllable (short-short-long). So the long-short-short pattern points to a dactyl.

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