Earnestness has 3 syllables and the stress is on the first syllable.
| # | Sentence | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | I can assure you of his earnestness. | |
| 2. | "A merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. | |
| 3. | "Don't you think it's a cruel, barbarous thing to whip a child . . . ANY child?" exclaimed Anne, her face flushing with earnestness. | |
| 4. | She was frightened by the earnestness of his manner. | |
| 5. | There was such earnestness, such despair, in her manner that her words arrested me, and I stood irresolute before the door. | |
| 6. | And he put it to us in this way—marking the points with a lean forefinger—as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it) and his fecundity. | |
| 7. | There was a deadly earnestness about Tom. I think he's serious. | |
| 8. | Tom stroked his chin thoughtfully. Then, as though struck by a flash of inspiration, he raised his forefinger, sprang from his chair and, speaking with great earnestness, launched himself about the room in meaningful strides before the assembled. "Gentlemen! We are far too complicated in our thinking. We ought to consider the situation from the humble perspective of a squirrel." |